La Dolce Villa

La Villa Dolce is a ‘bello’ romcom—sweet, charming, with excellent character chemistry, stunning cinematography, and it feels like you’re in Italy with every scene!

To get the obvious out of the way, La Dolce Villa is shot on location in Italy and it is absolutely stunning. There’s some incredibly picturesque locations on show which leads into some gorgeous cinematography. Multiple times throughout the film there are sweeping shots of the beautiful landscape and it not only sets the tone but matches the happy-go-lucky vibe the film has going on. The cast are pretty decent across the board and it is definitely a group of people I enjoyed watching. I love Maia Reficco and she was brilliant as the main character Olivia. Reficco played Olivia well, with depth and lots of charm. She had genuine chemistry with her on-screen father Scott Foley. Foley provided the majority of the films wit and he navigated the more emotional aspects of his character very well. The town and its folk in La Dolce Villa felt like a real community. The characters, while not really fleshed out much, had quirks, flaws and were funny. It was easy to slip into the film and most importantly see yourself fitting in to the town and its way of life. However, the film isn’t without its flaws. The dialogue, at times, could be very on-the-nose and even cringey at times. Though, that is part of the parcel with these films. Another point to make is that it doesn’t make sense that everyone speaks English most of the time. Olivia can speak Italian so it’s odd she only does it a handful of times. It’s lazy from Netflix. Also, for a rom-com, the romantic aspect of La Dolce Villa can be quite thin to the ground. All in all, La Dolce Villa is a sweet and endearing rom-com with a low-stakes plot and easy to like characters. A perfect film for a chill weekend!