Letters to Juliet
Is it really so hard to make a romantic comedy-drama this sweet, this lovely, this fresh nowadays? (And yes, I’m aware of how dumb this question is.) Here’s a film that belongs with my favorites of the genre over the past 10 or so years- think “The Holiday,” “Simply Irresistible,” and “(500) Days of Summer”- in how it made me feel about the possibilities and passion that love can lead to, and also follows the letter of the formula to the end.
But what an earned end- we follow the characters to that end in ways that are not out of character, and that feel real. Yes, it’s still slight, and still pretty predictable (especially if you’ve seen the trailer), but you gotta love that warm feeling the film makes you feel.
if it does nothing else, Gary Winick’s film further solidifies both my crush- and the rising stardom- of Amanda Seyfried, who since appearing in “Mamma Mia!” has built a solid resume for herself, even if some of the films haven’t been that solid (“Dear John”- yeah; “Jennifer’s Body”- eh). She plays Sophie, a “New Yorker” fact-checker who really wants to write her own stuff. When she and her fiancee Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal) go on a pre-honeymoon in Verona, she finds her opportunity. Sightseeing while Victor- a budding restaurateur- is looking for possible supplies (I know; do I need to say it?), she comes across the Juliet Wall, where the broken-hearted come to write letters to Shakespeare’s most enduring romantic character for guidance. When the crowd is gone, a woman comes to collect the letters, and a group of them write back as Juliet.
While doing this, Sophie begins to help the cause. But when the grandson of one of the woman written back comes to confront the women- his grandmother (the great Vanessa Redgrave) was so inspired to come back to Verona and find her long-lost love- a romantic adventure occurs that’ll change everything for both women.
This is pure Hollywood concoction, but in the best way. This is what happens when people, from “Charlotte’s Web” director Winick to screenwriters Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan, are allowed to be unabashedly sentimental and sweet onscreen, but are also capable of real intelligence and heart. Of course, it helps when you put together a can’t-miss romantic premise (uncluttered by vulgarity- that PG rating is truly a blessing nowadays) with filmmakers genuinely passionate about the story their telling and actors who can make it come alive onscreen. Seyfried and Redgrave are the key performances, but it just wouldn’t work without newcomer Christopher Egan as Charles, Redgrave’s grandson, who is genuinely concerned for her, but also learns a few things about real love along the way. Of course he’ll find himself falling for Sophie by the end, but would you have it any other way? The most important part is how it comes about, and I defy even the most hardened romantic cynic not to feel a little better about love after watching this film.
