Slow-motion shots of a shirtless hunk getting drenched by a sprinkler. Lingering stares at a vineyard in Tuscany, Italy. And not one, but two serenades to the 2000s R&B song “Let Me Love You” by Mario.
Even reading that might make some grimace. But at the New York premiere of “You, Me & Tuscany” on Wednesday, the mood told a different story. The audience laughed, called out and gasped together as each scene unfolded.
“I think that that’s the loudest audience I’ve ever been in outside of an ‘Avengers’ movie,” said Regé-Jean Page, who became a breakout star in the first season of the Netflix show “Bridgerton.”
For many viewers in the crowd, the communal experience of watching a wholesome, Black-led rom-com in a theater felt like a breath of fresh air.
“Sometimes you need to just have those movies where it just makes you laugh, even if it’s corny,” said Halle Bailey, who played Ariel in the live-action film of “The Little Mermaid.”
But during the premiere, the film’s producer, Will Packer, said it was hard to find a studio willing to back a theatrical romantic comedy in a streaming era, let alone a Black-led one. The movie, which was picked up by Universal and was released in theaters on April 10, is forecast to earn $8 million after its opening weekend, according to industry estimates.
The film stars Ms. Bailey as Anna, a culinary school dropout who loses her house-sitting job in New York and later has a steamy bar encounter with a man named Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor). She then impulsively travels to Tuscany to reconnect with her love for cooking and ends up letting herself into Matteo’s empty villa. When his family arrives, they assume she is Matteo’s fiancée. Anna plays along, but ends up falling for Michael, Matteo’s cousin, played by Mr. Page.
After a long press tour, Ms. Bailey, 26, and Mr. Page, 38, were calling from their respective homes in Los Angeles on Friday. (Ms. Bailey’s 2-year-old son, Halo, made a brief appearance.) In an edited conversation, the two stars discussed the golden age of rom-coms and why it’s OK to embrace cringe sometimes.
When was the last time you watched a rom-com in theaters?
HALLE BAILEY “Girls Trip.” I love that movie, and watching it in a theater was so much fun. It felt like a party.
REGÉ-JEAN PAGE I don’t think I have seen a rom-com in theaters, which is kind of one of the reasons that makes this so special. Usually, it’s on the couch with you or like one bestie.
There are several recent examples, including “The Drama,” where the rom-com genre has sort of been flipped on its head. Do you think romance-centered movies have a darker take or twist these days?
PAGE There’s a cynicism. What’s different to what I’ve been to the cinema to see is that this film has a complete lack of cynicism. It’s super earnest, it’s whimsical, it’s joyful, and I feel like we don’t associate going to the cinema with being allowed to be joyful without cynicism, being allowed to be aspirational without cynicism. There’s no rug pull here. We actually just want you to be happy.
What are your favorite rom-coms?
BAILEY “Mamma Mia!” is a big one. Also, “The Wedding Planner.”
PAGE I go straight to “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” I always think of rom-coms as kind of like Arnold Palmers. You’ve got to mix the sweet with the savory. You’ve got four weddings, you want one funeral in there just because we’re talking about life in its fullness. You’ve got to have some stakes in there as well, you know? And it’s not a cynical movie; it’s a very joyful movie. It just has some savory taste in there, too, to keep you engaged.
Those movies were all from the ’90s and 2000s — the golden age of rom-coms. And then they became perceived as … cringy?
PAGE I want to give people the freedom to cringe again and know that you will survive. It’s OK. Cringing is not deadly.
Some cheesiness is what prevents us from taking ourselves too seriously. It helps us to be able to laugh.
BAILEY Me personally, I love a cringy movie. I love a movie where I can just laugh and feel good. And I don’t know. I do think it is something that we have shied away from. I also think we have become really judgmental as a society sometimes.
PAGE I think that cheesiness and cringe require vulnerability, and I think that we’re afraid to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable means you can get hurt.
But love requires vulnerability. And so that might be why it’s been hard to make rom-coms, because how do you make that relatable when it’s so hard to be vulnerable in real life? Characters in rom-coms have to be cheesy and cringe. They’ve got to make themselves vulnerable. You’ve got to do that big love profession where you’re super vulnerable to the other person. Halle, do you remember the day when you had to do your serenade back at me?
BAILEY Yes. Oh my god. I was cringing, too. I was like, ‘How am I going to do this and make this feel sweet?’ But Regé is right. It’s about that vulnerability. It’s about being open. It is about letting yourself go and allowing the goodness to come through. And in this case, it was a very endearing moment. First, Michael serenaded Anna early in the movie. For her to bring it back, that was just a really special moment.
In the movie, Matteo’s overbearing family is very involved in the wedding planning process. They tour the venue with Anna and bestow their family traditions onto her. How involved do you think your families will be?
BAILEY My family is like, ‘OK, just let her fly now, let her do her own thing.’ And especially since I have my own little family of my son and me, it’s kind of a new journey for me. I think they really are supportive of me in doing whatever I want to do.
PAGE I feel like we got a little preview in Atlanta because Halle’s family was very loud and very supportive.
BAILEY Oh my god, so loud, like extremely loud. All my family — my cousins, my parents — everybody was there.
PAGE It felt like a wedding.
Sadiba Hasan reports on love and culture for the Styles section of The Times.
The post Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page on Embracing ‘Cheesy’ Rom-Coms appeared first on New York Times.
