by Alireza Hatamvand
Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Kevin James, Kim Coates, Alyson Hannigan, Nicole Grimaudo
Intro:
… a dessert best served at a romantics’ table …
Solo Mio (meaning: only for me) is a romantic comedy which, as its title suggests, takes place in Italy. The film tells the story of a man named Matt, played by popular actor/comedian Kevin James, who receives a letter from his fiancée, Heather, at the altar, stating that she is not ready for marriage! Completely shocked, Matt stays in Italy in the hope of fixing the relationship and, while continuing the honeymoon tour plans on his own, tries to get in touch with Heather.
Here, he meets two other couples who try to help him, and he becomes acquainted with a woman named Gia—an acquaintance that turns into the love upon which Solo Mio is built.
Although it basically sticks to a classic narrative structure, Solo Mio does not focus on storytelling or spending a lot of time on character development. In between its endless lyrical songs and its music-video-like sequences, the film mostly tries to portray the joy and sorrow of love. Because of the abundance of these kinds of sequences and the Italian conversations, many of which are deliberately left without subtitles, one can eat snacks while watching the film, talk to the person next to them (of course, if you are watching it in a cinema, please do not do this), or spend a few seconds on their mobile phone and still not miss much.
Although these music-video-like sequences may be enjoyable for many viewers, and indeed contain simultaneously romantic and funny moments, they narrow the space for creating situational comedy or humorous lines and make the frequency of jokes seem somewhat low. That might be disappointing when one goes to this film expecting Kevin James schtick.
One of the appealing aspects of the film is the presence of Andrea Bocelli, the legendary Italian tenor, who is related to Gia. Although the film somewhat overuses Bocelli and whenever the story collapses presses the “Andrea Bocelli button,” his voice is so beautiful and astonishing that, despite this excess, it still touches the heart.
Solo Mio is a dessert best served at a romantics’ table; for couples who simply want to chill and watch a simple film where everything ends in a fairytale-like happy manner. Ingmar Bergman depth or the pointed questions with the sharp language of Woody Allen this ain’t.
