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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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 Posted - 07/18/2010 : 18:39:55
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Okay, yet another classic "boy meets girl" story, but this one is just a cut above chick-flick status with it being based on a non-fiction book by the same name. Yes, there really is a Casa Juliet where lovelorn women from all over the world come and leave letters to Shakespeare's character telling her of their troubles. And yes, there is a Juliet Club (here called Juliet's Secretaries) who really do answer each and every letter they find there - and that's fantastic to imagine, in and of itself.
We stray from reality when a tourist Sophie (Amanda Seyfreid) finds out about this, and feeling there's a story in it (she's a wannabe writer working as a fact checker for the New Yorker magasine), says she'll help with the English letters. But then she finds a 50 year old letter that got caught inside the wall. Her first assignment with the club is to reply, herself. Things get really interesting, when the writer (Vanessa Redgrave) comes to Italy to see if she can find the man she wrote about, along with her "doubting-Thomas" grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan). With an even better story in the making, Sophie asks to come along for the ride.
You can already figure out the ending just from reading this, but it really doesn't matter. Redgrave is terribly charming, Egan and Seyfried work well together in their hate/love relationship, and a good script with intelligent, and often clever dialogue keeps this from becoming silly. What's the real kicker is the amazing scenery - Tuscany, ah who could resist falling in love there?
No, it isn't perfect, but it certainly is a lovely little feel-good romantic comedy that doesn't fall for slapstick or even fall flat when the inevitable happens. Hell, even Ebert liked it!
(Four out of five stars from me.)
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/22/2010 : 02:06:01
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Letters to Juliet
I saw this after Casablanca and Hair, which had put me into a good if poignant mood; while it isn't as good as those, I was in the frame of mind to throw myself into it and go along for the ride.
As C.L. indicates, the story is utterly predictable but it's also a very charming premise and I was pretty happy to buy into it (although I do wish the fifty-year-old letter weren't just behind a very loose stone). The main negative for me was the tedious stereotype of an upper-class British person, complete with faux accent; however, at least that turned out to be an awkward way to set up room for the character to improve. Redgrave gives a very nice performance, and at times I actually felt quite moved by the whole thing.
I gave it 3/5 yesterday but am upgrading that to 4/5 on the very welcome news that letters genuinely are written to Juliet and replied to. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 12/22/2010 : 09:26:30
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| Precisely! That loose stone bit was absurd. But it does make it more fun because it is based on the fact that for centuries women actually have been answering the letters that women leave for Juliet! |
Edited by - ChocolateLady on 12/22/2010 09:26:49 |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 12/26/2010 : 01:57:09
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| I've just had an instance of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon with this, having just seen the Juliet Club on Celebrity Coach Trip! |
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Letters to Juliet
