katrinaolson.ca - Little Italy

Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2018 at 06:00 PM

KO Review of Little Italy

Review by Katrina Olson-Mottahed x CalgaryMovies.com

There is a new adorable romantic comedy with an all-star cast in theatres this week… Little Italy directed by Donald Petrie will add a highpoint to the end of your summer. If you are an 80’s kid like I am, you probably remember Rom-Com’s like Mystic Pizza and Moonstruck. Little Italy is reminiscent of those blockbuster romcoms of my youth.

Little Italy stars Emma Roberts in the lead role as Nikki Angioli, an aspiring chef cooking in a top culinary school in London. Nikki needs to go back home to Canada to change her student visa to a working visa to apply for her next big career move. Nikki’s boss Corrine, played by Jane Seymour offers her an opportunity to create the menu for her up-and-coming Mayfair Restaurant. When Nikki goes home to her Toronto neighbourhood of Little Italy, she reconnects with her childhood friend Leo Campo, played by Canadian dreamboat Hayden Christensen.

Little Italy is a millennial’s Romeo & Juliet. Their families are rivals… In the case of Little Italy, the rivalry is over the title of the neighbourhood’s best pizza. The Patriarch’s of the family constantly are trying to sabotage each other business and regularly go to battle in the local bar. Leo’s best friend Luigi, played by the hilariously brilliant Andrew Phung is laugh-out-loud funny in this film. There is one scene specifically involving some cheetah underwear where I had to wipe tears from my eyes I laughed so hard. The writing of the character of Luigi again reminds me so much of the character of Romeo’s best friend Mercutio in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Kudos to the writers Steve Galluccio and Vinay Virmani who created this feel-good contemporary film, jam packed with classic feel.

Like those 80’s films that Little Italy reminds me so much of… Mystic Pizza starred Julia Roberts, the paternal aunt of Emma Roberts. In Little Italy, Emma shines through in every extreme close-up just as her aunt’s did to reel in the audience for those heart warming moments. The Roberts ladies have a "je ne sais quoi" that is so spellbinding as actors you just can’t take your eyes off them. I felt deeply nostalgic thinking back to Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza with the family dynamic of Moonstruck with cross-over of some cast members like Danny Aiello who plays Leo’s Grandpa, Carlo.

Little Italy opens in theatres on Friday, August 24, 2018, check CalgaryMovies.com for showtimes.

Calgary Showtimes: Little Italy >

Photos courtesy of e0ne entertainment.