Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 4.0
Audrey Wells' (not) formulaic chick flick
Frances Mayes' well-known book is only a starting point for this screenplay adaptation by screenwriter/director Audrey Wells. Though the movie diverges quite widely from the book, Mayes herself says it captures her book's spirit, so that's good enough for me. There are some complaints here on these review pages about this being a 'formulaic chick flick,' but it's subversively anything but. Director Wells correctly points out in the 'Making Of' featurette that at the very moment in the chick flick formula where the love interest is supposed to appear (approx. 30 minutes in), we get a head fake...in fact, we get two of them & a true love interest appears only as an afterthought. Instead, Wells keeps the focus on Lane's character's efforts to establish a household and fill it with love. It's left to Raoul Bova (outstanding as Real Estate agent Marcello) to point out that Frances has done just that, right under her own nose. It's a superb moment.As an added bonus, it's a hoot for anyone who's watched "Grey's Anatomy" to see Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh here together...as a couple no less.