'Letters To Juliet'

'Letters To Juliet' (PG) (3 stars)

Writers: Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan
Director: Gary Winick
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Egan, Gael Garcia Bernal, Franco Nero

"Letters To Juliet" is a romantic, sun drenched film that is beautiful to look at and puts you at ease. This is what the romantic comedy should be like instead of the obnoxious dreck that has been forced down our throats lately. It is not a great movie but it is not forced, it is relaxing and very charming just by being itself, nothing more. It also has another radiant and nice performance by Amanda Seyfried who just looks beautiful in front of the breathtaking Italian locations. The camera loves her, it loves her big, piercing blue eyes and she has that screen presence that spells out star quality. After another good showing by her in this movie she will be getting a lot more roles soon. The movie is also very beautiful to look at like I mentioned before. The movie for the most part takes place in Tuscany, Italy and boy does it make you want to go right away. I have been to Tuscany, it is my favorite place that I visited in Italy, and it captures it just right. Seyfried plays Sophie who is engaged to a man who will soon be opening a restaurant in New York. The boyfriend is very well played by Gael Garcia Bernal who is also pretty easy on the eyes. Before he opens the restaurant the couple decide to go to Italy for a honeymoon before the wedding. As they do their separate things Juliet finds a group of ladies who answer lovelorn letters from women who have had their hearts broken. When women are dumped or lose their loved ones they write letters to Juliet of "Romeo and Juliet" fame, stick them on a wall and then they are collected. Sophie finds a letter hidden about a woman who left her true love to soon and longs to see him again. She tracks down the woman played by Vanessa Redgrave and also meets her stuffy British son. We pretty much know where this is all headed but we don't care. Seyfried is beautiful and makes an impression like Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams have made earlier in their careers. This young woman is going to be a huge star! I loved seeing Vanessa Redgrave who still looks beautiful and when she meets up with her Lorenzo, played by the legendary Franco Nero our hearts still melt. The romance between Sophie and the son is charming and nicely felt. The movie is also beautiful to look at, like a picture perfect postcard. This isn't a very good movie but it is not annoying and it gets the job done. It actually reminded me of "The Notebook" but it is actually better because it doesn't try to hit us over the head.