Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 3.0
Better Than the Book
After years of assuming that the movie is not as good as the book it is based on, I have come across a run of movies that are a real improvement over the books. Freaky Friday, A Year in Provence (a TV miniseries), and now Under the Tuscan Sun.Under the Tuscan Sun is not a great movie, but it is pleasant and fun to watch. The book was pleasant as well, but Frances Mayes, the author of the book, did not seem like an easy person to know and came across as a bit of a snob. She was almost insufferable in her sequel book, Bella Tuscany.Diane Lane, as Frances Mayes in the movie, plays a different and more likeable character. In fact, about the only thing that is the same in the movie as in the book is that the house is called Bramasole and is in Tuscany.The Tuscan and San Francisco scenery is beautiful, Frances's Italian boyfriend is gorgeous (those lips!), and the plots weave their way to a happy, if unlikely, ending.Much of the story doesn't stand up well to scrutiny, but this isn't the sort of movie you really analyze too closely. Otherwise the eccentric character played by Lindsay Duncan, the spur-of-the-moment purchase of a Tuscan villa, and even the kitten on the beach, would all seem more than a little contrived.So enjoy this movie for what it is: a chick flick, date movie, or a bit of fluffy escapism to see once.