Letters To Juliet

Letters to Juliet director Gary Winick also directed Bride Wars. If you’re still reading at this point, well done you. You can’t be blamed though for at least approaching Winick’s latest film with some caution following the abomination to cinema that was Bride Wars. Happily enough that film soon becomes a distant memory as Winick deftly tells us the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who on a pre-honeymoon holiday to Verona, discovers the house where Juliet Capulet was inferred to have lived and the letters that numerous people leave daily at “Juliet’s wall” telling her about their love lives, good or bad. I won’t say too much else but Sophie soon becomes involved in the collection of these letters leading to a meeting with stuffy Englishman Charlie (Chris Egan) and his grandmother (Vanessa Redgrave). With Sophie’s chef fiancé (played with delight by Gael Garcia Bernal) more interested in investigating Italian food and drink, she finds herself spending more time with Charlie, despite them not getting on. If you can’t work out what happens next, this must be the first film of this kind you’ve ever seen. However, despite the standard formula it all plays out OK, as the performances are good, there’s a fair few laughs sprinkled about and the dramatic scenes resonate. Make no mistake though, this is utter fluff and there are some minus points. The stereotypes of nationalities is pretty teeth grinding, especially Charlie’s first scene in which he bounds in speaking with a clipped English accent not heard since the Movietone News reels of the 1930’s. It’s utterly embarrassing. In addition, the fact that Sophie working as a fact checker for the New York magazine, some of the most clued up and feared people in the publishing world, hasn’t even heard of the famous Juliet Letter phenomenon in Verona is somewhat lacking in credibility. Overall, if this isn’t you cup of tea (or glass of wine in this instance) you won’t touch this with a barge pole to start with, but if you’re a fan this ticks all the right boxes for this kind of genre.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Light as they come, but some good performance’s and more than one belly laugh make for a decent night out. Rating: 7/10.