Letters to Juliet

Sophie, an aspiring writer at a New York magazine, travels to Italy with her fiancé Victor, who is busy arranging the opening of a restaurant and has little time for her. Wandering Verona on her own, she comes upon the courtyard where visitors leave letters to Juliet, the heroine of Shakespeare's play, and joins the volunteers who answer them. She finds a reply that was never sent, written decades earlier by a British woman, Claire, about an Italian she loved and lost. Sophie writes back, and Claire arrives in Verona with her grandson Charlie to search for the man, with Sophie joining them as they travel through the region.

Gary Winick directed the film, his fifth feature after Tadpole, 13 Going on 30, Charlotte's Web and Bride Wars. Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie, with Christopher Egan as Charlie, Gael García Bernal as Victor, Vanessa Redgrave as Claire and Franco Nero as Lorenzo. José Rivera and Tim Sullivan wrote the screenplay, and the large credited cast and crew reflect a mid-sized production backed by Summit Entertainment and Applehead Pictures.

Made for about 30 million dollars, the film took roughly 79 million worldwide, a solid return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from around 113,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from a far smaller pool of just over 3,000. A critics' rating of 5.2 out of 10 from 159 reviews puts professional opinion below the audience scores.