"Letters to Juliet" tells the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), an American girl who is visiting Italy with her fiancé. While in Italy, Sophie and her fiancé go separate ways to explore the various aspects of Italy. Sophie stumbles across the famous "Juliet wall" where she finds a letter written fifty years ago that has never been answered. Sophie joins the secretaries of Juliet and writes a letter back to Claire (Vanessa Redgrave). After waiting fifty years, Claire is amazed to get a response and immediately travels with her grandson Charlie (Chris Egan) to see just who Juliet is. What happens next is where the adventure begins as Sophie, Claire, and Charlie go on a quest to find Lorenzo Bartolini, a man Claire had fell in love with 50 years ago.
Being a huge fan of Amanda Seyfried, I was super excited to read about the premiere of "Letters to Juliet" at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and I knew I had to go. After seeing "Letters to Juliet" I am happy to report that the film is better than the trailers lead you to believe. Not saying that the trailers are particularly bad but just make the film seem rather average. The movie itself is a love story but you know that going into it and the films script has enough going for it that you can really appreciate the film and leave with a smile on your face.
The story in "Letters of Juliet" is basically the tale of true love never dies. Sure we have been down this road before and we can all predict whats going to happen at the end of the film. What the writers do however, is create an interesting back story and decent character development. This is really what separates a good script from a bad one even if the story you are telling is a bit clichéd. The sub plot of this film, which I won't give a way, almost follows the same story as "Leap Year" which bombed earlier this year. The problem with "Leap Year" was the unlikable one dimensional characters. In this film that sub plot works because of the character development and background. Not to mention, Amanda Seyfried and Chris Egan actually have chemistry with one another.
Amanda Seyfried has an actress just continues to impress me. I have seen her in a lot of different roles now from "Jennifer's Body" to "Chloe" and she definitely does a great job with everything she does. This was probably one of her least challenging roles to date, if you want my honest opinion, because of how simple the story itself was. The thing with Amanda is that she is just a joy to watch on screen. She has a great on screen presence, which is important for an actress. Vanessa Redgrave does a great job playing her role. Her role is similar to Gena Rowland's role in the Notebook but with a more upbeat tone to it. Chris Egan does a good job with the material at hand and as I mentioned above has some good chemistry with Amanda. The casting for this flick was pretty solid and everyone did well with their roles.
Director, Gary Winick, really captured Italy's beauty on the big screen. I think what most people talked about after leaving the movie yesterday was just how beautiful the film itself was. It is also good to point out that the film was actually shot in Italy. I think that's a plus especially since nowadays most people don't shoot on location. The directing was solid but for this type of flick it didn't take much. I guess capturing the characters emotions without going overly sappy was definitely a plus and I applaud Winick for doing that. Oh and one side note, the use of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" song was used perfectly in this film. It just fit the scene perfectly.
In the end, "Letters to Juliet" is a good mix of "Leap Year" and "The Notebook." What makes the film work is it's actors who really shine as well as the interesting take on a love story. Lots of the film tends to be rather clichéd and you can see where the film is going within the first 10 minutes but that is to be expected. What you do get is a feel good movie that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. Women will eat this one up and I am sure a lot of guys may kick and moan when they have to sit through it. I personally thought it was good for what it was and managed to be touching without being overly sappy, something I hated about "The Notebook." "Letters for Juliet" is a innocent and heartfelt movie about love and if you don't expect too much from it, you will probably find yourself enjoying it.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Letters to Juliet" is a 7 out of 10.
Being a huge fan of Amanda Seyfried, I was super excited to read about the premiere of "Letters to Juliet" at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and I knew I had to go. After seeing "Letters to Juliet" I am happy to report that the film is better than the trailers lead you to believe. Not saying that the trailers are particularly bad but just make the film seem rather average. The movie itself is a love story but you know that going into it and the films script has enough going for it that you can really appreciate the film and leave with a smile on your face.
The story in "Letters of Juliet" is basically the tale of true love never dies. Sure we have been down this road before and we can all predict whats going to happen at the end of the film. What the writers do however, is create an interesting back story and decent character development. This is really what separates a good script from a bad one even if the story you are telling is a bit clichéd. The sub plot of this film, which I won't give a way, almost follows the same story as "Leap Year" which bombed earlier this year. The problem with "Leap Year" was the unlikable one dimensional characters. In this film that sub plot works because of the character development and background. Not to mention, Amanda Seyfried and Chris Egan actually have chemistry with one another.
Amanda Seyfried has an actress just continues to impress me. I have seen her in a lot of different roles now from "Jennifer's Body" to "Chloe" and she definitely does a great job with everything she does. This was probably one of her least challenging roles to date, if you want my honest opinion, because of how simple the story itself was. The thing with Amanda is that she is just a joy to watch on screen. She has a great on screen presence, which is important for an actress. Vanessa Redgrave does a great job playing her role. Her role is similar to Gena Rowland's role in the Notebook but with a more upbeat tone to it. Chris Egan does a good job with the material at hand and as I mentioned above has some good chemistry with Amanda. The casting for this flick was pretty solid and everyone did well with their roles.
Director, Gary Winick, really captured Italy's beauty on the big screen. I think what most people talked about after leaving the movie yesterday was just how beautiful the film itself was. It is also good to point out that the film was actually shot in Italy. I think that's a plus especially since nowadays most people don't shoot on location. The directing was solid but for this type of flick it didn't take much. I guess capturing the characters emotions without going overly sappy was definitely a plus and I applaud Winick for doing that. Oh and one side note, the use of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" song was used perfectly in this film. It just fit the scene perfectly.
In the end, "Letters to Juliet" is a good mix of "Leap Year" and "The Notebook." What makes the film work is it's actors who really shine as well as the interesting take on a love story. Lots of the film tends to be rather clichéd and you can see where the film is going within the first 10 minutes but that is to be expected. What you do get is a feel good movie that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy. Women will eat this one up and I am sure a lot of guys may kick and moan when they have to sit through it. I personally thought it was good for what it was and managed to be touching without being overly sappy, something I hated about "The Notebook." "Letters for Juliet" is a innocent and heartfelt movie about love and if you don't expect too much from it, you will probably find yourself enjoying it.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Letters to Juliet" is a 7 out of 10.