You, Me and Tuscany Review: Surprisingly Riveting Rom-Com Breathes New Life into Tired Tropes

Honestly, I was pretty trepidatious heading into You, Me and Tuscany. Straight rom-coms are already a hard sell for me in general and the film’s first trailer did not present it in a good light, making it look like the exact same story we’ve seen regularly spat out as streaming service filler content but with a slightly higher budget and star power. But much to my surprise, the finished film is very much not that.

While it does tread familiar territory, it does so in a way that feels very fresh and vibrant. It takes the time needed to let its unique cast of characters, particularly our romantic leads, grow and develop organically. And though it may indulge in some of the common contrivances of the romantic comedy genre, it never dwells on them for so long as to be obnoxious. So many of these movies fall into the trap of becoming a trope checklist but You, Me and Tuscany deftly avoids similar pitfalls at every turn.

What is You, Me and Tuscany about?

Our story begins as Anna, an aspiring chef turned professional house sitter played by Halle Bailey, is having a particularly bad day, losing her job and her housing in one fell swoop. With nothing left but a scrap of savings and a plane ticket to Italy, Anna decides in desperation to crash at a supposedly empty villa belonging to Matteo, an Italian real estate agent played by Lorenzo de Moor she just happened to have a run-in with recently.

Hijinks begin to ensue when Matteo’s family unexpectedly drops in on her at the villa. Anna gets caught up in a lie about her being Matteo’s fiancé that only causes more hijinks to ensue when she starts getting legitimate feelings for Matteo’s adopted brother Michael, a vineyard owner played by Regé-Jean Page. Will our underdog heroine find a way out of this mess and into true love? Yeah probably, but figuring out how is half the fun.

You, Me and Tuscany Review

My biggest fear going into You, Me and Tuscany was its clear and heavy reliance on the “Liar Revealed” trope. While not inherently bad, this particular type of story has been so overused and is so easy to get wrong that I was fully prepared to roll my eyes at the irrational piling on of lies against the person’s own self-interest or the forced drama when the truth finally comes out. But while versions of those things do happen, they do it in a way that makes sense for the established characters.

Anna spiraling further and further into lies that are only going to come back to bite her is a lot easier to stomach coming from a character that is already established as not really having any other options. And without spoiling too much, the emotional fallout of the inevitable reveal is built on the established bonds of the characters, rather than having the characters arbitrarily abandon those bonds for the sake of upping the tension.

And those characters are where You, Me and Tuscany shines the brightest. Plenty of rom-coms attempt to create a down-to-earth relatable heroine but they very rarely do it as authentically as seen here with Halle Bailey’s Anna. We aren’t just told that she’s struggling, we see her struggles, and Bailey’s performance imbues the character with an authentic “I’m just trying to get through the day” energy that makes her both grounded and easy to root for.

Admittedly, Regé-Jean Page as Michael is more coasting on the actor’s looks and recognizability, but the man has more than enough natural charisma to make up for it and I do appreciate that they go out of their way to give him and Anna plenty of common ground and sincere bonding moments so that the two ending up together feels like the natural direction of who they are as people rather than a predetermined conclusion of a fixed plot structure.

Also, the supporting cast is just delightful. There’s a sincere attempt to turn Lorenzo de Moor’s Matteo into more than just “the other guy,” and while I don’t know if it fully lands, the effort is appreciated. Stella Pecollo as Auntie Francesca and Aziza Scott as Anna’s best friend Claire probably got the biggest laughs out of me throughout. And Marco Calvani as Lorenzo, the cab driver, weirdly ends up being the heart of the whole thing. He’s just so wholesome and supportive and brings such positive vibes that you can’t help but smile whenever he’s on screen.

Lastly, while this should probably go without saying, the film is gorgeous to look at. Granted, when you’re shooting on location in Tuscany, that’s kind of a given. But director Kat Coiro and her team have done a genuinely great job highlighting the vibrant color and beauty of the region and its architecture with sweeping landscape shots and cinematography that highlights the unique structure of its buildings.

Is You, Me and Tuscany worth watching?

At the end of the day, the most important things for a romantic comedy to nail are the two elements right in the name and You, Me and Tuscany does in fact nail both of those things. This is easily the most I’ve laughed in a live-action film since last year’s Naked Gun and while a lesbian like myself is hardly the target audience (and I did find myself impatiently tapping my foot in some of the shirtless scenes), the film still successfully got me invested in Anna and Michael’s story. It’s still fairly predictable and certain elements could’ve been more fleshed out, but compared to most of its rom-com contemporaries, it is a huge breath of fresh air.

You, Me and Tuscany arrives in theaters April 10.