“Letters to Juliet” may seem like the typical, overdramatized chick flick, and in some respects, its storyline and theme follow that pattern, but the comedic character of Charlie (Christopher Egan) and his chemistry with Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) lighten the mood and emphasize the happiness of falling in love.
Fact checker and aspiring writer Sophie finds herself in Verona, Italy, with her fiancé, Victor (Gael García Bernal), on a pre-honeymoon. Victor chooses to focus on finding authentic Italian suppliers for his new restaurant rather than doting on his fun-loving fiancée.
Less than 20 minutes into the film, I found it impossible to even see one reason as to why these two were getting married. The film made it seem as if the two lovers (if they can even be called that) had no chemistry or apparent emotional attachment to one another.
Luckily, I could stay entertained just by paying attention to the beautiful Italian scenery and Sophie’s uncanny ability to find adventure.
Outside of Juliet’s balcony, from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Sophie sees women writing letters to the famous Juliet and leaving them on the wall beneath her balcony.
As the day ends, Sophie sees a woman taking all of the letters from the wall and decides to stalk her all the way to the office of the Secretaries of Juliet, a service employed by the city of Verona to write letters back to these heartbroken women. Sophie’s eyes light up as she realizes that she found her niche in Italy and a new way to spend her vacation since her fiancé cannot seem to be bothered to spend time with her.
Sophie’s next action determines her true destiny as she writes a letter to a woman named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) about how she must seize the opportunity to find her true love because true love never fades. The catch is that this letter had been addressed to Juliet 50 years earlier.
In less than a week, an angered, attractive young Brit, Charlie, appears at the door of the Secretaries of Juliet, demanding to know who wrote the letter to his grandmother Claire. From Charlie’s first encounter with the audience, I already knew how sassy and sarcastic he would be throughout the remainder of the film, and I was delighted. This sappy chick flick quickly turned into a constant cat fight between Charlie and Sophie.
Sophie asks to accompany Charlie and Claire on their search for Claire’s lover, Lorenzo Bartolini (Franco Nero) and to write a story about their experiences.
Charlie is infuriated and frankly, his British accent is so much cuter when he’s angry. His cynical sass and general attractiveness makes up for Victor’s failed attempt at romance.
Of course Charlie and Sophie fall in love while traipsing around Italy, but what is most important about their love story is the carefree nature of their relationship. Also, Sophie gains the mother-figure (Claire) she’s craved her entire adult life, since her own mother left her at the age of nine. Claire, Charlie, and Sophie form a new kind of family on their journey.
As expected, Claire finds her true love, the right Lorenzo, after days of arduously searching the area of Sienna. As Sophie leaves to head home, Charlie realizes that he cannot live without her but feels that his hope is a lost cause seeing as Sophie is supposedly happily engaged.
When Victor ruins his last chance at a working marriage with Sophie, she decides to go to Claire and Lorenzo’s wedding solo to mend things with Charlie.
The directors made the perfect decision to start playing Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” as Sophie searches the crowd for Charlie. After an overemotional reading of the original letter Sophie had written to Claire, Sophie runs from the wedding reception only to be preciously chased after by Charlie.
The overly romantic backdrop of Italy makes “Letters to Juliet” the perfect date movie and makes every single girl want to find her own Charlie, complete with a British accent and fabulous hair.
For a girls’ night out at the movies that won’t require a box of tissues, “Letters to Juliet” is perfect.
Katie Clarke can be reached for comment at [email protected]