“Solo Mio” is a mild-mannered comedy of the “Left at the Altar/Honeymoon Goes Wrong” school. It’s a little “Runaway Bride,” a lot of “Honeymoon Crasher” or “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but without any of the edge or many of the laughs of its predecessors.
Kevin James plays an elementary school school art teacher who has finally met Ms. Right (Julie Ann Emory), teaching at the same school, in his 50s. A cute in-class proposal gives them a video to remember The Big Moment by.
That video is still on his phone as he stands at the altar in Rome for their “destination wedding.” But she leaves him a heartfelt note and skips out.
“Solo Mio” kind of goes wrong at about the same time as the wedding. We don’t see what’s on the note. We don’t meet any of the families gathered there, and without that, the nature of the “disaster” isn’t all that messy, the humiliation is limited to the concierge and others our man Matt had pre-paid for their dream nuptials and honeymoon.
If only some sympathetic Italian barista (Nicole Grimaudo of the Italian comedy “Loose Cannons”) could take pity on him, keep him away from pickpocket kindergarteners, help him with the language, lift his spirits and mend his broken heart.
“You have to try, take chances,” she says trying to make Matthew dance, sing, live or something. She’s speaking to Matt, to the audience, and to the filmmakers, who ignore their own screenwritten advice.
Three credited screenwriters, including big and small screen veteran James, and their big idea is to have Matt counseled by a honeymooning therapist (Jonathan Cerda) and a blustering boor (veteran screen heavy Kim Coates) who “bought the same (travel) package” and are thus witness to the shame of his dining alone or riding a pre-rented tandem bike solo.
“You’re NOT single,” one counsels. “You’re SINGLE” the other eggs on, promising a “dirty rebound” is in the offing.
The picture occasionally rises to “cute” and James dials down the “mall cop” pathetic to someone recognizable and relatable. Grimauda turns on the Italian charm.
But why cast veteran funnywoman Alyson Hannigan if you have so little for her to make fun of? Coates, released of the burden of playing Satanic goateed, blue-eyed whom Kevin Costner (“Open Range”) and his ilk shoot right between eyes, is the movie’s most reliable laugh.
A movie set in Rome and Siena shortchanges the scenery and falls short in too many other ways to count. The lack of “family” lowers the stakes and rubs comic “outrage” out of the picture. Let’s make the fleeing bride-to-be a non-entity, also lacking an edge.
A tentative, chaste courtship is fine. “Exes” creating complications is a plot point to be expected. Here, they’re so watered down and contrived as to be no obstacle at all to “true love.”
The production arranged a few third act surprises, one of which pays off warmly while the others flop like lead balloons. Why bother to park our cast in Siena during the Palio horse race if you can’t do something amusing or dramatic with that? The race is typically 90 seconds long. You can’t show us the finish?
James has been collaborating on short films with the seven Rhode Island Kinnane brothers, who earn writing, directing, editing and producing credits on “Solo Mio.” But keeping this enterprise “all in the family” practically screams out its shortcomings. Outside voices might have juiced the jokes, milked the comic situations and avoided the blunders of a travelogue rom-com that promises a little and can’t even deliver on that.
Rating: PG
Cast: Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Julie Ann Emory, Julee Cerda, Jonathan Cerda, Alyson Hanigan and Kim Coates
Credits: Directed by Charles Kinnane and Daniel Kinnane, scripted by Kevin James, John Kinnane and Patrick Kinnane. An Angel Studios release.
Running time: 1:40
