LOS ANGELES, April 9 (UPI) -- Of all the movie genres, romantic-comedy seems most forgiving of formulaic cliches. Despite all that goodwill, You, Me and Tuscany, in theaters Friday, squanders its cast's chemistry with insulting scenarios and redundant machinations.
Anna (Halle Bailey) spends a night with Matteo Costa (Lorenzo de Moor), who encourages her to fulfill her dream of visiting Italy, even though she just got fired and has no money. Anna takes the leap, but didn't research the summer festival that has all the hotels in Tuscany booked.
But, she saved a picture of Matteo's family house, and since she knows he's traveling for business, Anna crashes there. Immediately, his mother, Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) and Nonna (Stefania Casini) catch her there.
Due to shenanigans involving an engagement ring that won't come off, they assume Anna is Matteo's fiance. Needless to say, this complicates things when Anna actually falls for Matteo's cousin, Michael (Regé-Jean Page).
The filmmakers seem to think this is so complicated it needs to be repeated after every scene. This is a recent Hollywood mandate to have characters restate their situations scene by scene.
