Cinema Verdict Review: Letters To Juliet

Letters To Juliet

OPENING: 05/14/2010

STUDIO: Summit Entertainment

RUN TIME: 105 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
What if you had a second chance to find true love?

Opening Statement
I recall fellow Judge Steve Power saying once, “Whenever someone describes a movie to me where I think ‘Man, my mother would really like that,’ it’s a sure-fire sign for me to stay away!” Coming out a week after Mother’s Day, Letters To Juliet is one of those movies inside and out. Is it a fresh spin on an age-old story, or should you take Steve’s advice?

Facts Of The Case
Aspiring writer Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, Dear John) works for New Yorker magazine as a fact-checker. She’s been waiting almost a year for her boyfriend Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal, The Limits Of Control), to marry her, but he seems to care more about his career as an Italian chef. Undaunted, Sophie decides to fly to Italy with Victor for a “pre-honeymoon” of sorts; disappointingly, he wants to spend more time sampling Italy’s cuisine rather than be with her. Finally, Sophie decides to go off on her own sight-seeing adventure.

When she spies a group of people writing letters and pinning them to a brick wall, she’s intrigued…eventually following the woman who takes them all down, throwing them in a basket. What she discovers is the letters are addressed to “Juliet” (from Shakespeare’s teen tragedy) and a handful of women meet on a regular basis to “answer” the letters one by one. Because they are in need of an English translator, Sophie offers to help them, especially since she’s more interested in her writing than the food Victor wants her to try.

As luck or fate (take your pick) would have it, Victor suddenly gets an offer to go to a wine festival, leaving Sophie to continue answering Juliet’s letters. One letter she finds particularly catches her eye; it was written by Claire (Vanessa Redgrave, Atonement) back in 1957, hidden inside the brick wall all these years. She responds, only to be lambasted by Charlie (Christopher Egan, Eragon) for giving his grandmother false hope about finding a long-lost Italian lover named Lorenzo. Boldly, Amanda decides to help Claire as they traverse the country looking for Lorenzo…much to Charlie’s dismay.

The Evidence
When I walked into the screening for Letters To Juliet my expectations were lower than the Marianas Trench. This is largely because the romantic comedies in the past year have been not only forgettable but downright painful; Hollywood has forgotten the crucial ingredients for the genre and have ended up with burned meatloaf and overcooked potatoes much of the time. The two Rom-coms I sunk my teeth into this year (Leap Year and When In Rome) are perfect examples; the former simply ripped off It Happened One Night (1934), the granddaddy of all romantic comedies, and the latter had such a massive waterfall of lame jokes it made old Pauly Shore flicks seem tolerable.

What was so frightening is, for the first 20 minutes, Letters In Juliet was about to collapse on itself without even getting started. The loud contrivances early on made me want to shout at the screen in protest—such as when Sophie’s eventual love interest makes his introduction literally seconds after the typically selfish fiancée exits. Like Leap Year and When In Rome, the international setting seemed like an excuse for pretty scenery rather than being beneficial to the story. Also, I wasn’t quite convinced Amanda Seyfried had the clout to carry her own movie, even if it wasn’t created specifically for her as a vehicle to expand her talents.

Get ready for a surprise: Letters To Juliet actually ends up being a satisfying little tale. First of all, it generously eschews the mean-spiritedness and crassness so many of its 2009 cousins possessed; the film isn’t tempered by the requisite shenanigans such as “meet cute” moments, obnoxious physical gags and cheap insults. In essence, Letters To Juliet is more of a love story since the comedy is light and sparse, a truly welcome relief. Once Sophie hooks up with Claire and Charlie on this bittersweet odyssey across Italy, it slowly finds its own voice and sincerely sneaks up on you. Thanks to engaging restraint provided by screenwriters Jose Rivera & Tim Sullivan, Letters To Juliet goes pretty far on the cast’s likeability and reasonably believable turns.

What’s more, this is a nice comeback for director Gary Winick, who scored home runs with 13 Going On 30 and Charlotte’s Web; last year, he gave us the god-awful farce Bride Wars, but now he’s back on track. Winick is well aware of Juliet’s limitations, and he manages to pull us in with the picture’s enticing mood and romantic flavor; punctuated by small moments of sweetness and honesty that, more often than not, ring true. It’s a pleasant journey overall, maintaining its focus on our three main characters without going off on unnecessary detours. Plus, he’s not overly concerned about the Italian setting as we enter quaint villas and travel over green country-sides; they give us a good idea of where we are, yet Winick (wisely) doesn’t allow the camera to linger on such sights. This is a film, not a travelogue.

Much of the movie’s success rests squarely on the shoulders of Amanda Seyfried. The 24-year-old jumped into the spotlight with Mean Girls, following up that debut with winning turns in Mamma Mia! and Jennifer’s Body. Her performance in Letters To Juliet isn’t flashy, though it’s certainly isn’t charmless either; easily topping the attempts made by Amy Adams and (*shudder*) Kristen Bell earlier in the year. Seyfried may not be Oscar material yet, but she knows how to get inside a character’s head, allowing us to wonder what she’s thinking. Also, I think she’s very cute, yet she never uses her looks to gain attention like so many other contemporary young actresses.

Still, it’s rather disappointing the two guys aren’t in the same league. As Victor, Bernal isn’t as grating as he sounds, but he also appears to be trying too hard in his handful of scenes; he reminds one of Russell Brand on expired Ritalin, his conversational topics restricted to only food and wine. Egan is marginally better; he’s appealing enough, never transforming into a sour egghead who feels the need to criticize Amanda’s good-hearted intentions every five minutes (he’s more of a realist than a smart-ass). Unfortunately, he does fall prey to the character’s flatness, never injecting enough color or flamboyancy to achieve the level of romantic passion the role cries out for. Both men are easily outshone by veteran Vanessa Redgrave; she doesn’t quite steal the film, but she sparkles every time she’s onscreen as the grandmother constantly torn over following her mind or her heart.

When all is said and done, Juliet’s only major liability is the lack of chemistry between Amanda and Charlie. Yes, you do sense an attraction between them. Yes, they look good together and make an attractive couple. But there’s no resonance to their potential union, nothing memorable to really make them stand alongside other great screen couples. The creators may have made the dynamics too safe; it’s also possible Seyfried and Egan never really found the right notes to make the connection palpable between their characters. Whatever the reason, it never makes the transition from congenial romantic drama to legendary love story, one the viewer would like to visit again and again. For now, Letters To Juliet is merely a cut or two above, and nothing more. It’s no Before Sunset, that’s for sure.

Closing Statement
As a rental down the road, Letters To Juliet is perfectly ideal for couples to watch while cuddling up on the couch. There is no reason to see this in the theater…except for men to make it up to their significant others for dragging them to see Iron Man 2. Trust me, guys: women will love this movie and they will thank you when it’s over.

The Verdict
Seyfried and Juliet are found not guilty.
7/10

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