Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Yuki L — 01 Sep 2012

To Rome with Love follows four different concurrent but unrelated plotlines taking place in the Eternal City.

American tourist Hayley falls in love and becomes engaged to Italian pro bono lawyer Michelangelo while spending a summer in Rome. Her parents, Jerry and Phyllis, fly to Italy to meet her fiancé and his parents. Michelangelo's father Giancarlo works as a mortician and washes up when he comes home from work each day. Jerry happens to hear Giancarlo's beautiful operatic voice while the latter sings in the shower. As a former (and admittedly avant-garde critically-reviled) opera director, Jerry feels inspired to bring Giancarlo's gift to the public. Although Giancarlo protests that he sings for himself and doesn't want to go professional, Jerry pushes the issue until Giancarlo agrees to audition in front of a room of opera bigwigs. Outside the safety of his shower, Giancarlo's confidence abandons him. His voice cracks on several easy notes, and he is humiliated. Michelangelo, who attended the audition too, accuses Jerry of using his father to achieve some level of fame for himself. It suddenly occurs to Jerry that Giancarlo, like most people, sings the most confidently when he has some measure of privacy. In Giancarlo's case, he performs best in his shower. Giancarlo, naked but for a towel, premieres at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Jerry has built him a shower onstage, and Giancarlo sings as he washes. The opera attendees love his strange performance, so Jerry and Giancarlo decide to stage Pagliacci, shower and all. Again, Giancarlo's rich voice mesmerizes the crowd, and he receives rave reviews. He decides to retire from opera singing, because he prefers working as a mortician and spending time with his family.

Newlyweds Antonio and Milly move from their rustic hometown to Rome because Antonio's posh uncles have offered him a job in their family's business. The couple check into their hotel, and Milly decides to pop down to the salon to fix her hair. When the concierge informs her that there's no available appointments, Milly decides to go to a nearby salon - but she forgets the directions and becomes hopelessly lost. When she tries to call Antonio, she accidentally drops her phone through the slats of a sewer grate. Defeated, Milly eventually sits down on the edge of a fountain. When she looks up she sees one of her favorite actresses, Pia Fusari, about to shoot a scene. Pia invites Milly to watch her film, and Milly becomes even more excited when she learns her celebrity crush Luca Salta is also in the film. After the scene wraps, Pia introduces Milly to Luca, who invites Milly out to lunch with him.