Seyfried stars as Sophie-ironically the same name as her starring role in the break-out hit "Mamma Mia!"-as a hard-working fact-checker at the New Yorker magazine who wants to be a writer. She is engaged to a restaurant entrepreneur named Victor, who is sadly more excited about cooking than spending time with her. Remarkably, the film’s writers don’t find it necessary to vilify the "other man" in the picture, but simply create an uncomfortable tension between one man and a man that may ultimately be a better fit.
The underlying heartfelt story, however, is about an older woman named Claire who let her first love get away so many years ago. Claire (Redgrave) wrote a letter at the house of Juliet in Verona and stuck it into the wall, hoping for direction as to whether to return to the boy or stay in England. The letter is lost for decades and only recently found by Sophie and her new friends, the Secretaries of Juliet. These women take it upon themselves to answer every letter written to Juliet, doling out helpful advice. Claire decides to answer the old letter and is surprised when the actual woman and her none-too-happy grandson arrive in Italy. Claire looks to follow Sophie’s advice that it is never too late to "follow your heart," and starts on a quest to find her long lost love, Lorenzo.
The film’s grueling beginning in New York fails to initially entice the viewer into the picture, but once "Letters to Juliet" travels to Italy, the real fun begins. Sophie’s fiancé, Victor, has a likeable personality, but he is too caught up in himself and practically ignores Sophie. It appears from the start that this couple will have problems throughout the picture. Gratefully, their time together in the picture is limited and most of the movie is spent tracking down all the potential Lorenzos that could be Claire’s lost love. Without Redgrave in the picture, I could see this movie floundering but her classiness and stature carries the picture. The fact that the grandson, Charlie (Egan), accompanies her to Italy softens his initially contrary demeanor. The interaction between the three is the real charm of the picture and is a doorway through which the viewer wishes to learn more about each of them.
The movie sympathetically addresses the young man and woman’s need for surrogate parental figures. Sophie finds in Claire something she didn’t know she was missing. The musical mixture of Italian and pop music is ideal for the spell "Letters to Juliet" is trying to create. The movie’s finish is the perfect sentimental pay-off the audience deserves. Because a movie’s ending is often telegraphed in romantic tales, doesn’t make it any less effective. If the movie didn’t end that way, the viewer would be disappointed. There is little in "Letters to Juliet" that disappoints. It is perfect counter-programming for women and their significant others who have earned a respite from the summer’s blockbuster fare.
Rated PG for brief rude behavior, some language and incidental smoking.
