Here’s a film that could have been fun and … wasn’t. A certain villa in the Italian countryside needs a little TLC. Add some overalls, paint, and pretty people and you’ve got a wine commercial. I don’t have to tell you this film did not actually evolve into a wine commercial. It certainly could have. Instead, it became an exploration of father-son openness and understanding. Awwwwww … if only it were a better film.
Jack Foster (Micheál Richardson – I had no idea that name could be spelled with an accent. I suddenly feel like calling myself, “Fróg.”) is getting a divorce. Jack is a failed artist turned would-be failed gallery owner. Only, he doesn’t own the gallery. His better half has all the money. This is the life he knows, so Jack promises to collect enough to buy her out. She gives him a month.
OK, how does one collect enough money in a month to purchase a London art gallery? Well, I can think of several thousand things that won’t work, including the plot of this film, where Jack convinces his estranged womanizing father Robert (his real-life father Liam Neeson) to sell the Italian house he grew up in. Do houses sell faster in Italy? That doesn’t make any sense. Nor does the part where both Jack and Robert seem complete foreigners to the house where they -presumably- both lived for several years.
On its face, this would appear to be a film about multigenerational playboys finding themselves in Italy and learning something from their sexual adventures. That isn’t this film.
Wait. I should clarify. I think that’s the slant certain parties would have us takeaway from this film.
But that’s not this film.
In reality, Made in Italy is about how these two grown men relate to the death of Jack’s 
mother/Robert’s wife. She died when Jack was young. It is worth note that in real life, the two main actors here lost mother/wife Natasha Richardson to a skiing accident in 2009, when Micheál Richardson was just 14. So this is about as close as art can get to real life without being directly biographical. The unfortunate part is … I’ve just described the entirety on the film. Yeah, there are some peripheral characters, some dating, and some deliberately misplaced emotions, but this R-rated sexy Italian romcom proved far more into nurturing man-hugs than sexy romping about.
None of this is to say the Made in Italy was terrible, just … disappointing. The best scene in the film was neither a romantic one nor a bromantic understanding, but a simple set of moments between Jack and his would-be step-daughter. In a way, he gets 5 seconds back of being the parent that his own life deprived him. It will make you smile and retract a little when you think about it. Most of this film feels like a bait-and-switch. I came for the romance, you gave me … emotional understanding? That would be fantastic if this were On Golden Pond. It isn’t.
There was once a divorcee named Jack
Who wanted his gallery back
So he went outside Rome
Selling childhood home
And discovered the father he did lack
Rated R, 94 Minutes
Director: James D’Arcy
Writer: James D’Arcy
Genre: Life, translated
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People related to Natasha Richardson
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: An “R” rated film about bachelors alone in Italy should be both funnier and sexier
