Everyone enjoys entertainment; consequently, one of the most prominent entertainment platforms is Netflix. Netflix has lately added another incredible program to its catalog. The title of this romantic comedy is Love in the Villa. It is one of the most anticipated shows on the massive streaming service.
The show debuted on Netflix on September 1, 2022, and received a resounding response from the audience. The show contains significant figures from the entertainment business, such as Kat Graham and Tom Hopper, demonstrating another another reason for the event’s tremendous popularity. Learn more about the review of Love in the Villa.
The Netflix confection Love in the Villa references two time-honored conventions. Two characters are at odds, there is a meet-cute, a deception/reveal, an enlightenment, a recurring inside joke, and someone is in a time crunch to get somewhere. And then there are the artificial tastes of Netflix comfort food: recognizable B-to-C-list performers, a corny place, jokes inspired by Twitter, uniquely cheap-looking production, and decent but uninspiring chemistry.
Love in the Villa, written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, mixes both into another transitory confection from the streaming factory line – inoffensive and basic enjoyable, but instantly forgotten.
The core couple, portrayed by Kat Graham of The Vampire Diaries and Tom Hopper of The Umbrella Academy, meet in lovely Verona — as cheesy a romantic setting as it gets, but fantastic eye candy at the end of a summer in which seemingly every celebrity visited Italy.
Verona is, of course, the location of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, or, as Graham’s Julie tells her third-grade class, “the most passionate and tragic love story ever written.” True to pattern, Julie is a hopeless, overachieving romantic dialed up to 11; she dreams of witnessing Juliet’s balcony in Verona, laminates her trip arrangements, and reserves 7 percent of her vacation time for “spontaneity.”
Julie travels alone to Verona after her lover of four years, Brandon (Raymond Ablack), who seems astonished by her neuroticism, left her on the eve of their vacation. She experiences a hellish flight, misplaced luggage, and a cab driver who nearly crashes while attempting to dish out his mother’s cannoli (this film is perhaps a little rude to Italians). Julie enters her private property to discover a tall, shirtless, extremely fit British man drinking red wine; the villa has been double-booked.
Hopper’s Charlie, a wine importer, insists on staying in “la villa romantica” for the duration of Vinitaly, a real convention for wine professionals, much to Julie’s disgust, although it is unclear how this could be anything other than fortuitous for her.
Thus, a foolish war over the villa commences, in which the notion that these two extremely attractive individuals can’t bear each other never satisfies. (On the issue of illusions, it’s fascinating how the costume designers make the luminous Graham appear frumpy in gift-shop attire for a significant portion of the film.) Julie is obstinate and enjoys conflict. Charlie is arrogant and unapproachable — “I’m British, therefore I don’t do overt shows of emotion, OK?” he says, advising Julie to stifle her emotions.
Several pointless delays to the inevitable are made tolerable by the tenacity of the protagonists, who deliver charismatic performances (there is no reason why Love in the Villa is closer to 2 hours than 90min). Graham, in particular, imbues Julie with an unexpected combination of pure Midwestern sweetness (Julie is from Minnesota) and diabolical competitiveness.
It’s somewhat refreshing to see a classic type-A romcom heroine like Julie not fall into the stereotype of the overly ambitious girlboss; she’s perfectly content teaching elementary school and encouraging young children to develop a passion for reading, which she justifiably views as a fulfilling career.
As with any vacation romance, though, the enchantment is broken by the appearance of their ex-lovers (Charlie’s is portrayed by Hopper’s real-life wife Laura). Their ignorance of Charlie and Julie’s relationship is so ridiculous that it deflates any lingering tension. At that point, it is preferable to skip to the excessively drawn-out conclusion with its countless references to Romeo and Juliet, which wink at the corniness while completely embracing it.
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Charlie may attempt to be humorous by making dry asides, but his sincerity is honest and guileless. Love in the Villa is not overly earnest. Nothing reaches the level of being unwatchable, but nothing has any particular staying power, either – you may get a scent of romance here and there, such as when passing a bakery storefront, which are the most attractive scenes in the film.
esh vegetables, a continual flow of wine, rose-gold sunlight on terracotta roofs, and two seconds of promotion make the picture a successful mass-market advertisement for Italian tourism. Love in the Villa captures, both literally and figuratively, a tourist gift shop — an item to examine, perhaps enjoy (ironically or passionately, sometimes both), and then go on.
