A Wedding for Bella (aka The Bread, My Sweet)
People use the word "sleeper" loosely, butA Wedding for Bella(released to theaters asThe Bread, My Sweet) truly fits the bill. This tiny-budgeted charmer had modest distribution, but managed to win over the audiences that stumbled across it. In order to please his beloved elders, an Italian-American (Scott Baio) plots to marry a woman (Kristin Minter) he doesn't even know, with much of the action set around the homey ethnic bakery he owns in Pittsburgh. Yes, it's all veryMoonstruck, but without the star power or the glossy finish; in fact, the production values (and some of the acting) in this film are variable to the point of clumsy. But there's a warm, intimate mood here that's inextricable from the homemade style. And, in an image-changing turn, former kid star Scott Baio delivers a terrific, assured performance. It's the biggest surprise in a sweet movie.--Robert Horton