You, Me & Tuscany (2026) Universal/Comedy-Drama RT: 104 minutes Rated PG-13 (some strong language and sexual material) Director: Kat Coiro Screenplay: Ryan Engle Music: John Debney Cinematography: Danny Ruhlmann Release date: April 10, 2026 (US) Cast: Halle Bailey, Rege-Jean Page, Aziza Scott, Lorenzo de Moor, Marco Calvani, Isabella Ferrari, Stefania Casini, Paolo Sassanelli, Stella Pecollo, Desiree Popper, Nia Vardalos, Emanuele Pacca.
Rating: ***
Okay, I’ll say what everybody’s thinking. The new rom-com You, Me & Tuscany is like a Netflix movie that somehow found its way into theaters. It’s really not all that different from the 400 similar movies my wife has watched on the streaming platform over the years. That’s hyperbole of course, but you get my meaning. These movies all tend to play out the same way. A woman shows up someplace uninvited, makes up a lie and rolls with it until something happens that exposes her deception. Along the way, she falls in love with the perfect guy who will likely dump her if the truth comes out. In other words, it’s Rom-Com 101.
I went into You, Me & Tuscany with no expectations whatsoever. At best, I hoped for a pleasant diversion. Then a funny thing happened. I fell under its spell. Sure, it’s completely formulaic, but it’s also quite charming. The two leads, Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) and Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton), are impossibly attractive in a Hallmark Channel kind of way. It helps greatly that it plays out against beautiful Tuscan scenery and sumptuous-looking food. By the end, I was fully won over.
I gave you a basic overview of the plot in the opening paragraph. Now allow me to fill in a few blanks. Anna’s (Bailey) life has been in a holding pattern since her mother’s death a year ago. She was just about to graduate culinary school, but dropped out to take care of Mom. Lately, she’s been working as a house sitter. She loses her latest gig after the client catches her appropriating her designer wardrobe. On top of that, she’s about to homeless.
She meets an Italian guy named Matteo (Moor, Another Simple Favor) while sitting in a hotel bar figuring her next move. They connect and end up spending the night together although nothing actually happens (jetlag knocks him out the minute he gets into bed). He’s gone by the time Anna wakes up, but their brief encounter results in her deciding to take that trip to Tuscany she was going to take with her mother. As it so happens, Matteo owns a villa there, one that mostly sits empty since he left home. Do you see where this is going yet?
Long story short, Anna sets herself up in the villa only to be discovered by family members the next day. Alarm gives way to joy when they mistakenly assume she’s Matteo’s fiancee. Instead of coming clean, Anna keeps up the charade. They quickly accept her as part of their close-knit family. For the first time in a long time, she’s happy. We’re happy for her too even though it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out.
Predictably, Anna’s situation becomes more complicated by way of another man. That would be Michael (Page), an extremely good-looking vineyard owner who also happens to be Matteo’s adopted brother. They initially clash (over a sandwich), but it isn’t long before they’re gazing at each other with great longing. How are they supposed to act on their attraction to each other when she’s (supposedly) engaged to Matteo? How indeed?
Directed by Kat Coiro (Marry Me), You, Me & Tuscany contains story elements that will be familiar to rom-com junkies. You’ll spot ideas from While You Were Sleeping, The Family Stone, The Proposal and Under the Tuscan Sun just to name a few. Well, nobody ever said You, Me & Tuscany was original. I sure didn’t. The good news is it’s a mixture that goes down rather easily. It’s a pleasant affair with likably eccentric characters like the grandmother Nonna (Casini, Suspiria) who could be related to Sophia from The Golden Girl. The closest one to an antagonist is Matteo’s ex-fiancee (Popper) who does little more than make a passive-aggressive comment or two to Anna in her renewed interest in her ex. The movie doesn’t have a mean bone in its body.
I’ve always found Bailey to be somewhat wooden as an actress, but she’s pretty good in You, Me & Tuscany. She makes for a likable heroine who makes the same mistake as many rom-com lead characters, she tells a lie and lets it snowball. She has good chemistry with Page, an actor that I’m sure will have the ladies swooning. I heard a few audible sighs when he removed his shirt in one scene involving a sprinkler. BTW, I was the only guy in attendance at this morning’s showing. Not a surprise.
I chuckled a few times during You, Me & Tuscany. It was the gentle kind of chuckling one offers up when something is amusing but not uproariously hilarious. I laughed out loud at the outtakes during the end credits. They involve ladies on a tour bus commenting on a shirtless Michael. Some of the remarks are a riot.
In short, I liked You, Me & Tuscany. It’s a nice movie. I didn’t expect much from it so it was a sweet surprise that it exceeded my expectations a little. It’s not what I’d call wonderful. It doesn’t reinvent the genre. It’s just a rom-com that works. It’s a good date movie.
