Must-See: Letters to Juliett

Must-See: Letters to Juliet

Last Friday night I had a slumber party with a girl-friend of mine. :) It was so much fun and a much-needed girls' night. As much as I enjoy hanging out with my guy friends, a girl needs girly time. E and I fished out an old and forgotten DVD (Letters to Juliet) and watched it not once, but twice, because it was such a huge favorite of ours!

While the movie is definitely romantic, I would recommend this for you and your girl-friends as opposed to a date night. It's a chick flick. And a tear jerker... but not in the usual way. (I almost always shed a few tears during any movie.) I wept during this one. Good tears, though. Happy crying. Happy, swooning, thrilled crying.

Basically, Letters to Juliet is the story of Sophie (played by the amazingly talented and amazingly pretty Amanda Seyfried); Sophie's a "fact-checker" who aspires to become a journalist. She's engaged to a goofy, crazy, Italian guy who is getting ready to open a restaurant in NYC. She accompanies her fiance to Verona, Italy so that he can meet with suppliers. But once in Italy, they end up spending more time apart than together. He wants to meet with suppliers, sample noodles, visit vineyards, and go to auctions. She wants to explore and take in the beauty and history of the locale.

While wandering through Verona one day, Sophie ends up at the house of Juliet Capulet. (The Juliet from Romeo & Juliet.) There are lots of young women there, pouring their hearts into letters and posting the letters on a brick wall. Sophie lingers in the courtyard long after all the other young women leave. A woman comes, gathers the letters into basket, and leaves. Her curiosity getting the best of her, Sophie follows the woman and ends up meeting the Secretaries of Juliet, a handful of female writers that answer the young womens' letters about love address to Juliet Capulet.

When Sophie finds a letter in the wall from fifty years ago, she writes the woman and encourages her to find her long-lost first love. The letter reaches its original writer Claire and inspires her to leave England and visit Italy with her grandson Charlie. This begins a great adventure for Sophie as she accompanies the woman and her handsome (although difficult to get along with) grandson. The three journey through the Italian countryside in search of Lorenzo. Along the way there is laughter, tears, unexpected romance, heartbreak, and always present hope.

I loved this movie! There are so many breathtaking vistas of Italian farms and vineyards. The little Italian villages are so charming. Sophie is easy to relate to and like. Her fiance is out there... he's passionate about noodles. Claire is a remarkable and inspiring woman. And Charlie is soooo easy on the eyes... plus, he's terribly funny.

What I really love about this movie is how uplifting it was. It's definitely a feel-good romance as opposed to a heart-breaker.

Grab your girls and go see this movie... SOONLY. :)