"Letters To Juliet" starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave is not receiving much praise from critics.
In the movie Sophie played by Amanda Seyfried, is a fact checker for the New Yorker, who dreams of becoming a writer.
While vacationing in Verona, Italy, she wanders into the House of Juliet, a place where, according to custom, the lovelorn leave letters seeking romantic advice from Shakespeare's tragic heroine. Now this is really great. Imagine a fictional character, one who did not have much success in love herself, giving advice to people.
But never mind, it’s a movie and the director has a colorful group of older female volunteers answering every one of them.
And now our Sophie's tender heart is filled with sorrow, though she herself is not acutely aware of it. Her fiancé, Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), with whom she's traveling, just isn't that into her.
A self-absorbed chef, he seems to be more in love with whatever bit of pasta, pastry, olive oil or wine he has just popped into his mouth. With a look Sophie wishes he'd reserve for her, Victor goes through the movie pronouncing everything edible "amazing" or "incredible."
Forlorn and lonely, Sophie is attracted towards the Miss Lonelyhearts at the House of Juliet, who take her under their benevolent care.
During her stay there, Sophie, finds a letter written by a British teenager named Claire who'd fallen in love with and then left an Italian boy named Lorenzo Bartolini -- a letter written in 1957, but never answered. Now Sophie could understand the pain and the suffering of the girl and sets her heart upon composing a reply.
Bang! And enters Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), now a senior citizen, has shown up with her handsome but surly grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), in search of the lost Lorenzo. Our Sophie was not one to be left behind on this dumb search-at least that's what Charlie thinks of the search-jumps in as the navigator and the chronicler of the search. From here on you can tell the whole story without watching it, even without a hint.
The girl and the boy don't like each other in the beginning, they fight, they rave and rant and then they slowly (for this movie, too slowly) come close together. Soon enough they are snogging and in love, head over heels.
Without spoiling things, it can be said that Franco Nero plays the grown-up Lorenzo in question and that the Italian actor is married to Redgrave in real life. The couple, who wed in 2006, reunited in storybook fashion after a separation of 36 years, following an affair that began on the set of "Camelot" and produced a son.
So there you have "Letters To Juliet" review. We will be back with more movie reviews for you.
