Letters to Juliet

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Gary Winick

Casted by:

Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Hall

Christopher Egan as Charlie Wyman

Vanessa Redgrave as Claire Smith-Wyman

 Story:

Sophie is a young American woman who works for The New Yorker as a fact checker. She goes on a pre-honeymoon with her chef fiancé Victor to Verona, Italy. Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and uses his time to research his soon-to-open restaurant, often neglecting Sophie. Sophie accidentally discovers an unanswered "letter to Juliet" by a Claire Smith from 1957, one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard that are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet". She answers it and within a week the now elderly Claire arrives in Verona with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie. Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other, but Charlie and Sophie do not get along.

Following the advice in Sophie's reply, Claire decides to look for her long-lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. Sophie, thinking Claire's story might help her with her writing career, helps Claire. The two find out that there are many Lorenzo Bartolinis living in the area. After many days of searching for the right Lorenzo, they find that one is dead. Charlie blames Sophie for his grandmother's sadness. He accuses her of not knowing what real loss is. Claire, witnessing the dispute, tells Charlie he was wrong and that Sophie's mother had walked away from her when she was a little girl. The following day, Claire insists that Charlie apologize to Sophie at breakfast, which he does. After dinner, Sophie talks to Charlie about love, and the two kiss. The following morning is their last day of searching for Lorenzo. On a whim, Claire points out a vineyard to Charlie and asks if he could stop so they can have a farewell drink for Sophie. As Charlie drives down the road, Claire sees a young man who looks exactly like her Lorenzo. They discover the man is Lorenzo Bartolini's grandson, and Claire and Lorenzo reunite.

Back in New York, Sophie breaks up with Victor before returning to Verona to attend Claire and Lorenzo's wedding. She finds Charlie with another woman, Patricia, and runs out crying. Charlie comes out to find her, and she admits she loves him but tells him to go back to Patricia. Charlie tells Sophie that the woman is his cousin Patricia and tells Sophie he loves her. He climbs up the vine to the balcony but accidentally falls down, and they kiss as he lies on the ground.

 L² Scored: 4/10 

L² Comment:

This is the last film directed by Gary Winick before he passed away due to pneumonia. For me this film is not bad, the storyline is kinda expected and Seyfried's acting is just so so... but the film was shot so romantically especially the scene of Verona... Christopher Egan does look like a pretty boy here, but not really into him as well. Overall this film is ok, but don't think i will spend time to watch it again~