Rating: 
Summary: An Unrealistic Worldview
Review: Movies approach responses to pain in either one of two ways: embrace the pain and fight through to experience breakthroughs in character, or avoid the pain as much as possible and recreate your life. Robert Duvall finds out his wife is having an affair in The Apostle and embarks on a journey of spiritual healing and personal revival. Diane Lane finds out her husband is having an affair in Under the Tuscan Sun and she runs to Italy, becomes determined to make her own fun, and sleeps with a man she just met.The problem is, her philosophy just doesn't work in real life. Can anybody honestly say that hiding our pain behind wine, romance, and laughter permanently heals the wounds? Are they not going to resurrect themselves later in even uglier ways? Ironically, it doesn't work for the Diane Lane character either, but her disappointment is more of a plot construction than a message to viewers about the folly of pain management. You owe it to yourself. Be happy. Make yourself feel better, whatever it takes. Isn't that kind of hedonism the baseline for crack addicts, drunks, and promiscuous folks? I would write this movie off as a harmless romp with beautiful scenery, but with characters representing divisive views on pregnancy, lesbianism, and sexual liberty, the movie's creator had far more in mind than a simple romantic comedy. This movie has a message. But the message celebrates the myth of pain avoidance, and that is a worldview far from reality.
Rating:
Summary: BORING!!!
Review: I rented this movie while my husband was out of town, looking forward to a good chick flick. By the middle of my movie, I couldn't believe I was still sitting there, and by the end, I wanted my $4.00 back from Blockbuster. The story did not keep my attention and the pregnant friend has got to be the worst actress ever. I do not recommend this at all!
Rating: 
Summary: I absolutely loved this movie
Review: This is one of the best movies i have seen in a while. I rented this and Lost in Translation at the same time and slept through most of Lost in Translation but thoroughly enjoyed this one. I would say that its a bit of a chicflic, but a must own! Diane Lane is fabulous.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting Bad Rap, Good Film
Review: I believe this film was entertaining but not for everyone. There was not so much a plot as there was an internal journey that was reflected in her taking the journey to Italy and making changes in her life. It is more a story of character development that takes place on an adventure. As for all the comments regarding political correctness with the "token" Asian best friend, let me tell you...that is more than a bit insulting. Granted, Hollywood has done that with certain minorities before, but this best friend hardly filled any stereotype. And in fact, the reason Hollywood places those "token" minorities in is because it makes the screen more INTERESTING and DIVERSE! Not to mention REALISTIC! The entirety of America is not all white, and sometimes putting a person of color in a film does add some spark and dimension to the film. Not to mention, this particular actress held her own, exuded her own personality altogether, and made the film better. As for taking liberties with the book...the beginning of the movie admits to fabricating some of the information. And if you want to talk about taking liberties with a translation from book to film, take a look at the film Chocolat.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful but Too Unrealistic!
Review: (Lot's of spoilers) Yes, I know it's a romantic comedy, 'chick flick', and realism is not usually a necessary goal, but please, you must be kidding! She enters Italy, buys a house and moves there permanently on a whim? With minimal savings (after buying a villa with an olive grove!), no income (we don't see her write or review anything in the year she is in Italy), no health coverage, nothing, and no long-stay visa, no governmental red tape? Everyone speaks English? And learning to speak Italian just happens to her, despite only speaking with English, American and Polish expatriate friends? The house renovation is brief and (aside from 1 or 2 comic moments) easy and apparently... free. She just cooks for her polish workman and they love her. Let's remember, she has no car and she is in rural Tuscany (wouldn't you love to see her carry home all the groceries for these feasts.) See meets a stunning, sexy, fit, self-confidant, young, Italian man... after a few hours together, has sex with him (Don't get me wrong - looked like fun), doesn't see him again for a month, and then is surprised that, when she sees him next, he has already moved on. No, really? As for the lesbian couple: They are committed enough to decide to have a baby (no accidents here), so try to concieve repeatedly (making reference that they were finally sucessful concieving on the 5th try) and then when one is apparently 8 months pregnant, the other decides she "isn't ready to be a mother"! What??? And the very pregnant friend flies to Tuscany, with no invitation or warning!? She doesn't speak Italian, she doesn't have a doctor in Italy... but we are to assume that her health-coverage covers giving birth in Italy! WOW! Who's her insurance company? Yes, the scenery is beautiful, but it's Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast. Of course, it's beautiful! And, the ending was sweet and romantic. (Wow, what a suprise.) I normally enjoy a light escape from reality, but this was just way to pointless and wildly unrealistic to be worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing to write home about
Review: Early on in "Under the Tuscan Sun," Diane Lane's character Frances, a writer dumped by her husband and now on a gay tour of Tuscany, helps out a fellow American by writing a postcard to send to his mother. He takes one look at her flowery, overwrought prose and throws it down in disgust, saying, "Mom will never believe I wrote that!" Like the words on that postcard, there are many cringe-worthy moments in this film. We get a homogenized, romanticized view of Tuscany, the way most middle-aged American women who feel unloved by their cloddy spouses might imagine it. Stereotypes abound--there's the red-hot younger Italian lover (named Marcello, of course) whose broken English is supposed to be charming; the free-spirited, batty English woman (the fabulous Lindsay Duncan trapped inside a cliche) who takes joy in shocking the locals; the star-crossed young lovers; the elderly man still pining for his dead love; and the sassy yet approachable gay friend. Diane Lane is stunning as usual, but she mugs for the camera and hams it up a la Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan in too many instances, as if the audience might be too stupid to pick up on nuanced emotion. She's played unhappy characters of this age before, and much more subtly and convincingly, in "Unfaithful" and "A Walk on the Moon." The views of Tuscany are gorgeous and motivation enough to make you want to drop everything and run off to Italy, even if the film itself is a forgettable, sometimes fun romp.
Rating:
Summary: Great Actress At Work - or - Falling In Love With Diane Lane
Review: Diane Lane has always, even as a child reminded me of Natalie Wood. Both were child stars, both posses a similar beauty and way with a smile that turns up just so on the sides. Each is a multi-layered actress of considerable talent. And above all they have made me fall rapturously in love with them. My ability therefore to give a rational review of this film, "Under The Tuscan Sun" is reduced to that of a love struck thirteen year old boy.
From the book of the same name by Frances Mayes the film is an altered and fresh look at the original. The direction and screenplay by Audrey Wells is top notch and she gives an insightful commentary on the DVD of her film. It is in her screenplay is where she really shines. She reshapes Mayes book into something magical and infuses it with the charm and glamour of Italy both in the flesh and in the movies.
Vincent Riotta is the quite center to the story and is the romantic realist who gently leads Frances into her adventure in Italy. He commands your attention with a quiet and wise presence. Raoul Bova, one of the hottest stars in Italy brings just the right touch of romance and danger to his role as Marcello. In his final scene he is both honest and fair.
Sandra Oh hits all the right notes of comedy and drama as Frances' best friend Patti. Her remark on the steaming toilet is a study in comedy timing. Well, she is a master as anyone who has seen her work on Arliss can attest.
The wonderful discovery in this film for me is the British actress, Lindsay Duncan who portrays Katherine, the ex-Fellini star who is trapped like a fly in amber by her film past but lives for today within her celluloid cocoon. Adding her to the mix puts just the right touch of cinema magic into the story. I am looking forward to see what she does on the upcoming HBO series "Rome".
Finally there is Miss Lane. Her work here is brilliant and filled with the grit and grime of a true actress at work. Yet it is seamless and so natural without a false move or an unsure moment. She inhabits Frances from frame one and caries her and the audience from her despair to rebirth and rejoicing in a new and unexpected life. Her eyes, her smile, her glowing skin become so real on the screen and we find we are given a gift from this actress of so many gifts. We are given the pure joy of watching her in the here and now inhabit a space in our hearts. With this film and her previous appearance in "Unfaithful" she joins the pantheon of stars that like Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, or Natalie Wood who make it all look so easy, so real.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I loved this movie. If a relationship falling apart is unrealistic, you can count yourself lucky. I thought it was very realistic. Moving to Italy can only be done with a lot of money,but if I had the dough, I'd have gone right after I saw UTS. It made me feel good, and I recommend it, as I have to other people. Plus Diane Lane is hot.
Rating:
Summary: Is this really a 'chick flick'??????
Review: I think TUSCAN SUN is a study in what is so wonderful about the Tuscany and Cinque Terra part of Italy.....Diane Lane is a favorite of mine. Ever since I saw her in COTTON CLUB I have liked her. I guess in some minds the story could be conjured up as a chick flick. And why? because she gets a divorce from a guy who apparently is having a midlife crisis??? or is it because she packs up and heads off on a gay holiday provided by two lesbian friends?...But this is how she finds the abode of her dreams!.....Actually more like a nightmare.
I think it is a film that deserves the accolades it has gotten, but not because it would only be appreciated by 'chicks', but by anyone who loves Tuscany the way I do.
The cast of characters in TUSCAN SUN was a study in why I love to sit and watch the parade go by when I travel. It is one of the facinating parts of travel for me.....locales are not the only thing exotic about it all.
Rating:
Summary: A light comedy
Review: Diana Lane is perfect in this role. She owns a cosmical beauty and it's extraordinary nice too.
Since a winner executive but unhappy woman, decides to make a twist of fate in Toscana, she will experience a whole different conceptions about the love and the sense of the friendship. Her only truly fellows are two lesbians,the charming and always beloved Italia seduces her in many ways is obviously another incorporean actor in the screen.
The homagge to La dolce vita is very smart clue in the sense you can be happy if you're really commited with will and constant desire.
Share this one with your couple, fianceé or beloved girl or boy friend.
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