You, Me & Tuscany, just another rom-com? Not exactly | Film Review

It was love at first fight. You, Me & Tuscany tells the story of an unexpected romance blooming in a tight-knit Italian community. It may be just another rom-com to some, but it’s garnered some importance even outside of the film itself.

You, Me, and Tuscany | Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Just to make you aware, there will be spoilers in this review, so keep that in mind if you want to continue reading. But I’m pretty excited to talk about this film, so let’s get started.

You, Me & Tuscany follows Anna, a young woman pretending to live a life that is not her own. After dreaming of visiting Italy with her late mother, she books a trip to Tuscany and ends up caught in a lie involving Matteo and his family.

Once she arrives, Anna keeps the lie going by claiming she is set to marry Matteo. But while trying to keep up appearances, she unexpectedly starts developing real feelings for Michael. But it didn't start off that way.

This film basically followed the blueprint for a rom-com, and in this instance, I feel they purposely cheesed it up even more.

The disastrous meet-up, the sassy best friend, the remeet at dinner, the sun "date", wrong assumptions, running to catch the bus in this instance, kissing in the rain, and the super oddly invested strangers. It’s all there.

There are themes of:

• grief

• identity

• family

• forgiveness

• second chances

Anna arrives in Tuscany alone. But by the end, she has something she didn’t come there for: a family.

And even though her lie causes chaos, it also pushes people to confront truths in their own family. Matteo’s family has issues of their own. Michael is dealing with the loss of his parents. Anna is dealing with grief. So underneath the comedy, there are people with emotional baggage pretending they’re fine.

And it wasn't just like an enemy-to-lovers thing. I believe Michael had suspicions of Anna after not seeing her in any photos with Matteo. But they spent so much time together, and they both fell hard.

Matteo is an interesting character because he’s part of the problem, but also, if Anna hadn't met him, she probably wouldn't have taken that step to go to Tuscany. He goes along with her lie for family reasons, but again makes everything worse by "cheating." But in the end, it literally worked out for everyone.

One thing I asked myself while watching was, who is actually the antagonist here?

Is it Matteo?

Is it Isabella?

Or is it Anna’s dishonesty?

Because most of the conflict starts from one lie that keeps growing. Is the villain not be a person?

Some moments I enjoyed. There were some fun references to The Bear, Get Out, and Bridgerton. “Let Me Love You” was also used as diegetic music in the film, meaning it exists inside the world of the story and not just for us as the audience. We get to hear Halle and Rege-Jean both sing a bit. And the people on that tour bus seeing Anna and Michael both times were pretty funny.

If I personally got caught in a lie like that, I'd just leave and never return, but Anna and Michael got their happily ever after.

Is this film for everyone? No. It's unrealistic. But I feel this film comes with some importance after filmmaker Nina Lee said studios are watching the performance of this film before moving forward with her project. However, I think the last update I saw was that her film will screen at the American Black Film Festival this year so that's better than nothing.

It’s unfortunate and unfair, but it also serves as an important reminder that if this is something you are into, don’t wait for streaming. Go see it on the big screen while you can and enjoy your moviegoing experience.

And that concludes my review. I think You, Me & Tuscany is one of those films that are just meant to be fun. We can still enjoy films for what they are and what they are meant to be: romance and comedy.