Hollywood always loves to put actors who are incredibly popular into a rom-com together every once in a while. These are the kinds of films that live or die by the leads’ respective chemistry and comedic timing while still managing to weave in some kind of entertaining storyline. You, Me & Tuscany brought together two prominent actors of color from the 2020s, the Duke of Hastings himself and Ariel, the Little Mermaid. If the 90s were ever to have a resurgence, I would want it to be three unrelated rom-coms starring the pair of them together again and again.
You, Me & Tuscany introduces us to Anna Montgomery (Halle Bailey), a young woman who dropped out of culinary school two months from graduating to take care of her cancer-stricken mother. In the time since, Anna has become a professional house sitter with a tendency to pretend to live a more glamorous life than the one that she actually has. From wearing clients’ clothes to enjoying the little luxuries of their homes, Anna is certain that she isn’t hurting anybody as she lives through a fantasy of a life that she does not have. Things unfortunately take a turn when the client for whom she is currently house-sitting returns home early and finds Anna in her clothes, right down to her lingerie. Out of a job and with no place to stay, because she is behind on rent, Anna goes to her best friend, Claire (Aziza Scott), who works at a prominent hotel for moral support.
Claire is resistant to giving Anna a room in the hotel because of a previous incident and is unwilling to risk losing her job right before going on maternity leave. Still, she does send Anna to the bar to get her phone charged. It is here that Anna runs into Matteo Costa (Lorenzo de Moor), a handsome Italian international real estate agent, with whom she has an immediate spark as they both dispense with the formalities of pretending their lives are more glamorous than they were in the moment. Matteo has left behind home, though he doesn’t go into as deep into the particulars as Anna does; it’s the kind of meet-cute that leads to intense, passionate sex that the film hilariously subverts.
Anna and Matteo make it up to the room, and she goes to prep, only to come out and find that Matteo has passed out in the few minutes that she was gone. Peeking through his phone at the life that he has left behind, the next morning, she makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to use the prepaid ticket her mother had bought for her (and herself) to go to Italy before dying. Tuscany provides an escape where Anna can simply go and reset and, perhaps, figure out who she is again and what she wants to do with her life.
While the trailer provides one version to lure you in, I was intrigued that Anna did not go with the intention of simply squatting in Matteo’s tastefully appointed Italian villa. She had a plan, however poorly thought out and timed, which hilariously acts as a micro-criticism of two things. First, Americans’ tendency to do the bare minimum of research into the international places that they’re going to visit, and second, the impulsivity of youth. Italy is, perhaps, one of the best places for those things to coexist. Anna was unaware of a major festival that was unfolding in San Conessa, and every hotel was fully booked. With nowhere to stay, she remembers her night with Matteo and justifies staying in his villa, which he had “practically” invited her to. Literally everybody who knows about it reminds her that this is a generous interpretation.
The first person Anna meets in Tuscany is Lorenzo (Marco Calvani), a cab driver who doesn’t take advantage of Anna and offers her keen insight into Italy, San Conessa, and her situation throughout the film. While he finds the romance of her situation to be endearing, he is also the person who offered the most honest and direct advice – to tell the truth. The second person that Anna meets as she is attempting to enjoy an authentic Italian sandwich that she’s only ever dreamed of is Michael (Regé-Jean Page), who is actually Matteo’s cousin and adoptive brother, who oversees a sprawling vineyard. Unlike Matteo, who charms Anna from the get-go, Michael frustrates her, but not to an insane degree, and they find that there is more than just a simple spark between the two of them.
Centrally, the story is dedicated to the brewing romance between Anna and Michael, while the greater Costa family attempts to pre-plan a wedding between Anna and Matteo after she is discovered squatting in the villa and lies about who she is. The Costa family is colorfully sketched, and all of them openly embrace Anna under the initial belief that she is Matteo’s fiancée. Matteo’s departure partially fractured this family – with Michael and Vincenzo (Paolo Sassanelli), their father, having the worst break in their respective relationships with him. Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) forms the strongest instant bond with Anna, along with Francesca (Stella Pecollo), who becomes like a surrogate mother and aunt to Anna, while Enzo (Tommaso Cassissa), who is chronically online, is an adorable brother-esque presence. The only one who seems openly suspicious is Nonna Alessia (Stefania Casini).
You, Me & Tuscany is an adorable film that has a workable formula to it, like most rom-coms. Formulas are not a bad thing, especially when you manage to follow them effectively. How a film tweaks the formula is where you discover if the team behind the movie has understood the kind of story that they want to tell. If it were a longer story, whether that means an additional twenty minutes or the eight-hour mini series that might as well be an expanded film, the aspects that feel like they could have required more depth would have them.
Still, that is not an overt criticism of the film. Anna and Michael’s burgeoning relationship is utterly believable because of their commonalities, and the prologue centered on Anna and Matteo provides the best kind of contrast.
If this were a film that was more inclined toward realism and additional complexity, the depth of Anna and Matteo’s connection acting as a genuine obstacle would have been explored – but that would have taken the romance out of the rom-com. That isn’t to make a prudish judgment. Sex is a part of life as much as it is a part of entertainment. Still, the difference is that how a story is told will determine how we, as the audience, are meant to engage with it.
You, Me & Tuscany sought to be a slow-burn rom-com and not a complicated love triangle. This is why the character of Isabella (Desirée Pöpper) has so little presence in the story. There is nothing to gain from an overt love square that the implication Michael derives from Isabella and Matteo still being together can provide – it serves as the needed catharsis and nothing more.
At the end of the day, depth is where you look for it. Overanalyzing can only lead to disappointment, and this movie was far too much fun for that.
Lloydd Marshall Books 