Solo Mio

I've been underwhelmed by the choices of movies to see these last several weeks, anywhere within an hour's drive of home. But I finally decided to give Solo Mio a try – an Angel Studios release featuring Kevin James of The King of Queens, whom I've decided in Christian charity to forgive for the dreadful Paul Blart: Mall Cop. In this movie, he plays a public school art teacher named Matt who asks a work colleague to marry him in Rome. Then he books an all-expenses-paid honeymoon package tour and, when his bride leaves him standing at the altar, he realizes that the package is non-refundable and non-transferrable. So, he reluctantly decides to stay in Rome and do the honeymoon experience, well, solo. Two other couples, each with their own relationship issues, take him under their wing, and he picks up a mutual attraction with a nice lady who runs a caffé, and during a road trip to the picturesque Italian countryside he discovers that Gia happens to be the niece of Andrea Bocelli (appearing as himself), and misunderstandings and outrageous coincidences ensue, and while a lot of pain is involved, the general upshot is emotional healing and a touch of sweet romance.

The cast includes well-known faces Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy) and Alyson Hannigan (American Pie) as a couple who have just married each other for the third time (after divorcing each other twice), Jonathan Roumie (Jesus in The Chosen) as a guy who (despite the ethical implications) marries his therapist, and Julie Ann Emery (Mrs. Scheisskopf in Catch-22) as Matt's vanishing fiancee. Also playing himself (again; cf. Yesterday) is Matt's favorite pop singer, Ed Sheeran. Overall, it's a lightweight movie, but it has heart to it, some laughs, some romantic tension, colorful characters and beautiful visuals. I'm not sorry I saw it.

Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) A man-hungry Italian woman, who in an earlier scene came on to Kevin (without success) while he was drowning his sorrows at a Roman club, pops up suddenly during a rooftop party, screams something about him breaking her heart and cold-cocks him. If I had been eating popcorn, I probably would have choked. (2) Of course the moment when Matt is looking around Gia's family villa and notices pictures of her relatives with Andrea Bocelli, and he's like, "Boy, your family really are big fans," and then he rounds the corner into the parlor and sees who's playing the piano. (3) The final, as-stipulated-in-the-Hallmark-Channel-movie-bible, 15-minutes-from-the-end misunderstanding and the big reveal of what actually happened, on which the happiness of the hero couple depends.