April Movies: The Drama and You, Me & Tuscany

Are you looking for a romantic comedy? Or a romantic dramedy? Dive right in to hear about one of each!

The Drama: Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, let me first say that I wouldn't be surprised if this movie got nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar next year. It features a bizarre and intriguing premise that just keeps ratcheting up the tension for the entire film until we get a glorious catharsis at the end, and boy did I enjoy it. But also, that makes this movie very difficult to write about, because I am loath to spoil a second of it for you.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson star as Emma and Charlie, a gorgeous couple who met in a coffee shop and are now in the throes of wedding preparations, a week out from the big day. As the movie opens, Charlie is writing his wedding speech and seeking input from his best man, Mike (the wonderful Mamoudou Athie), and that whole sequence serves as a charming way to tell the whole love story of how these two people met and fell in love, and why they're so into each other.

But of course, this movie is titled The Drama, and the event that sets things spiraling is after the couple go out with Mike and his wife, Rachel (Alana Haim), get a little tipsy, and then share some...revelations, that lead us down a very twisty and ridiculous path. Again, I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that after leaving this movie, it made for a very robust discussion with my husband and other friends about how they and their significant others would have reacted if placed in a similar situation. 

The actors are magnificent, the script is off-kilter and unpredictable, and the movie's tone is just a wild rollercoaster of emotion that will leave you squirming in your seat, sometimes in delight and sometimes because you're so deathly uncomfortable with how everyone is behaving. It's probably not a movie you will want to rewatch but man, that first watch is a grand experience that you'll be talking about for days afterwards.

You, Me & Tuscany: Unlike The Drama, this is a movie where you will be able to see every story beat coming from a mile away. It's basically like watching a less sophisticated While You Were Sleeping, but it's charming AF, so you can't really complain. Written by Ryan Engle and directed by Kat Coiro, this is a story about what happens when a down-on-her-luck woman, Anna (Halle Bailey), decides to travel to Italy after a chance encounter with a handsome stranger, Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), in a bar. He tells her all about the villa he bought in Tuscany that is now just sitting empty, so naturally, when she finds herself unable to find a hotel room, she decides to break into his house. And naturally, complications ensue when his family members discover her the next morning.

One of those family members is Matteo's cousin brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page), who is a very hunky winemaker. Sparks start to fly between him and Anna, but that is all very inconvenient because Anna has had to tell a little lie...that she is Matteo's fiancée. Oopsie. What follows is your standard romcom, full of misunderstandings and romantic entanglements and complications that could be sorted out if people would just be honest with each other, but where's the fun in that?! There are also zany supporting characters like the horny aunt, Francesca (Stella Pecollo), who is having an affair with a plumber named...Luigi, and Lorenzo (Marco Calvani), the taxi driver who helps Anna out when she's new in town and becomes her only confidante in this whole mess.

Listen, is this movie high art? Certainly not. The dialogue is clunky, with Italian characters deploying Americanisms (I drew the line when the elderly nonna literally said the phrase, "tap that ass"), and it's all very familiar and treading on well-worn ground. But you're in Italy! The sun is shining, the wine is flowing, and Anna is buying juicy tomatoes from a friendly farmer's market to whip up a delicious bruschetta for dinner later that night. How could you not bask in the glow of all of that charm for two hours? Just soak it in and let your brain relax; we all deserve a cinematic vacation once in a while.