I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I try to write a little on every film I see. My sister recommended this to me and so my wife and I watched it. The hard thing for me is the self-indulgent rich person who is searching for herself, trying to get herself moving forward after her ex- done her in. She has so much money that she can do just about anything she wants. I never found a connection to any of the people in this film, partly because we are so unalike and partly because I felt they didn't deserve much attention. It's hard to pull for character who are rolling through life, feasting on what is there. I do admit that this part of Italy is gorgeous. The cinematographer did a marvelous job of producing images of sun and architecture and all that this part of the world has to offer. After I saw the film, however, I had to think hard to remember what happened.

Why bother to visit Italy when you can just bring a bunch of tired clichés to life? They even managed to throw in some clichés about homosexuals just in case anyone needed a little extra patronizing. I have never been able to make it all the way through this disaster of a movie no matter how hard I tried. It's a mess on every level and even the scenery of Tuscany isn't enough to save it.I've always said that bad acting is the result of terrible directing and this film is a clinic of bad directing and terrible acting. How many stupid muggings can we watch of the protagonist expressing sadness, joy, pleasure, fear, surprise, disgust, or whatever? It's the director's responsibility to get what he or she wants and to instruct the actors. The best thing is to cut out all of the stupid and Completely obvious emotions and convey these things through dialogue whenever possible.The director lets her people run amuck in this thing. The English woman who appears like a phantom seems to be a female Liberace, and I don't mean that in a good way. She is simply another dumb stereotype of an eccentric, gentry-class denizen. Her lesbian friend is simply annoying. The three workers are paper-thin and wholely predictable at every turn.Ugh, I hated almost every scene in the film. She over-acts at almost every turn of the camera. Why did the director frame her face in so much of the film? Turn the sound off and watch this and I guarantee you will laugh yourself sick at the bad acting clinic she seems to be giving.The love angle in the movie was corny at best and embarrassing at worst and played like a teenage girl's rendering of how it should be. And finally she meets Joe Whitebread and lives happily ever after. Just completely horrible all along the way.

This movie shows you how to live your life and dare to make your dreams come true. It's about taking a leap of faith when you least expect it and however terrifying it is, daring to see it through. It's also a story about love and how you really only can give love, when your life is full and you truly love yourself. The movie shows you a beautiful sight of Italy where classic villagers and modern life go hand in hand. You see a woman who finds herself at the total bottom of her life, and the only way she can go is up. It takes some people a year, some almost a lifetime but the only thing that matters is the road. It doesn't matter how long it takes for you to get to where you want to, but if you make it, that's when your life truly begins. Home really is where the heart is.

I guess I've watched this film three times now, and each time I do I find it utterly charming. And, it seems so real. The situations in the plot do not seem "set up". It's a very pleasant story, but by pleasant I don't mean all happy. The crux of the story is really quite sad -- a woman is stunned by a divorce, reluctantly travels to Italy to get away from things, and takes on a new life with all its challenges, feeling for so long that she will never find someone.The settings and cinematography are stunning. I spent most of my time traveling in Southeast Asia...never to Europe. This is one of those films that made me wish I had traveled to Italy! Diane Lane, who is a wonderful actress...well, this may be her most engaging role...and frankly, I can't think of an actress that would have been better (or half as good) in the part. Sandra Oh is very good as an unwed lesbian mother-to-be. Raoul Bova as an unexpectedly married Italian man (though I expected it) was very good. Pawel Szajda, as the young lover, was delightfully innocent. And there are many other well-played roles in this film...in fact, that is the primary strength of this film.Highly recommended as a love story...well, actually as a hoped-for love story!