YOU, ME & TUSCANY (2026)

Written by Ryan Engle



Directed by Kat Corio



Where & When: AMC The Grove 14, Los Angeles, CA. April 16, 2026 4:15 PM



"You, Me & Tuscany" is the latest rom-com that is attempting to revive this beloved genre back on the big screen. And while this film, nimbly directed by Kat Coiro, is filled with glowing charm and sweet romance that's set in an incredibly beautiful location, the end results still feels too uninspired and formulaic. Our leads, Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page are certainly charismatic and have a lovely chemistry together which certainly helps distract from the comedy's deficiencies in style and substance.

After Anna (Bailey) has been fired from her job house-sitting in a NYC high-rise apartment due to her being caught wearing the wealthy owner's clothing, she essentially becomes homeless. She did have a dream of becoming a professional chef but her mother's illness and eventual death would derail her plans, leaving her emotionally adrift and unable to continue her passion. Anna contacts her friend, Claire (Aziza Scott), who works in a ritzy hotel, to see if she can crash with her for a while. While waiting for her to get off her shift, Anna goes to the bar where she meets Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), a handsome and charming Italian. Through an evening with plenty of drinks and conversation, Anna and Matteo make a connection with him sharing about his estranged relationship with his family and his empty villa back in Tuscany. They end up in his hotel room but he passes out from jet lag before anything romantic can happen.

The next morning, after Matteo apologizes for falling asleep and takes off on his business trip, Anna impulsively decides to go to Italy. But once she arrives, with no real plan or hotel reservations, Anna finds she has no place to stay in Tuscany due to a yearly festival. With the help of a quirky cab driver (Marco Calvani), Anna ends up breaking into Matteo's villa for shelter. But she's soon discovered by Matteo's family that includes his mother (Isabella Ferrari), father (Paolo Sassanelli), nonna (Stefania Casini) and cousin, Michael (Page). Anna avoids getting arrested after they assume she's Matteo's fiancé due to her wearing an engagement ring she found in a drawer. And the situation, which she continues to delay in correcting, becomes even more complicated when she starts to develop an attraction to Michael.

Diane Lane spontaneously buys a villa in Tuscany hoping it will change her life in "Under The Tuscan Sun" while Sandra Bullock is assumed to be the fiancé of an injured man she saved due to a case of mistaken identity in "While You Were Sleeping". Both of these romantic-comedies were able to transform their breezy concepts and create substantial movies with memorable characters that have managed to endure. "You, Me & Tuscany" is never able to muster the same energy. While it is wonderful that we have a beautiful, African-American woman as our protagonist, it's unfortunately just not enough. This movie, with a lackluster screenplay by Ryan Engle, remains slight, narratively lazy and never makes any real effort to move beyond formula. 

With her appearance in the live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid", Bailey proved she has a great screen presence. Yet much more is required of her in this movie. The sweet-faced Bailey is able to keep us on her side despite all of the lies and deception that Anna commits throughout this story but her character comes across far too innocent and angelic, considering her many dishonest actions, to be convincing. Page doesn't have much to do here beyond being alluring and looking very good without his shirt on.

"You, Me & Tuscany" doesn't aspire to be much more than a Lifetime television movie with a bigger budget. What we end up with tends to work far better as an enticing travelogue of Tuscany than as an engaging rom-com. And that's okay. This beautifully rendered film (with cinematography by Danny Ruhlmann) is a pleasant enough distraction that entertains with a few laughs, complicated romance, some delicious-looking meals and an absolutely gorgeous location.