Love in the Villa – Movie Review
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Writer: Mark Steven Johnson (Screenplay)
Cast
- Tom Hopper (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)
- Kat Graham (How It Ends)
- Laura Hopper (The Umbrella Academy)
- Raymond Ablack (Narcos)
Plot: A young woman takes a trip to romantic Verona, Italy, after a breakup, only to find that the villa she reserved was double-booked, and she’ll have to share her vacation with a cynical British man.
Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Love in a Villa starts when Julie (Graham) is preparing for her holiday in Verona, with her boyfriend Brandon (Ablack). Julie finds herself getting dumped before the holiday and now decides to take the trip alone.
Upon arriving in Verona, Julie discovers the apartment has been double booked with English man Charlie (Hopper). The two clash turns into a battle over the apartment before they put aside their differences and experience Verona.
Verdict on Love in the Villa
Characters
Julie is a hopeless romantic that has planned her perfect trip with her boyfriend to Verona. However, she finds herself dumped on the eve of the holiday, deciding to take it alone. She struggles to start with, as the trip is hard, and the apartment is double booked. Her fantasies of Verona are thrown out until she starts to get along with her new random roommate.
Charlie is a wine buyer for a major company, he travels to Italy every year to search for the next great wine and he is brilliant at his job. He clashes with Julie over the room, showing he isn’t afraid to fight back until he finally opens up to show her around Verona.
In the supporting characters, we get the pairs of partners who have put them through pain before the trip. There are also the locals that show the pair around their city.
Performances
Tom Hopper and Kat Graham are both great in their roles. They make the most of the script and get the laughs along the way. The pair have good chemistry in the film, showing two people coming from different worlds.
Story
The story follows a woman who has just broken up with her boyfriend and takes her trip to Verona anyway. This is her dream holiday and doesn’t turn out to be anything like she expected. She must deal with an English roommate whom she clashes with before she embraces her trip away.
In a year where we get a lot of Italy is the country of love stories. This does feel like just another one to throw into the mix. It gets all the basics right, broken hearts coming together to realize the life they had been living is different to the life they want.
The weakness here comes from the fact that not enough is different to anything we have seen before and by the end we know exactly how it is playing out. It seems to like the final bit of charm, despite being easy to watch.
Themes
Love in the Villa is a romantic comedy that follows two different people from different worlds that end up in Verona with broken hearts. It is the typical worlds collide romance in one of the most romantic cities in the world. There are moments in the beauty of the city, but it feels like some of it gets held back more than it should.
Where to Watch: Love in the Villa is available on Netflix
Final Thoughts – Love in the Villa is a by-the-book romantic comedy with good leading performances.