The heroine of “You, Me & Tuscany” is a chef, so let’s start with a recipe. Take a random selection of Hallmark movies, add two cups of “While You Were Sleeping,” half a cup of “The Proposal,” and a tablespoon each of “The Family Stone,” “Cinderella,” and “Under the Tuscan Sun,” a sprinkle of self-awareness for a wink at the audience, and you’ve got this film. It is utterly predictable, but thanks to the charm of its charismatic stars, some of the world’s most spectacularly beautiful scenery, and that fairy-tale gloss, it is beguilingly watchable.
Halle Bailey (“The Little Mermaid”) plays Anna, and we first see her waking up in a fabulous New York apartment and wearing designer clothes to take a fancy little dog for a walk. But then the owner of the apartment and the dog show up unexpectedly (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s” Nia Vardalos). Anna is a house-sitter, or she was until this moment. She is fired, broke, and way behind on her rent.
Her best friend, Claire (Aziza Scott), works at a hotel, but cannot get her a room. So, Anna visits the hotel bar for a burger, and that is where she meets Matteo, a handsome Italian in New York on a business trip. She tells him that she and her late mother planned to visit Italy together, but never made it. They have a wonderful, slightly tipsy evening with the requisite selfies, but he falls asleep before it can go any further. In the morning, he leaves her a note telling her to use the ticket her mother gave her and go to Tuscany. Despite Claire’s warnings, she decides to go, and for reasons not worth mentioning, she ends up staying in Matteo’s magnificent house and leading his family to believe she is his fiancée.
See the recipe above, and you will not be surprised that Matteo has a swoon-worthy brother played by “Bridgerton“’s Regé-Jean Page as London-born Michael. Yes, he is a different race and has a different accent from everyone in his family, but did I mention he takes his shirt off? After he gets drenched by a sprinkler? In the fields of his spectacular Tuscan winery? Feel free to sigh happily just imagining it before we continue.
Rom-com roll call: Initial antagonism, but over very quickly? Check. Adorable family members who are all delighted by Anna and accept her immediately? Check. Matteo shows up unexpectedly, but does he have his own reasons for going along with the pretense? Check. There’s an emergency need for a chef? Check check check. Do we care that we know what’s coming? Not really, because Bailey and Page are charming together, the setting is fairy tale heaven, and there’s a bright, romantic score by John Debney. The food, like the countryside, is luscious and glowingly photographed. And no one is taking any part of it too seriously (be sure to stay for a post-credit scene with three of the minor characters trying out some very funny reactions to seeing Page with his shirt off).
Having Black performers as the romantic leads also gives the movie some extra interest, but not race in the reductionist conflict/trauma/oppression portrayal we too often see in popular films. There is some code-switching, well presented as the joy of connection and authenticity. It is good to see Black characters in a rom-com who are fully at home in their experiences and culture and comfortable being themselves wherever they are.
When Michael and Anna first meet, Anna knowingly says they have something in common as the only….English speakers in the town. But they and we know what it is she is really referring to. She texts Claire after Michael’s wet, shirtless scene: “Spicy white guy has a brother that’s a BRUTHA! With a six-pack!” When the sprinkler gets her hair wet, Michael assures her that her edges are fine, and she is relieved because “you know there’s no place here for me to get my hair done.”
Bailey holds her own in her first adult role. Anna is a bit lost, still grieving her mother and disconnected from the cooking that had been her passion. But Bailey also shows us her sweetness, her grit, and the way she blooms when she is surrounded by people who care about her. Page gives good glower when he needs to, but also brings good humor to a character who could otherwise come across as a bit of a buzz kill. Like Zuccotto, Tuscany’s legendary whipped cream and chocolate dessert, it may not be nutritious, but it tastes very good.
