Letters to Juliet [Blu-ray]

Director: Gary Winick Gary Winick

Overview

An American girl discovers a love letter that changes her life in this romantic comedy starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave. The setting is Verona, Italy -- the city where Romeo and Juliet first met. In Verona, there's a wall where the lovelorn leave notes, hoping that Juliet will answer their inquiries about love. Sophie (Seyfried) is part of a team of volunteers who respond to the letters. When Sophie answers a letter from 1957, the woman who wrote it (Redgrave) decides to seek out the one that got away, and romance starts to blossom all around.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/14/2010
UPC:	0025192067495
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	PG
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	18,828

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Amanda Seyfried	Sophie
Vanessa Redgrave	Claire
Christopher Egan	Charlie
Luisa Ranieri	Isabella
Franco Nero	Lorenzo
Oliver Platt	Bobby
Marina Massironi	Francesca
Lydia Biondi	Donatella,Donatella
Milena Vukotic	Maria
Luisa De Santis	Angelina
Ashley Lilley	Patricia
Giordano Formenti	Viticoltore
Paolo Arvedi	Signor Ricci (Olive Farmer)
Remo Remotti	Farm House Lorenzo
Angelo Infanti	Chess Playing Lorenzo
Giacomo Piperno	Lorenzo on Lake
Fabio Testi	Count Lorenzo
Sara Armentano	Folks Home Nurse
Benito Deotto	Folkm Home Lorenzo
Marcello Catania	Take Him Lorenzo
Silvana Bosi	Take Him Lorenzo's Wife
Elio Veller	Grocer Lorenzo
Sandro Dori	Priest Lorenzo
Adriano Guerri	Waiter Lorenzo
Stefano Gerrino	Lorenzo - Grandson
Daniel Baldock	Lorenzo - Father
Dario Conti	Cheese Supplier
Ivana Lotito	Young Girl
Antonio Randazzo	Delivery Man
Robbie Neigeborn	Sign Maker
Hilary Edson	Receptionist
Marcia DeBonis	Lorraine
Gael García Bernal	Victor
Gabriele Manfredi	Lorenzo
Uzimann	Hot Dog Vendor
Gael Garcia Bernal	Actor
Andrea Guerra	Composer

Technical Credits

Tim Sullivan

José Rivera

Gary Winick	Director
Tim Sullivan	Screenwriter
Mark Canton	Producer
Caroline Kaplan	Producer
Ellen Barkin	Producer
Ron Schmidt	Executive Producer,Producer
Cindy Tolan	Casting
Ellen Lewis	Casting
Beatrice Kruger	Casting
Franco Salamon	Stunts
José Rivera	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Patrick Wachsberger	Producer
Maurizio Argentieri	Sound Effects,Sound Mixer
Ryan Collison	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Amanda Seyfried seems to be stuck in a rut with a recent string of bland romantic comedies in which she plays wide-eyed young women in pursuit of love, and nothing's really changed with her latest film, Letters to Juliet, a syrupy romantic comedy that takes a page from the ultimate love-story playbook, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. But unlike the Elizabethan-era play, Letters unfolds as a perfectly pleasant story that's neither epic nor abysmal. Despite being set against inviting backdrops of aging villas and rolling countrysides, and being populated by charming locals, the story unfolds anticlimactically. The film starts off with a good premise, but takes entirely too long to get to the meat of the story, and while a film that promises romance should deliver on that concept, director Gary Winick fails to get the audience emotionally invested in the characters or their love lives. Sophie (Seyfried), a twentysomething fact checker for The New Yorker, and her restaurateur fiancé, Victor (Gael García Bernal), travels to Verona, Italy, for their "pre-wedding honeymoon," where she meets a group of volunteers who respond to letters written to Juliet seeking romantic advice. After unearthing a letter that had been lost for 50 years, Sophie responds, only to be stunned when its author, Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), arrives in Italy with uptight grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), to find her long lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini (played by Redgrave's real-life husband, Franco Nero). Fascinated by Claire's quest, Sophie accompanies them on a trek through the hills of Tuscany, where adventure awaits them. The requisite hate-at-first-sight that transpires when Sophie meets Charlie, a cynic when it come to matters of the heart, truly rubs Sophie the wrong way, but also, as these stories go, turns her on; in theory this should make for a steamy romance, but in actuality it comes across as quite boring. Their chemistry seems to be lacking and, save for a single moonlight kiss on a grassy knoll, Seyfried and Egan's relationship falls flat. Still, between bright smiles and teary-eyed confessions, Amanda Seyfried is just darn likeable, and though her character lacks depth, the fact that she so strongly believes in true love is almost enough to make even the most hardened moviegoer want to believe. For all of its sticking points, the film is saved by a radiant Vanessa Redgrave, who gives a graceful and poignant performance as the elegant Claire looking for her Italian beau, and adds some much-needed romance to this romantic comedy. The audience really roots for her, and when she inevitably finds her Lorenzo, the moment is touching and worth the wait. For a movie so predictable, you would think that screenwriters Jose Rivera and Tim Sullivan would come up with a new way to tell the same old story, but ultimately, while the concept of "true love" makes some roll their eyes, this film appeals to the hardcore believer.

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