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Under the Tuscan Sun (Full Screen Edition)

Under the Tuscan Sun (Full Screen Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved it! Want to go to Tuscany!
Review: I gave the film 5 stars because it was definitely my dream. Owning a villa in Tuscany and fixing it up. We are in the process of trying to buy/sell a home, and I could relate to the "fixer upper, but love the house"

The film spoke to me by saying, "happiness is not always where you expect to find it" and "family is not always who you marry or share bloodlines with"

Anyways, marvelous movie, some swearing (f-word), some make-out scenes, homosexuality (if you care, but I don't). The 14 year old and 12 year old loved it, so I guess that is where I would draw the line for age (I'm a little progressive with the nudity stuff...don't really care.) Everyone who watched the film is now in love with Tuscany!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Under The Tuscan Sun
Review: This is a wonderful movie for those who have experienced loss, pain, and are on the road to the amazing good things that can happen...and do...in life! I loved this movie and just bought a copy for myself and my sister, who is a hopeful (and married) romantic! Very insipirational and moving for me. Would recommend it to my best friend!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I hope Frances Mayes Got A Lot of Money for the Rights...
Review: I love her books so much! This movie is an absolute insult! The original story was so wonderful I can't understand why the film makers thought they were making something better. And Ed! What about Ed? Geez. I could only get through the part where they were taking out the wall between the two rooms, foolishly thinking that the movie would get better, and after that I was done. Another good thing about DVDs is that you don't have to be kind and rewind. It would have be a waste of electricity and my VCR. This movie is right up there with Ishtar! Except worse!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: IT'S OK
Review: What more can I say other then it's ok, I mean it's good enough to view once or twice but I won't run out and buy it right now. I have not read the book yet, and I won't, I heard that the book isn't even as good as the film. Don't get me wrong I think Diane Lane [UNFAITHFULL] did great job with this roll, she might even deserve an award but the film over all is not as great as the hype played it out to be. All the cast and crew did good jobs and the film was shot wonderfully but that does not save it. My advice is to go rent it and see from there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tuscan Sun and Diane Lane ==Perfect Match
Review: I can't say enough positive words about this movie.It was good at the show but like alot of things the second time at home it was so much better. It was a DVD gift from my daughter,and that night I watched it and noticed all the little things you often miss in a large show. As a women I could idenify with Frances in many way's. When she leaves her home she loved and goes to her tempory apartment,and lays down on the floor.. It was Diane's and her best friend performance that you ,the viewer grow to love and laugh with. But the most important message in the movie is that France's positive and helpfull attitude towards everyone is as beautiful as Tuscany.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exudes Warmth and Fun
Review: Frances (Diane Lane) is a writer who has just gone through a nasty divorce. Disgruntled in San Francisco, she finds that her friend's insistence that she take a trip to Tuscany is a blessing in disguise. But Frances doesn't just stay for a touristy trip-she impulsively falls in love with a old villa and thus begins her life in Italy. This new life, it turns out, is the best thing Frances could have. In a quiet, gradual way she begins to deal with her divorce and finds lessons, friends, love, and a beautiful new existence.

I didn't expect much from "Under the Tuscan Sun." It sounded fairly dippy and a bit too cute. I was sure it would be one of those movies that tries maniacally hard to tug at your heartstrings and becomes intolerable for that reason. But, wonder of wonders, it wasn't!

Somehow, Diane Lane captured her character perfectly. Frances (or Francesca, as she was known in Italy) seemed like someone to root for. She didn't usually look or dress like a movie star-much of the time in the movie she wore old flannel shirts and a scraggly ponytail-and reacted to her new life and friends as we ourselves might. Frances alternately blunders, rejoices, makes unwise romantic decisions, yet somehow comes out right. No matter what the film moment, Lane knew what to deliver, and this helped the film move along naturally and smoothly.

I also enjoyed the somewhat unpredictable nature of this movie. Yes, I knew from the start that things were going to end up somewhat happily at the end, but really didn't know how. And that was one of the big reasons why I liked "Under the Tuscan Sun." Its rambling pace just seemed so natural, and the fact that Frances's life takes quirky little dips and dives makes the movie all the better. You really "sink into" the film, and watching the lives of Frances and her friends change feels interesting, realistic, and fun. Another aspect of the plot that I greatly enjoyed was that Frances's love life was NOT picture perfect! She seemed so much more likeable then. (Will say no more about this, as do not want to spoil plot).

No, "Under the Tuscan Sun" is nothing that will win an Academy Award. But it's warm, pleasurable, and the next best thing to an Italian vacation.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Families / Christians BEWARE
Review: I rented this movie thinking it would be a sweet, romantic, relatively clean movie that I could enjoy watching. However, I was absolutely offended by some of the content of this film. In the first 15 minutes, you're introduced to a lesbian couple as they greet each other with a kiss on the mouth, and then announce that they're having a baby together. In the same scene, the main character uses the f--- word and it sounds like it was inserted into the script simply for the shock value. Also, there's teenage (and adult) premarital sex (but it's okay, because "they're in love," right???) And overall the film has a very casual attitude about sex and shows some rather graphic scenes for a PG-13 film. It's just another attempt by Hollywood to get us all comfortable with homosexuality, promiscuity, and a general idea of "If it feels good, do it." I would strongly advise against seeing this movie with kids.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: OH MY GOD!
Review: One sunday afternoon, I sat down to watch this movie with my girlfriend, and sat back awaiting stimulating entertainment.... HOW WRONG COULD I BE!

What a complete load of utter complete inane useless rubbish this movie is...it is only funny if you are over 60 and like to sit in a cinema in a sleeping bag discussing being an old aged lesbian with nothing better to do than watch drivel with no point and a plot as predicatble as a an predicatble thing in a very predicatble place!

I will not even offer this for re-sale, as I am so looking forward to destroying it in the most imaginative way possible....any ideas???

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Way better than I expected -
Review: I actually spent a year studying at a small italian university, fell in love with the country, and expected to HATE this movie because I really got sick of the American presence in italy. I have to admit, though, arguing with some of the previous reviews that I saw, that despite all of the stereotypes, they were mostly true! Certainly true to my experience. Italians are proud of who and how they are and although I didn't meet a single person who spoke english as well as anyone in this film, that was the only stretch as far as I could tell. Its an absolute pleasure to watch, especially for anyone who has been to Italy. And Diane Lane is adorable and full of life, almost inspirational.

See this film if you want to escape to Italy for 2 hours and be a single, liberated, middle-aged woman going on an adventure. That's really what it is good for - transporting us americans away from our own "culture" and into a place that has a real sense of history and people.

Cheesy - but delicious.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: OVERDRAWN AND UNNECESSARY SACCHARINE KILLS ITALIAN BEAUTY
Review: I like a good romantic comedy as much as the next weak-kneed guy, but this chickflick (which it squarely is) had so many dumb moments that I had trouble enjoying the stunning visuals of a sun-drenched Italy.

To begin with the pivotal character, Diane Lane. Her performance as a crestfallen divorcee American writer is a disappointing, she twitched and grimaced like a female Hugh Grant, using delayed reaction goggle-eyes instead of emotion.

Needless scenes abound. The self-grabbing congratulatory dance she did in her bedroom after scoring with her young stud was just plain agonizing to watch. Another awful scene was when Patti came back pregnant and abandoned and lay in the bed crying. Diane Lane's face was vacant, with a fake little soap opera frown of concern on her brow and a simpering smile on her mouth. Awful, and inexcusable of the director to leave that shot in.

Italian stereotypes? Truckloads:

(1) Crazy old contessa who takes bird poop on the forehead of a stranger as a sign to sell her the prized villa. Okay, whatever, even though she would have gotten more money from the German couple who had first dibs.
(2) Suave love-em and leave-em Romeos? All over the place. Even a romantic stud who says things like "Your eyes are beautiful. I would love to swim in them".
(3) Simple, good-hearted locals happy to pick your olives for you? A villageful.
(4) An inane young couple whose parents don't consent to their idiotic relationship? Yes, and our American sweetheart swerves their mind in less than 5 minutes.
(5) People falling from trees in the backyard. Yep.
(6) Three Italian construction workers who worked for 8-9 months for almost nothing while maintaining a wonderful attitude all the time? Hmm.

Whether all of this Hollywood view of countryside Italy suits your gullible palate or not, all of this is just too drawn out to retain a viewer's attention.

To add a final dollop of fuel to the fire, after all these ordeals, our poor Ms. Frances ends up with a goofy-looking failed American writer anyway. All that prime Italian beefcake down the drain. Like my evening watching this.


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