{"id":7996053,"date":"2026-04-08T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7996053"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:21:31","slug":"you-me-and-tuscany-review-halle-bailey-rege-jean-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/reviews\/you-me-and-tuscany-review-halle-bailey-rege-jean-page\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You, Me & Tuscany’ Review: Halle Bailey and Reg\u00e9-Jean Page Fall in Love in Wish Fulfillment Overload"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

“You, Me & Tuscany\u201d is porn. Food porn, that is, and one wishes it were more hardcore \u2013 more<\/em> risotto, more bruschetta, more polenta, puh-lease. Though it\u2019s a bad sign when a rom-com with great-looking people and lovely scenery leaves you asking, \u201cCould you show me more food?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This faded mimeograph of rom-coms past expects us to care that directionless Anna (Halle Bailey), who gave up on a career as a chef when her mom died, lies her way into a Tuscan family\u2019s good graces, then has difficulty extracting herself from the situation because, you know, feelings. Anna almost has a one-night stand with Italian guy Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) in a New York hotel; while he\u2019s sleeping, she grabs pictures from his phone of the Tuscan villa his ultra-rich family gave him, but which he doesn\u2019t use because he ran away to pursue his dream of not doing what they wanted. Yes, that\u2019s creepy and even despicable of her, stealing data from her dozing one-nighter, but in the world of the movie, it\u2019s cool. Right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having $500 to her name, Anna uses an old ticket her mom got her to fulfill their dream of flying to Tuscany to garner inspiration for the restaurant they\u2019d hoped to open. Out of luck, she squats in Matteo\u2019s supposedly abandoned villa, tries on an engagement ring she finds in a drawer (as one does) and is discovered by his family. Let the cascade of lies rain down!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tStudios Are Monitoring 'You, Me & Tuscany' Box Office Before Buying More Black-Led Rom-Coms, Filmmaker Says<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, she meet-cutes the handsomest delivery guy in Italy, who turns out to be Matteo\u2019s cousin\/adoptive brother Michael (Reg\u00e9-Jean Page), and not a delivery guy, but the lonely, soulful owner of a vineyard and the family\u2019s good son. Most of the movie\u2019s VFX budget apparently went to painting out his halo. This is, indeed, another good-hearted peasant girl-rescued-by-handsome prince fairy tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You already know the rest. You\u2019ll recognize the cannibalized chunks from so many other rom-coms, some referenced directly. Think \u201cFrench Kiss,\u201d \u201cMy Big Fat Greek Wedding\u201d (Nia Vardalos has a cameo), \u201cUnder the Tuscan Sun,\u201d \u201cDoc Hollywood,\u201d even \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does belong to \u201cTuscany,\u201d which was written by Ryan Engle and directed by “Marry Me” filmmaker Kat Coiro? Well, they know they\u2019ve got a hottie in Page. Thus, a thirst-trap shot of water pouring on him, shirtless \u2013 in slow-motion, no less. And there are a few laughs, in volume about the equivalent of the freshly grated parmesan sprinkled atop a crisp arugula salad with pine nuts. OK, maybe I should have eaten before the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formulaic rom-coms demand certain structure, premises and character archetypes, and \u201cTuscany\u201d diligently provides. The script so plays down to its presumed audience that it opens with unnecessary expository narration, of which every factoid is reiterated soon after in even clumsier dialogue. The protagonist\u2019s journey is repeatedly spelled out, as we\u2019re told by multiple characters she lives other people\u2019s lives and needs to start living her own. As her lies compound, her cabbie friend says, \u201cMaybe by living a fake life, you\u2019ll find truth in your own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s one of those <\/em>rom-coms, in which the protagonist\u2019s deceptions would be unforgivable IRL, but in the fanciful world of big-screen, beautiful love, it\u2019s all somehow OK. Anna hasn\u2019t been thought through enough, and emotional truth is anathema to the whole exercise, so despite her opportunism and fecklessness, we\u2019re to believe this whole, close-knit family falls head over heels for her. Heck, when dreamy winery guy is explaining that Leonardo da Vinci <\/em>designed the airlocks on their wine barrels, she cuts him off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For someone whose passion is cooking, we don\u2019t get nearly enough of it from her \u2013 there\u2019s gorgeous food, but we don\u2019t see her doing much beyond some light chopping. Even if we\u2019re not meant to fully witness her culinary artistry until late, we never sense the love of it that we get from, say, \u201cBig Night,\u201d \u201cThe Taste of Things,\u201d \u201cChef,\u201d \u201cThe Bear,\u201d or so many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thumbnail-sketched locals are cutely depicted in a \u201cThis is what small-town Italians are like, right?\u201d way. There\u2019s no rooster on the villa grounds, but each day is broken by an opera-singing worker. The life-feasting sister-in-law is having an affair with the plumber \u2013 no, he\u2019s not named Mario, that would be ridiculous. He\u2019s Luigi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stella Pecollo as sister-in-law Francesca and Marco Calvani as cabbie friend Lorenzo score comic points. As patriarch Vincenzo and matriarch Gabriella, respectively, Paolo Sassanelli and Isabella Ferrari win us over \u2013 which works against the film\u2019s need to paper over Anna\u2019s terrible behavior. We don\u2019t want to see these people hurt, to have their hopes dashed. But luckily, emotional truth isn\u2019t in the recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou, Me & Tuscany\u201d delivers the rom-com meat and potatoes: The beats, the scenery, and the great-looking people consumers expect. But it\u2019s strictly fast food, when the sun-kissed Tuscan countryside, with its porcini, pecorino and Cinta Senese pork was there to savor with a nice chianti.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tHow \u2018Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u2019 Director BenDavid Grabinski Pulled Off His Time Travel Gangster Romantic Comedy<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Find every rom-com trope under the Tuscan sun in this by-the-numbers romance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10066,"featured_media":7987147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":511434,"post_id":7729740}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"fbc26c31-0bb2-4ce8-84ce-d208e907571d","nb_breaking_template":"single-story.html","nb_breaking_from_name":"TheWrap","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":7555403,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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