Packed full of sappy Hallmark moments, Letters to Juliet is another cushy effort from director Gary Winick, a rom-com regular responsible for the mishap that was last year’s Bride Wars. This time round, he’s taken a leaf from Mamma Mia! and Julie & Julia’s book by taking the romance on a scenic European road-trip, bringing the genre’s go-to gal Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!, Dear John) along for the ride. I daresay it almost pays off as the framing premise about finding an old flame some fifty years later is actually quite endearing. But before long, the genre clichés start to pile up, the attempts at comedy repeatedly fall flat and the chemistry between Seyfried and co-star Christopher Egan (Crush, Eragon) fizzles before it even sparks.
Seyfried stars as Sophie, an aspiring writer for a New York newspaper who travels Verona with her fiancé Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), a passionate chef, for a romantic getaway. Victor, however, decides to take their holiday as an opportunity to source some fine wines and cheeses for his new restaurant, leaving Sophie to wander through the city of love on her lonesome. While sightseeing, Sophie stumbles upon the supposed grave of the Shakespearean heroine Juliet, now a wall where broken hearted women leave notes in a hope that Juliet – or her “secretaries” — will reply.
Hidden inside a gap in the wall, Sophie discovers a 50 year old unanswered message from a then-teenage Englishwoman named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) who reluctantly had to leave behind her true love Lorenzo to return back home. Sophie decides to respond to the letter despite the decades that have passed, telling Claire that true love from yesteryear is no less true now. It’s enough to motivate the now 70 year-old to return to Verona to find Lorenzo, aided by her obnoxious grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) who is, of course, a disbeliever in true love. Sensing the makings of a good story, Sophie decides to tag along and help find Claire’s long-lost sweetheart, but (surprise!) she ultimately finds love herself.
“Take a risk and follow your heart!” tout screenwriters Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan, a bit of hypocritical message given that they themselves fail to take any chances, letting the inevitable romance play out in the most derivative and dull fashion imaginable. While the family-friendly rating does more damage than good – I don’t recall a single sensual moment in the film – the film’s biggest issue is that Winick’s direction sits idly in cruise-control, plodding along like a Sunday driver with nary a care in the world. There’s scarcely a hint of tension to events; no emotional distinction between the dramatic highs and lows. If you’re not careful, exhaling might just blow this cinematic fluff right out of existence.
Perhaps if the budding romance between Sophie and Charlie were at all convincing, there would have been something beyond the picturesque Italian countryside to relish. But Chris Egan’s forced and charmless performance means he doesn’t ever stop being the snotty English prat we’re first introduced to, thus making his cheesy balcony climbing antics in the last reel seem all but sincere. Amanda Seyfried fairs slightly better as Sophie, yet she doesn’t really sparkle as much as the film requires, particularly when compared to former screen queen Vanessa Redgrave (Julia, The Gathering Storm). A grey head of hair hasn’t taken at all from Redgrave’s allure, managing to make even the clumsiest dialogue sound wholesome. She is a rose amongst thorns, although credit must also go out to Gael Garcia Bernal (The Limits of Control, Babel) as the likeably-unlikable Victor. He is the only character within the film believably in love. It just so happens to be with his stomach.
Verdict:
Diabetics steer clear; so awfully saccharine is the derivative romantic drama Letters to Juliet, it may induce a hyperglycemic coma.
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