La Dolce Villa

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Kaitlyn B This was an elevated Hallmark movie. There is this charming faith to recover an ugly, broken space and restore it back to life mixed with sweet, innocent romances. The depth wasn’t there but it still was very visually beautiful. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/28/25 Full Review Matthew D Cute and charming rom-com that Scott Foley has to carry alongside Violante Placido. Mean Girls director Mark Waters’ romantic-comedy La Dolce Villa (2025) on Netflix is like a basic Hallmark movie. The visual standards on Netflix are really awful with bland cheap interiors and it’s shot like a television episode. Waters’ brisk directorial style from Mean Girls and Freaky Friday is non-exist here. Anyone could have directed this, sadly. It feels like a filler movie meant to stuff Netflix full of generic rom-coms. Writers Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy craft a cute romance, boring business meetings full of annoying jargon, and obnoxious teen dialogue. At least Italy is beautiful and cinematographer Theo van de Sande shoots some pretty backdrop wide shots of Rome, Lazio, and Tuscany. The medium and close-up shots look like cooking commercials, unfortunately. There’s a lot of random side character subplots for no reason. I have no idea why they did the father-daughter plot, mayor and permit guy, bartender and girlfriend arguing, old ladies doubting, the real inheritors claiming the home, the father and mayor dating, the chef and daughter dating, the chef wanting to teach cooking, the father’s side business, the father and daughter grieving the dead mother, and many other plotlines. Why is it so cram packed? Nothing gets a chance to build and they write these melodramatic moments to be tear-jerking scenes Scott Foley is fun as the concerned father Eric, who is also a widower. He learns to fall in love again with Violante Placido’s playful mayor and widow Francesca. They have real chemistry together and go on some cute dates. Maia Reficco is amusing as the teen daughter Olivia, but she’s hardly in the movie. She feels like an afterthought. Giuseppe Futia gets more screen-time as the likable local chef Gio, who likes Olivia and teaches Eric to cook like an Italian chef. Simone Luglio is very funny as the local contractor Nino. Production designer Luca Tranchino has a certain quaint charm, but does not feel authentic. Everything looks so cheap. Editor Travis Sittard’s cutting is so dull and doesn’t have any style to it. Composer Caroline Ho’s gentle, pretty, and quiet movie score is pleasant, but fairly generic. Costume designer Catherine Buyse Dian gives the actresses pretty dresses and cozy sweaters. The guys all get generic guy outfits though. In all, La Dolce Villa is pretty bad, but I was mildly entertained by it. It’s a cozy 99 minutes. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/28/25 Full Review Audience Member I really enjoyed this movie. It is what it is but if you’re looking for a light happy movie then this will do the trick. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/27/25 Full Review Craig K A cute enjoyable story Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/18/25 Full Review Christian S Light hearted movie fun to watch. Very entertaining. I enjoyed it. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/23/25 Full Review Audience Member Cute, aside from the insufferable main character and her horrible acting. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/22/25 Full Review Read all reviews

La Dolce Villa

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