Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Under the Tuscan Sun is an escapist chick-flick about a woman recovering from a divorce who takes trip to Tuscany, ends up buying a fixer-upper there, and has lots of colorful adventures with colorful natives in picturesque locales.

In parallel, as her ancient villa comes back to life, so does she, and she learns to love again. One reviewer summed it up beautifully as "Waiting to Exhale for white chicks".

NUDITY REPORT

None

  • Diane Lane - bottom of buns in negligee
  • Lindsay Duncan - part of areola

DVD info from Amazon

  • Commentary by director Audrey Wells

  • Deleted scenes

  • Making-of featurette "Tuscany 101"

  • Widescreen anamorphic format, 1.85
IMDb scores show a respectable 6.6 for men, an excellent 7.4 for women. That basically means that if you take a woman to this film on a date, she'll probably like it, and you will find it tolerable. It is, in fact, and excellent date movie, since it is a breezy feel-good kind of flick which will leave you both in a good mood. There's probably a decent chance for some hanky-panky when it is done.

It is basically insubstantial, and I suffered from a bit of estrogen suffocation during the movie, but I did conclude that if I ever go to Europe again in summertime, I will definitely include some time in Tuscany. This movie is a helluva good  travel ad!

The Critics Vote ...

  • Super-panel consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 3/4, Berardinelli 2.5/4.

The People Vote ...

  • IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 6.8/10, Yahoo voters rate it a B.
  • Box Office Mojo. It kinda fooled everyone by grossing $43 million. Although it started on a modest 1200 screens, it grossed a superb $8000 per screen that week, and held on to become a modest hit. Production $18 million, marketing @$20 million.
The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C+. Travelogue romance designed for a female audience.

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