I posted this once I saw the film, and I’ll say it again: romcoms are back.
In You, Me & Tuscany, Anna (Halle Bailey), a once-aspiring chef, moves to Tuscany on a whim. With nowhere to stay, she ends up in an abandoned villa that belongs to Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), a handsome stranger she met in a bar. When his family discovers her alone in the villa and questions her, she makes up a lie that they are engaged – a story that seems f00l-proof until she starts to fall for Matteo’s cousin, Michael (Regé-Jean Page).
(from left) Leo (Luca Setaccioli), Francesca (Stella Pecollo), Roberto (Agazio Olanda), Enzo (Tommaso Cassissa), Bella (Beatrice Skyler Rigel), Roberto (Giacomo Giacopini) and Anna (Halle Bailey) in You, Me & Tuscany, directed by Kat Coiro.
You, Me & Tuscany is a return to the classic romcom and is everything you want in the genre. You know where it’s going, as you do with romance movies, which is the perfect vehicle for the escapism that comes with it. Sometimes, you just want to watch something you know is going to end happy. The escapism that the film inspires is further enabled by its beautiful location. If the fairytale romance isn’t what you want to retreat into, the Italian countryside vineyard probably is (and Kat Coiro’s directing sells it).
Bailey and Page play Anna and Michael with what I can only describe as a purity. I don’t mean that in a prudish way, but with an uncompromising commitment to the story.
(from left) Anna (Halle Bailey) and Michael (Regé-Jean Page) in You, Me & Tuscany, directed by Kat Coiro.
I think one of You, Me & Tuscany’s charms is that it gives Anna a chance for healing that’s more than just romantic. She gets the opportunity to bring her dead career dreams back to life with the most enthusiastic support from the other characters, and the chance to have the family she never had. And Matteo’s family is magnetic. They, and the people who make up this small town, really deepen the warmth of the film.
I have experience with starting again and do feel I’m at a place in my life where I’m not quite settled. Like, I could pick up and go and finally have everything fall into place. You, Me & Tuscany is a return to films that inspired that kind of imagination, that encouraged us to just take the risk and dared us to hope that everything would work out.
(from left) Nonna Alessia (Stefania Casini), Francesca (Stella Pecollo), Leo (Luca Setaccioli), Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari), Enzo (Tommaso Cassissa), Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) and Anna (Halle Bailey) in You, Me & Tuscany, directed by Kat Coiro.
I am also pleasantly surprised to see this film in the theatres. It seems that within this decade or so, films that are just romantic comedy have mostly gone straight to streaming. Again, in this way, You, Me & Tuscany marks something of a return for the genre. It was particularly fun to watch this in a theatre full of women (and black women) because not a lot of things beat the feeling of everyone laughing, swooning or ‘oop’-ing at the same time.
You, Me & Tuscany is available in theatres on Friday, April 10th, 2026.
