Directors: Charles Kinnane, Daniel Kinnane
Writers: Kevin James, John Kinnane, Patrick Kinnane
Stars: Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Kim Coates
Synopsis: Left heartbroken in Rome after a wedding disaster, a stranded groom finds his ruined honeymoon transformed by a determined local, and a few meddling travelers—proving that sometimes heartbreak is only the beginning.
Synopsis: Left heartbroken in Rome after a wedding disaster, a stranded groom finds his ruined honeymoon transformed by a determined local and a few meddling travelers, proving that sometimes heartbreak is only the beginning.
Romantic comedies seem to be a tough sell at movie theaters. The once sure-fire genre has shifted heavily toward at-home streaming. They seem to be pumped into the content mills, with beautiful, sometimes vacant faces, selling us the mythos of deep emotional connections built over an hour and a half. If a rom-com makes it to the big screen, it has to have some kind of gimmick. Recently, because, aside from superheroes and sequels, it’s the only other genre that makes a real impact on the box office, rom-coms have been hitched to horror. A serial killer chasing the new couple (Heart Eyes), the monster in the closet is actually really sweet (Your Monster), or the best mate is the one you make yourself (Lisa Frankenstein). Yet, Solo Mio is about as straightforward as a rom-com can be, and it’s refreshing to see a new entry into the storied genre.
It’s not a perfect film in many ways. Its blend of the lonely, aging man, like Marty, and the jilted, confused man, like in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is at times a bit out of sync. Solo Mio, while maintaining our understanding that this type of narrative requires some suspension of disbelief, doesn’t connect every dot properly. The most confounding piece is that Matt (Kevin James) has no close friends or family in Rome with whom to confide. The wedding scene must be just a room full of strangers because none of them tries to console or talk to him. They don’t even really react when he leaves the venue to search for Heather (Julie Ann Emery), his runaway bride. In fact, when the wedding planner (Julia Messina) calls him asking what to do, the people in the background are just enjoying the reception. None of them call him or try to talk to him, except his mother, who didn’t seem to make the journey. It’s quite jarring to see a room full of people who travelled 4000 miles for him, not caring one way or the other about this devastating moment in his life.
This leaves room for the pushy fellow tourists on Matt’s honeymoon package, led by the thrice-married to the same woman Julian (Kim Coates), to do what Matt’s closest and dearest couldn’t be bothered to do. This crew is the heart of the film. They often have the best lines and the most fun, being the “ugly American” stereotypes. They’re unapologetically for Matt, and it’s fun to watch their cheerleading. Unfortunately, they give absolutely terrible advice. They are well-intentioned, but their own relationships are kind of hopeless, and it is fun to watch these people who stick with each other through their trainwrecks because they know what they’re getting.
The piece of the story that the writers Kevin James, John Kinnane, and Patrick Kinnane could have better developed is that the messy, complicated nature of relationships is often a deeply lonely affair. The truths Matt is realizing throughout the film are intriguing, and as much as he’s falling head over heels again, he realizes it’s just better to have someone with whom he can be himself than just someone to be with. The catharsis for Matt right before the grand gesture that ends the film may be the best part of the whole thing. It encapsulates a lot of the fear of loneliness that takes hold in mature relationships, a fear rarely addressed in the perky new adult rom-coms that dominate the genre.
That idea of being alone is captured perfectly in the scenes of Matt taking the tour as a single among couples. Directors Charles and Daniel Kinnane, along with their cinematographer Jared Fadel, craft scenes that cut through the noise of the people in love around Matt. In a beautiful, simple shot, this team creates a great impact. Matt sits alone on the Spanish Steps. It’s a medium shot, but slowly the camera zooms out. Even when you think the zoom is enough to understand just how adrift Matt is, the zoom continues, and we’re left with a wide shot of Matt, who has no one else closer than ten feet to him. The sea of people around him is made up of couples, groups of friends, and families. He’s an island, pining and thinking, but unable to express himself.
Solo Mio is a cute rom-com. It’s not reinventing the genre or crossing over with something wholly at odds with its romance premise. It’s simply a human love story. It may be easy to predict, a bit too cheesy with some things, strains credulity, and rarely is laugh-out-loud funny, but it gets you in the heartstrings. It’s sweet, tender, and charming, and worth seeking out if you’re a fan of the genre.
