{"id":452403,"date":"2026-02-06T11:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452403\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:20:11","slug":"jilted-kevin-james-is-ready-for-rome-ance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452403\/","title":{"rendered":"Jilted Kevin James Is Ready for Rome-ance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNo grand romantic gesture goes unpunished. It isn\u2019t a saying but perhaps it should be if we take a cue from the start of the PG-rated romantic comedy \u201cSolo Mio<\/a>\u201d \u2014 starring Kevin James<\/a>. James\u2019s Matt is a fourth-grade art teacher, smitten with Heather (Julie Ann Emery), a fellow teacher. A video montage, scored to Ed Sheeran\u2019s sentimental ballad \u201cPerfect,\u201d depicts their courtship. For all the celebratory footage of the happy couple, ending with a clever proposal, things aren\u2019t, well, perfect. Heather says \u201cyes\u201d \u2014 to the dress, the nuptials in Rome, a future with Matt \u2014 but as the groom stands at the altar, a grin waning beneath his trim beard, the double doors of an ancient chapel swing open\u2026to niente.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust in time for Valentine\u2019s Day, \u201cSolo Mio,\u201d a title that teases Matt\u2019s misunderstanding of the Italian phrase, follows this wounded soul as he is forced by non-refundable policies to make the most of the numerous honeymoon specials he booked. The first affront might be the beckoning bed strewn with red rose petals. The tandem bike tour of the Eternal City with other lovebirds \u2014 awkward \u2014 comes in a close second.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe hotel concierge Marcello is understanding of Matt\u2019s situation but isn\u2019t going to bend. Portrayed with warmth by Alessandro Carbonara, this sympathetic stickler recalls Hector Elizondo\u2019s fixer role in \u201cPretty Woman.\u201d He\u2019s a kindly and rooting for Matt. So, he encourages Matt to make the most of the city. (Cinematographer Jared Fadel does, with a color palette that beckons prettier than a postcard.) He\u2019s not the only one to nudge Matt to partake of the amazing setting. A brazenly flirtatious bar patron tells the drunken sad sack, \u201cLook around, Roma\u2019s beauty is here for you. Don\u2019t let your heart close your eyes to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough he\u2019d rather be alone, Matt\u2019s adopted by two couples following the honeymoon-package itinerary. Julian and Meghan (Kim Coates and Alyson Hannigan) and Neil and Donna (Jonathan Roumie and Julie Cerda) bicker enough in their own peculiar ways to have Matt questioning why his near-perfect relationship to Heather is the one that didn\u2019t make it to the \u201cI dos.\u201d Julian and Neil take to goading and championing the understandably hangdog Matt.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe directing brothers Charles and Daniel Kinnane have worked with James before (\u201cHome Team\u201d) and know what they have in the ridiculously amiable star. They also know there\u2019s more, if not depth, soulfulness to his talents. In the place of pratfalls, they\u2019ve found a kind of sheepish charm and hurt.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it\u2019s tricky for a script (this one\u2019s by James, and two more Kinnane bros, Patrick and John) to build a budding romance upon the recent \u201clove of one\u2019s life\u201d wreckage without raising reasonable qualms about the quality of Matt\u2019s heartbreak. Enter Gia (Nicole Grimaudo), the owner of a caf\u00e9 near Matt\u2019s hotel who sees the hapless tourist get pickpocketed and rescues him.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs fine as the ensemble is \u2014 and a cameo quasar shines late in the film \u2014 Grimaudo turns out to be the special red sauce in \u201cSolo Mio.\u201d With her wide smile, fractured English, and grown-up grasp of the world, Gia\u2019s a beacon for the emotionally listing Matt. While the timing seems suspect and a bit hurried, the Italian veteran actor and James make their characters\u2019 connection feel inevitable.<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, the genre dictates that a seemingly sure thing be vexed, and this rom-com is no different. In keeping with the travel tease of the film, its couples \u2014 including the presumptive one \u2014 head north to Siena and Gia\u2019s family\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a lot of wow factor in these scenes \u2014 her family owns a racehorse for heaven\u2019s sake \u2014 but is it much different than Dakota Johnson\u2019s Lucy in \u201cMaterialists\u201d wandering into Harry\u2019s HNWI digs?<\/p>\n

\n\tWhich brings us to the quandaries of taste, temperament and genre. Some like their rom-coms aching or itching with desire. Others are content to celebrate the affectionate spark. This PG valentine from Angel Studios \u2014 the company has yet to make an R-rated anything \u2014 is very much the latter. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that and lot of easy sweetness to \u201cSolo Mio.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No grand romantic gesture goes unpunished. It isn\u2019t a saying but perhaps it should be if we take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,33218,206,212002],"class_list":{"0":"post-452403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-kevin-james","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-solo-mio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}