‘You, Me & Tuscany’ review: Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page spark in Italy

Anna (Halle Bailey) doesn’t have great boundaries in other people’s homes. Her tendency to make herself entirely too comfortable gets her into trouble as a house sitter, but that specific quirk ultimately leads to her romantic good fortune during a spontaneous trip to Italy, so how bad can it really be?

In fact, if Anna had never donned the wardrobe of her high-end client (Nia Vardalos) to walk the dog in a fit of wealth cosplay, she never would have gotten fired in time to meet an Italian hunk, Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), who inspires the trip that unfolds in “You, Me & Tuscany,” directed by Kat Coiro and scripted by Ryan and Kristin Engle. So really, the message here is that we should all be more impulsive and slightly unhinged — Anna ends up living her Tuscan dreams after all.

Running off to Italy and into the arms of an earthy Mediterranean man holding a big bowl of pasta is a specifically American, female-friendly kind of fantasy that’s been depicted on-screen before, in travelogues like “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Eat Pray Love,” both name-checked in “You, Me & Tuscany.” The Vardalos cameo also connects the dots between this film and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” both with large, cartoonishly ethnic families enthusiastically champing at the bit to plan a marriage ceremony.

But first, how do we get from unemployed house sitter to impending Italian nuptials? Anna, a culinary school dropout, is drifting from gig to gig, grieving her mother, who was a chef, when she meets Matteo at a hotel bar. He enthralls her with stories of his Tuscan hometown and currently empty villa, having run away from the burden of his family’s expectations. Anna takes it as a sign and books a flight. She turns up in his hometown and, with nowhere else to stay, helps herself to his villa while Matteo gallivants around the States, blissfully ignorant.

Later, while trying on a random diamond ring she finds (see aforementioned boundary issues), Matteo’s family turns up. They put two and two together, add a few assumptions and Anna goes with it, letting his mother Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari) indulge in a best-case scenario. Then she meets Matteo’s cousin/adopted brother Michael (Regé-Jean Page of “Bridgerton” fame), a soulful winemaker, and things get complicated. There’s also a family restaurant that’s struggling and could really use the help of a talented would-be chef obsessed with Italian cuisine.

There are almost too many romance tropes in “You, Me & Tuscany” to take it seriously: fake dating, a journey from being enemies to lovers, a fiancé’s brother, etc. So many plot points and characters keeps things jam-packed in what’s essentially a Hallmark movie with a travel budget. But for an outlandish romance set in a theme-park version of Italy that features more slow-motion shots of food being tossed in the air than an ’80s McDonald’s commercial, it’s actually pretty charming.

Anna has an angel and a devil on each shoulder, neither of whom she listens to very much. One is her best friend Claire (Aziza Scott) in New York, who’s always encouraging her to make the prudent choice. The other is her Italian taxi driver Lorenzo (Marco Calvani), who suggests she tell the truth but agrees that her way is more romantic. They synthesize and parrot back the script’s outrageous plot points, serving as a Greek chorus, though being reasonable wouldn’t push Anna toward her destiny.

As a romantic lead, Page could do this blindfolded with one arm tied around his back — he’s just that handsome and smooth. He even manages to pull off an a cappella version of the 2004 Mario R&B ballad “Let Me Love You” without drifting into cringe territory.

Bailey has a wide-eyed clueless cuteness that lends to her character’s well-meaning naiveté — even her missteps have a way of working out. She brings a sort of Disney princess innocence and pluck to Anna, which makes sense considering she played Ariel in the live-action “The Little Mermaid.”

There are limits to Bailey’s charm, though. She manages comedy much better than sincerity but Coiro knows how to work around it, punctuating her big speeches with quick cutaways to comic relief so we don’t dwell on them too much. The script grounds its fantasy in real emotional traumas and triggers: Anna and Michael bond over losing parents and the competition between brothers resonates authentically. Even if the setting and circumstances are over the top, the choices the characters make track as actual human behavior (if heightened).

But most importantly, “You, Me & Tuscany” is self-aware. It’s transporting and ridiculous and knows exactly what it is, and therefore, we do too. So go ahead, enjoy a little dolce vita as a treat.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.