Love in the Villa

 

Love in the Villa is a Netflix distributed romantic comedy starring Kat Graham and Tom Hopper. It follows Julie Hutton, a newly single woman who takes a solo trip to Verona, Italy, after her boyfriend dumps her. When she arrives she discovers that her villa has been double-booked, and she'll have to share her love nest with a cynical British man.

I appreciated the themes around letting go of structure, living in the moment and enjoying oneself but the plot was predictable and also unrealistic. Some of the actions taken by Julie in the plot were also rather extreme and unbelievable.

I did like that they actually filmed in Italy. You really get a feel for the history and beauty of the architecture and landscapes. 

The costumes in the film, especially the ones worn by Graham’s character Julie, were fashion forward, chic and classy. Overall, Graham did a great job in this leading role. Her character Julie was likeable, optimistic, and quirky. I was looking forward to seeing Tom Hopper in this movie. His role as Billy Bones in Black Sails was really great but unfortunately he was not the right fit for the role of Charlie Fletcher. He was corny and his feelings weren’t genuine. The chemistry between him and Julie was lacking and awkward at times. There was also a lack of character development  for the majority of the cast, so I wasn't fully invested.

Love in the Villa did have its moments but in the end, it was a typical unoriginal, straight to video rom-com that Netflix is known for.