“You, Me & Tuscany” is a modern-day “While You Were Sleeping,” and I loved every second of it. A fake engagement leads to the protagonist falling in love with her fake fiancé’s brother. The concept may have been done before, but it felt so fresh and fun that I almost didn’t remember how similar the two films are.
“You, Me & Tuscany” follows Anna (Halle Bailey) as she makes increasingly bad decisions that lead her all the way to Tuscany, Italy. When she gets there and has nowhere to stay, she breaks into a stranger’s house and convinces his family that she is his fiancée. When they accept her with open arms, she accidentally falls for her faux beau’s brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page).
The film is definitely corny, predictable and at times cringey, but that is exactly what I want out of a romantic comedy — especially one on the big screen At some point, studios stopped making nearly as many rom-coms for theaters, and the ones they do make have a level of cynicism that makes them feel like an entirely different viewing experience.
The last romantic comedy I watched, if you can even call it that, was “Materialists,” which made me think more about what it means to have standards in a relationship than simply watching two people falling in love. While I enjoy films that make me question the world we live in, it’s not what I typically look for out of a rom-com.
“You, Me & Tuscany” truly felt like an escape from reality for an hour and 45 minutes. The landscape itself was enough to make me feel that way. The film immerses you into the rolling hills of Tuscany and by the time you’re halfway through, you feel like you’re a part of the big, loving Italian family yourself.
Star Halle Bailey has this energy and charisma that makes her impossible to dislike, even though we watch her make one bad decision after another. Part of the reason I was rooting for Anna is that she is not just a woman looking for love; she actually never was. She was a woman looking to find herself.
That is what sets this apart from other rom coms. The main characters slip away from who they are inside while moving through the motions of life, but it is when they come together that they can truly be themselves. Anna is able to reconnect with her love for cooking and Michael is able to disconnect himself from his work on the vineyard.
Not only is this an escapist film set in the rolling hills of Tuscany, it is a romantic comedy playing in theaters with two Black leads, which audiences haven’t seen since “Think Like a Man Too” premiered in 2014.
The fact that it took over a decade for this to happen again is disappointing, to say the least, but what is more disappointing is that there are projects similar to this one waiting to be greenlit based on how “You, Me & Tuscany” performs.
While the influx of romantic comedies has slowed, there is no excuse for those featuring Black leads to disappear from theaters. Writer and director Nina Lee wrote a now-viral X post about how she met with a studio with her already-shot rom-com — but they won’t buy it until they see how “You, Me & Tuscany” performs.
These stakes make the way this film performs more important than ever. This isn’t just a rom-com; it’s a culture shift, and hopefully one that leads to more opportunities for stories like these to be told.
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