Under the Tuscan Sun

Oh jeez, here we go again, indulging a geezer’s fantasies. I mean -- Diane Lane -- that is one hot babe, even if she does have a few miles on the odometer. Plus, she can act, and thereby imbues this pretty little bit of wish fulfillment with all the truth it can handle. Tuscany is pretty, the villa is pretty, the food is pretty, the people are pretty (or failing that, cute.) So here’s another American transplanted to a land of grapes and olives, having amusing encounters with the natives, learning some Old World truths of the heart. It’s all pretty well done (and pretty!), but nothing you couldn’t see any night on Oh! or WE, just a big chocolate bonbon of a movie. Audrey Wells gives Frances Mayes’ book an extra spoonful of sugar, but not enough to make me gag. May have to watch Summertime again to see Kate Hepburn in the great-aunt of this woman-of-a-certain-age-goes-to-Italy-and-finds-you-know-what genre. (2003, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-52, RT-63.)