By now, you’ve probably seen Regé-Jean Page and Halle Bailey promoting their new romantic comedy, You, Me & Tuscany. They’re doing an all-out full court publicity press, with a big budget junket and making all the talk-show stops. It’s refreshing to see a studio invest so much in a Black-led romance that’s actually hitting theaters, not just streaming services, and the excitement for the title has been fun to witness. But despite the trailers showing a sun-drenched, algorithm-approved, blissful rom-com, You, Me & Tuscany has been burdened with the impossible task of saving an entire genre, namely Black-led romances. The film has been positioned as both escapist fantasy and cultural moment. It’s an Italian postcard romance that also quietly asks: who gets to be centered in love stories, and how radical is that centering, really?
Industry chatter has framed the film as a kind of proof of concept: a mid-budget, theatrically released rom-com led by a diverse cast, expected to signal whether Hollywood will continue investing in stories like this. Well, we reject those unfair (and double) standards. That pressure has seeped into the discourse surrounding You, Me & Tuscany, where conversations about representation sit uneasily beside critiques that the film plays things too safe — softening its premise, sanding down its characters, and ultimately choosing palatability over specificity — but we disagree. The point of this breezy, blockbuster rom-com is escapism and it delivers. And last month when we chatted with Page and Bailey in Napa, they embodied the spirit of the movie by being playful, fun, and up for a game of rom-com trivia.
In You, Me & Tuscany, Bailey plays Anna, a slightly untethered aspiring chef who impulsively flees to Tuscany after a chance connection with a charming Italian stranger. One accidental lie snowballs into a full-blown fake engagement (think While You Were Sleeping), a villa she has no right to occupy, and a love triangle involving the stranger’s impossibly polished cousin, played by Page. It’s all very eat, pray, lie a little, unfolding against rolling hills and golden-hour lighting. But You, Me & Tuscany isn’t just vibes; together, Page and Bailey have sweet, compulsively watchable chemistry.
“I’m excited to be in a Black rom-com, to show us being joyful onscreen, having fun, and show that love is universal,” Bailey told us during the junket in Napa. Page chimes in: “And fall in love, travel the world, and [good] food!” All of the above are represented in You, Me & Tuscany.
Like its rom-com predecessors, You, Me & Tuscany invites audiences to get swept up in the romance. But how good is it, really? R29 Unbothered staffers and rom-com fans Dawnie Jefferson and Jessika Hardy give their honest thoughts below.
First, we have to talk about the controversy that’s been lighting up our timelines surrounding this release. Filmmaker Nina Lee posted that she met with executives about her romantic comedy, and they said they had to wait to see how You, Me & Tuscany does at the box office before greenlighting another Black rom-com. What do you think of the controversy?
Dawnie Jefferson: There’s been all this controversy because studios think if people don’t see this, then they won’t make more Black rom-coms.
Jessika Hardy: I think if you have the money, you should support this movie and go see it. As a community, if we want to see ourselves on screen, we have to support these movies. Who else is going to support us better than us?
DJ: This apples to oranges, but if we could show up for a movie like Sinners, which is also original IP, written by a Black person and directed by a Black person, why isn’t that enough to prove to the studios that movies by us and for us should exist? The goalpost still moved for Sinners, which people wondering if this is a fluke or is this a real thing? The goalpost is going to continuously move. I just read a book about Black film, and it showed how Hollywood never believes in Black films. No matter what the film is, Hollywood doubts it. And they say, then we won’t make any more. It happens all the time. It is a very frustrating thing to have to constantly show up and prove our stories deserve to be seen, but it is necessary, I guess. If you have the money to do it and you want to see a movie that’s gonna make you feel good in this shitty economy, in the shitty circumstances we are in, you should see it because this movie will give you an escape, which is what we need.
I’m excited to be in a Black rom-com, to show us being joyful onscreen, having fun, and show that love is universal.
halle bailey
JH: The goalpost is always moving.
DJ: This movie can make hundreds of millions of dollars, and they’ll be like, “that was a fluke.”
JH: They’ll say, “was it really that good?”
Let’s get to the movie. Was it good? What did you think of it overall?
JH: The movie was cute!
DJ: It gave 2000s romcom. There’s a shenanigan, there’s a trope of mistaken identity. There’s a faraway, beautiful place. There’s food. There’s a silly, crazy family. There’s crazy best friends and sidekicks. There’s enemies to lovers and good music. It had everything except for a fashion montage.
JH: I love that it wasn’t all about race. It was just nice to exist in a world and not have to think about the way everybody views you, you know?
DJ: Same. They bring it up for like a second, and then that’s it.
JH: Their blackness wasn’t hidden, but it wasn’t the focal point.
What did you think of Regé-Jean Page’s character, Michael?
DJ: Let’s see, he’s a little rude, but most men are. He seemed very caring and didn’t want to overstep his bounds. I would date this man.
JH: I do think he was a little bit fishy… if I told you that this is your brother’s fiancée, why do you think that it is now time for you to say I’m in love with her?
DJ: Well, girl, that is the rom-com of it all.
JH: Maybe I’m too old for rom-coms now.
DJ: I don’t think you’re too old for romcoms. I think we have not had enough rom-coms. I think all rom-coms make sense in the world that they’re in. And in that world, love is extremely possible. People fall in love in rom-coms in like three days. Love is a bit complicated, a bit comical, a little bit shenanigan-y. There are many shenanigan-type forces that are there to stop you, but in the end, it all works out. Because in real life, things don’t always work out. And that’s the point. Rom-coms don’t make sense but in the end, everything works out. And I think the good part of rom-coms is that love has trials and tribulations, but it’s not the trials and tribulations of a stressful time. It’s the lowest of stakes.
JH: But Michael took Anna’s sandwich.
DJ: He did take her sandwich.
JH: And almost ran her over…
DJ: Anyway, that’s the rom com of it all. This is when you have to suspend your disbelief.
JH: I understand it’s the rom-com of it all. And I must set aside the fact that I know better.
DJ: You know better, Jessika! When I talked to Rege about the movie, he said that he doesn’t think the enemies-to-lovers trope works in real life. “I believe when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time,” he said. Halle, however, was all for it. “I love watching the arc between Anna and Michael’s characters,” she said. “He steals her sandwich but then he keeps popping up and she gets a better look at him and is like, ‘oh, maybe he’s alright with me.’ I loved seeing that arc.”
What did we love about the movie?
JH: The colors are beautiful.
DJ: Gorgeously lit. They look great.
JH: This is the type of movie you could have a pasta night to.
DJ: Or a sandwich night.
JH: Or a wine night.
DJ: Yes. And you could watch it over and over because it’s beautiful that they love each other. I will also say that they have really good chemistry on camera.
JH: They’re cute!
DJ: We should not that this movie isn’t written by a Black person or directed by a Black person.
JH: We got Will Packer in there.
DJ: We love Will Packer. He produced it. But it’s still two Black leads, which is still very important because we don’t often see two Black, romantic leads having fun, living life in theaters.
What do we think of this couple. Are Michael and Anna good for each other?
JH: Micheal is good for Anna because he’s a grounding force. We can’t have two Scorpios in one relationship.
DJ: Now, why are they Scorpios?
JH: You should know they’re Scorpios because they’re crazy. Actually, I think Mateo is a Scorpio. Michael is a Taurus.
DJ: I’m a Taurus.
JH: Do that with what you will. [laughs]
What did we think of Michael and Anna’s slow burn?
JH: It was like a slow burn.
DJ: We do like a slow burn.
JH: It really wasn’t love at first sight and I appreciated that. When he was in that sandwich shop, he didn’t give her that sandwich and he was cool walking out. And he was going home. He was not looking for her.
DJ: Maybe it wasn’t love at first sight in the sandwich shop when he took the sandwich, even though he said the thing in Italian, which apparently, he said that she was beautiful.
JH: Oh, they didn’t even throw some titles on, so I didn’t know what the fuck he said.
DJ: He says it later. He’s like, you know what? I told the sandwich lady that if it was, if there were more women around here like her, that would be in a relationship or something like that.
JH: But he said, “I’m still gonna take this sandwich.”
DJ: Still gonna take the sandwich [laughs].
JH: I’m hungry, but she a baddie.
DJ: Maybe it wasn’t love at first sight in that moment, but I think the love came when they had the conversation about the sandwich, and there was a little banter. There was a little bit of a back and forth. I was like, I think that’s when they starting falling and thinking, “you kind of fine.”
Overall, what do we rate You, Me & Tuscany?
DJ: If I lead with my heart, I’ll give it a 10. But the movie person in me will give it a nine.
JH: I think they could’ve cut the whole New York section for me. We could have character built so much more if they were just in Tuscany. That would’ve taken it over the edge for me.
DJ: That’s a valid critique.
JH: As a romcom lover, I would give this an eight out of 10.
DJ: I think the reason I gave it a nine is ’cause I don’t have in my brain any glaringly big plot holes. We had bloopers. It was start to finish, great. We had a great soundtrack. We had Mario singing. Come on!
Would you recommend You, Me & Tuscany?
JH: Yes, I would recommend this movie. Would you?
DJ: I have recommended it. I would recommend it. I’m team rom-com all the time. It’s my favorite genre.
JH: This is a great date night film. This is a great film with your friends. It’s the same reason why I think I like Love Is Blind. I love something to chew on, something to dissect. I think that’s why we all watch rom-coms.
DJ: And to feel. It made you feel, wow, maybe love is possible. It’s not, but maybe! It’s not for me.
JH: This film said maybe everything doesn’t have to be easy to begin with. Maybe you can be a little bit nuts.
DJ: Maybe he could be, be a little bit rude, you know? Maybe you have to warm his heart. If you’re going to think-piece it, maybe you should take a step back and understand why you’re think-piecing a movie that’s supposed to be for fun. Have some whimsy in your heart.
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