Review of Tea with Mussolini (1999) by Mepitts — 07 Jun 2013

Well--wonderful scenes of Florence, the Uffizi Gallery and the Tuscan countryside; well-produced regarding an interesting period in Italian history and with an amazing group of actors.

That said (and apologies for seeming so grumpy, but really disappointed with a movie that seemed to have such promise): poorly written, poorly acted and poorly directed, self-indulgent and really a caricature of the high quality repertory productions in which we're used to seeing Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. The Judy Dench character had some subtlety, but the Maggie Smith character was embarrassingly broadly written, directed (I'm guessing) and acted. If you want to see scenes of pre--WWII Florence, I'd strongly suggest "Room With a View" over this movie. Not recommended.