Love in the Villa review: Kat Graham, Tom Hopper’s insipid rom com is a tragedy of shakespearean proportions

1.5/5

Story:

Julie(Kat Graham) is a hopeless romantic who worships Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. When her boyfriend breaks up with her just days before they were to embark upon a romantic trip to her dream destination of Verona, Julie decides to go on the trip by herself. But her dream trip begins on a disastrous note when she realises that, after a mix up in her reservation, she will have to share her villa with a cynical English man.

Review:

With a setting as romantic as Verona, Italy, Love in the Villa seemed to be on the right track to crafting an endearing rom com just by virtue of its location. But unfortunately, the setting ends up being the sole redeeming thing about the whole film, that even Kat Graham and Tom Hopper cannot save from its insipidness.

The film follows the story of Julia, a third grade English teacher who is unabashed about her love for all things romantic. At the forefront of her obsession is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and the young woman dreams of having her own version of the fairytale romance, minus the tragedy of course. Her plans of experiencing a slice of the epic romance herself by embarking on a romantic trip to Verona with her boyfriend is shattered when the latter abruptly breaks up with her. Not one to waste her one in a lifetime chance to see the city of Love, Julia decides to go anyway.

But Julia’s problems are far from over. After a tumultuous time at the airport and a near death experience in a cab, Julia arrives to a shocking surprise when she finally sets foot into the beautiful villa she booked in Verona. A cynical, albeit chiselled looking Englishman named Charlie greets her, claiming that he had already booked the villa as well for the course of his business trip in Italy. And, as anyone with a penchant for romance can tell you, the duo who start off wanting to kill each other, even going as far as an inch from that, end up inexplicably attracted to each other.

The route the story will take is definitely something anyone with a half decent knowledge of rom coms can accurately guess. From the lovesick hopeless romantic, to the aloof English man, to the sassy gay best friend, the film is laced with stereotypes beginning to end. But predicability is not what comes as the film’s undoing. If done well enough, even the most predictable tales of romance can end up becoming endearing, where viewers can find themselves rooting for the couple to get together knowing full well that they would. Love in the Villa’s downfall comes in the form of its painfully bland, nonsensical and crude writing, that manages to absolutely destroy every ounce of potential the story had.

The biggest victims of the amateurish writing become the central protagonists, especially Julie. In trying to make her a relatable, endearing protagonist with just the right sprinkle of awkwardness that people can identify with, the writers manage to make her nothing short of insufferable. So much so that she turns out becoming much more of a jerk than Charlie, even though the latter was intended to be the ‘diamond in the rough’ leading man who ‘softens’ after meeting Julie. The latter’s attempts at trying to drive Charlie out , which the writers intended to come off as ‘comical’, end up being nothing short of cruel and recklessly dangerous.

Where the writing isn't hopelessly nonsensical, it becomes too low effort. While the first half starts off as being exhausting, the second half takes a turn into formulaic territory, and the glimmer of hope that the film will get better once the transition from enemies to lovers happens is also shattered.

Verdict:

Even for rom com enthusiasts who do not mind a bit of predicability, Love in the Villa comes off as a huge disappointment. Insipid and lazy writing turn what could have been a decent romantic comedy into an exhausting mess led by unlikable, cliched characters, which even the charm of the beautiful city of Verona cannot save.