Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best chick flick in a long time!, April 12, 2004
I am peturbed that Amazon would spotlight two bad reviews. This was an awesome movie that kept me watching it from beginning to end. I haven't read the book, but after watching that movie, I do intend to. It's amazing how uplifting this spirited movie was. Diane Lane was supurb without coming across as trying too much. We never get to see her husband "Tom" who screwed her over royally in the divorce, which I think was a good decision. The movie stays in the present looking ahead to the future with a sense of hope and promise. Pick up this movie for an excellent movie night - even if you're not a chick!
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Loved and Beloved by All, September 30, 2003
What starts out as an Italian "Money Pit" with all the attendant broken pipes, crumbling walls and incompetent handymen makes a turn for the better about a third of the way through: a more emotionally centered and revealing movie,"Under the Tuscan Sun."
The luminescent Diane Lane stars as Frances, an intelligent, loving women with close and committed friends who finds herself in a situation that many people do: with a mate who has fallen out of love, wants a divorce as well as possession of a much loved and painstakingly renovated house, this one in San Francisco. After the divorce Frances goes to Tuscany on a lark, falls in love with a villa there, buys it and proceeds to renovate it. The villa then is the physical manifestation of the shedding of her old life and marriage and the hope for the renovation and rehabilitation of her love life as well as her life in general.
That she probably places too much faith in the physical to solve the emotional does not detract at all from the guts and hope that it takes to do so. And Lane is so psychically centered and open as Frances that you cannot help but be moved by her situation.
There are some silly plot lines and performances that I wish weren't, but with a central performance as attractive and genuinely loving and feminine as Lane's, "Under The Tuscan Sun" is as warm and inviting as bread just out of the oven.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Come for Diane Lane. Stay for a cute movie., September 23, 2003
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2003 (SNEAK PREVIEW)--After her amazing, Oscar-nominated turn in "Unfaithful," I was hoping that the Hollywood system would give Diane Lane a chance at real stardom, and it has arrived with "Under The Tuscan Sun." A perfect star vehicle, the film is laid-back and charmingly funny, and it casts Lane as something believable: a near-40 writer going through a midlife crisis after her divorce. It's nice to see that studios can finally find a decent place for her after dumping her into the shoes of far too many ill-fitting characters: an abused, drug-addled wife in the horrible "Glass House," a secret-service agent (!) in the "thriller" "Murder At 1600," and many more forgettable fictional ciphers. Now, Lane's first true chance at leading role stardom has arrived, and it's about darn time. The story finds author Frances Mayes (Lane) taking an impromptu trip to Tuscany, where she buys an old, run-down house on impulse, and, after her relocation there is finalized, she begins to meet a colorful array of characters, including her strange Polish handymen (who help rebuild the house), her pleasant Italian neighbors, and a strange, older white woman (Lindsay Duncan) who becomes her guide. While this woman, Katherine, may seem like an odd character at first, her place in the story is a necessity. Subconsciously, Frances sees in Katherine a deep happiness that has come with surviving life in a foreign country for so long and therefore believes she must have all the secrets to doing so. Of course, as Frances learns, making it in Italy is something she's going to have to figure out for herself. While I did quite enjoy this movie, and its house-repairing metaphor for life-rebuilding, I'm sad to say it's far from perfect. While appreciably warm, it does tend towards sap at times, most egregiously in the subplot involving two young lovebirds straight out of the worst `70s romances. Also, things can be slow at times, and while there are plenty of laughs, you won't find yourself doubled over in hysterics at any point. Still, I would certainly recommend the film to anyone. It's fun and lighthearted, and Diane Lane is pitch-perfect, hitting every comic moment and dramatic footnote with amazing skill and accuracy. As well, watch out for Sandra Oh as Frances' best friend Patti, a strong-willed, pregnant lesbian with perfect comic timing.
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