REVIEW: LETTERS TO JULIET

Amanda Seyfried is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's hottest new actresses and after watching Letters To Juliet, I could not help but be reminded of a young Michelle Pfeiffer with her engaging demeanour and pensive eyes. The film centers around Sophie (Seyfried) who decides to go on a trip to Italy with her fiancé Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal). They both have very different agendas though. Victor is a Restauranteur there to do research. Seyfried, a Writer and Fact Checker by-day is there simply to enjoy herself and the gaps in her relationship with Victor become more and more apparent throughout their trip.

Sophie one day decides to visit Casa Di Giulietta (Juliet's House) where heartbroken women leave letters stuck to its wall in hopes of getting romantic advice back - a longtime tradition. She stumbles upon a team of women, or Juliet's Secretaries, who actually respond to these letters in writing and Sophie is fascinated by this. She stumbles upon a 50 year-old letter from a British woman named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) who missed out on an opportunity for true love while visiting Italy in her youth. Sophie makes it a mission to help Claire find her true love Lorenzo, but she is met with challenge from her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), who is afraid to see his grandmother get hurt.

Letters To Juliet is heart-warming. The story never gets too involved; it is straight-forward, light and touching all at once. It is far from perfect though.  Perhaps it is a bit hasty for director Gary Winick to assume the audience could believe Sophie ever saw anything genuine in Victor with so little in common between them. Even the excellent Gael Garcia Bernal could not save a weakly developed character. Redgrave is just lovely in her doe-eyed optimism for love even at her ripe age and without her, this film just would not survive on its own.  Disarmingly handsome Australian actor Christopher Egan is very capable as Sophie's possible love interest, but surely even he must have felt awkward with with Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan's terribly cliched dialogue at the end of the film.

Summit Entertainment's Letters to Juliet is now in wide release and if you're looking for a fluffy love story with a bit of genuine heart, you'll be pleasantly surprised.  I challenge you not to want to visit Italy after seeing how beautifully it is depicted here with sweeping landscapes and rustic architecture.  Grade: B