Letters to Juliet - Food 'n Flix July Movie Pick

Letters to Juliet is being hosted by the beautiful Kim of Stirring the Pot.



Sophie is a fact-checker with The New Yorker. She is engaged to Victor, a man consumed with passion for his new restaurant. (I think his name should be Vincent, or Vinnie, as you get the impression he’s an Italian…but hey, I’m just sayin’ ) Sophie and Victor are going on a pre-honeymoon to Italy because he is too busy to take time off after they are married. New restaurant takes priority. (I could smell trouble as soon as these two interacted)

They arrive in Italy and it’s beautiful and romantic – but they spend time running around for Victor’s restaurant, touring vineyards and making business contacts. They decide to go in different directions and pursue their own interests for a few days. Sophie ends up in Verona and finds the wailing wall of hopeless romantics. Women are stuffing letters penned to Juliet asking for relationship advice.

Sophie finds a letter from Claire Smith, written in the 1950s, and writes her back. Claire is still alive and arrives in Verona with her grandson Charlie in tow. Naturally Charlie and Sophie dislike each other at their first meeting so you know they’ll eventually fall in love. Much later. Well….roughly 90 minutes later because the film was 105 minutes. You know.



They set out searching for Claire’s Lorenzo, not knowing if he is dead, happily married, with a life partner….or ideally…..still pining away for Claire.


As Claire is searching for “her Lorenzo” one of the men she speaks with is quite taken by her. He suggests, “…if you don’t find your Lorenzo, come back and let me cook you a fish dinner.”

I thought that was pretty cool. An old Italian man still trying to put the moves on a woman. After watching the movie and discussing the meal, my man says to me, "Let me cook YOU a fish dinner," and yeah....I was sold :-)

So the meal to pair with this movie is grilled fish with a saffron risotto, roasted asparagus and ice cold white wine.



With a romantic comedy you usually see the same formula. Claire will find her Lorenzo...and there are twists and turns along the way, properly themed to the Shakespeare play.


Would I want Juliet to help me, take her advice? No. Things didn’t work out well for her. Sophie had a good work ethic and dedication to seeing a project through and I admire that. I would listen to her advice.

Did you know that Lorenzo (actor Franco Nero) is Vanessa Redgrave’s real life husband? They didn’t actually look like a couple but…there you go.



A cute romantic comedy with wonderful scenery. Check out Kim's post for the July movie HERE . She will do her roundup the first week of August. Go check it out and better yet, join in !!