Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 1.0
Misses the Mark
Bottom Line: If you loved or even liked the book, this movie will most likely be a great disappointment to you! As another reviewer rightly assessed, obviously the screenwriter could not make enough of the book as it stood (no fault of the book) and therefore made liberal changes of great magnitude to the point where the two have little more in common than a villa in Tuscany. The film does not capture the spirit of the book, which is that Frances and her best friend Ed are so comfortable in their mutual love and lives together that their joie de vivre naturally extends to the villa, transforming it from a shambles to a beautiful piece of antiquity, as well as to their new surroundings in Italy (the town and people of Cortona). To their great joy and surprise, Italy embraces them as well. The book has nothing to do with the Diane Lane character, who spends most of the film looking for love in the wrong places (or crying over love lost due to poor choices), while restoration of the villa and discovery of her new surroundings become a dim backdrop to her own shallow escapades and the problems of her girlfriend (both figments of the screenwriter's imagination). What a shame that such a beautifully written book got lost in this poorly written and acted film.