EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE ITALIAN
RYAN: “Everybody Wants to be Italian” is a new indie romantic comedy, and I like to pretend it’s the sequel to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
CAROLINE: This movie started out really promising. We both laughed a lot in the first fifteen minutes or so, and it was very cute. I knew it wasn’t gonna be an Oscar caliber movie or anything, but the beginning was amusing and sweet. And then there was the rest of the movie.
RYAN: I was totally into the beginning too. The lead guy and girl are both really hot, and I was laughing out loud. But then it shifted about halfway through and became too much of a guy movie masquerading as a chick flick.
CAROLINE: There was something slightly strange throughout the whole movie. The script wasn’t always great, and the timing was off. There were some awkward silences. I was wondering if some of the actors just weren’t that experienced. After a while, you and I just started talking to each other and ignoring the movie.
RYAN: The editing was off too, but ultimately my problem was that this is a romantic comedy from the perspective of a guy. There were some clichés that irritated me, and I was yearning to see the lead girl with her friends dissecting each moment, rather than seeing the lead guy with his male friends all the time. I think both of us identify more with the female characters in romantic comedies.
CAROLINE: Yeah, I just realized that there were barely any women in the movie, other than the two girls that the lead guy is pursuing. Even more so than a Judd Apatow movie, we got zero female perspective. The lead guy is basically a crazy stalker, but he’s loveable and cute so we let him get away with it. But he should probably have a restraining order against him.
RYAN: Totally! Nobody would put up with his crap, though he was equal parts creepy and endearing. But you don’t want your leading man, the one you’re supposed to be rooting for, to be any parts creepy. The soundtrack was also irritating.
CAROLINE: They kept playing this horrible Old Italian music to try to make it sound authentic to the title of the film; but it doesn’t work since the movie takes place in Boston in 2008. I wished they’d just used regular music and then maybe threw in a few old accordion songs just for emphasis. The music didn’t fit, and it just added to the awkwardness of the film.
RYAN: Neither of the two lead character is Italian, hence the title, but then we had to spend the whole movie wondering, “Then what are they already?” You find out eventually, but it’s annoying.
CAROLINE: I just didn’t think the lead guy, Jay Jablonski, was good enough of an actor to carry the film. The scenes with him and his buddies got tired really fast. There were several moments that were clearly trying to be funny and weren’t. I wasn’t laughing. Bottom line?
RYAN: It’s a romantic comedy told from the male perspective, which is refreshing at first, but then it just didn’t work for me. I enjoyed parts of the film, but I’m not going to recommend it on the big screen. You can wait till it comes to Lifetime or Oxygen. It’s by no means going to be the sleeper hit that “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was.
CAROLINE: It’s definitely a rental at best. It had some sweet moments, but for the most part it’s pretty forgettable, especially given the upcoming crop of good movies. I was underwhelmed by the acting and the writing. Isn’t that pretty much a death knell for a movie?
RYAN: Hell to the yes.