Little Italy (2018 film)

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Little Italy
Little Italy film.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDonald Petrie
Screenplay by
Story byVinay Virmani
Produced by
  • Vinay Virmani
  • Ajay Virmani
  • Pauline Dhillon
Starring
CinematographyThom Best
Edited byMichele Conroy
Music byMateo Messina
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 24, 2018 (2018-08-24) (Canada)
  • September 21, 2018 (2018-09-21) (United States)
Running time
102 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Canada
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

Little Italy is a 2018 Canadian-American romantic comedy film directed by Donald Petrie, with a screenplay by Steve Galluccio and Vinay Virmani from a story by Virmani. The film stars Emma Roberts, Hayden Christensen, Alyssa Milano, Adam Ferrara, Gary Basaraba, Linda Kash, Andrew Phung, Cristina Rosato, Danny Aiello, Andrea Martin and Jane Seymour. The film features one of Aiello's final film appearances before his death in 2019.

Plot[]

Nikki and Leo both grow up in Toronto's Little Italy neighborhood, where their families are running a pizza business together. However, a feud developed between Nikki's father Sal and Leo's father Vince causing their pizza business to deteriorate. This resulting in them respectively founding their own restaurants next door to each other, which in turn causes Nikki to leave the family to go to London to study cooking. Then, Chef Corinne temporarily gives Nikki a break for two weeks to give time for her to work on a menu for the upcoming restaurant.

Upon arriving home in Toronto, Nikki meets Leo at the bar and they drunkenly play soccer in a midst of a thunderstorm. The next day, she is welcomed by her family on her arrival. Vince, Leo and others are later arrested for lacing the pizza of their competition with marijuana. Leo and Nikki later get together, after riding around the town, reliving their childhood memories.

Nikki receives a call from Corinne, reminding her that she needs the menu in a few days, otherwise she will promote another chef. Struggling, Nikki expresses her regrets to Leo. Meanwhile, their respective grandparents, Franca and Carlo, become engaged (as they have been in love with each other for years and were never rivals from the start). Franca finally agrees to marry Carlo despite a promise from her late husband not to remarry.

Franca and Carlo arrange a dinner for the families. During the dinner they announce their engagement, causing Sal and Vince to begin exchanging insults. Vince proposes entering a pizza competition against Sal saying that whoever loses will "go out" from "Little Italy". When they are reminded they are banned from the competition because of that competition from years ago, they decide to have Nikki and Leo enter the competition. Nikki initially refuses to compete, and again she and Leo start arguing about who let who win in soccer when they were kids. When Nikki says that Leo won every time because she let him win, Leo says, "Yeah, like you let me win last night," alluding to them sleeping together. She slaps him and storms out in anger.

At the competition, Leo is declared the winner and Nikki departs to the airport for London. However, Leo refuses to take the trophy after he realizes that Nikki had purposely switched their sauces so that Leo would win. Realizing that Nikki has gone to the airport, Leo and their families go after her. They catch her and Leo declares that she is the only one for him. After, she comes back through checkpoint, she declares her love to Leo and they kiss. They then ask Sal and Vince about their fight, in which they admit that the fight was indirectly about their parents Franca and Carlo. In 1999, after winning the competition, Sal and Vince argued about who to name the winning pizza after, resulting in the beginning of the rivalry. Franca and Carlo finally announce that they are getting married. Sal and Vince hug each other, formally ending the rivalry.

Some time later, the families celebrate at the pizza restaurant where Nikki has invited Corinne, who reveals that she had to shut down her European restaurant after receiving negative reviews from critics. Nikki and Leo, along with the other crew, all dance together.

Cast[]

Production[]

In July 2017, it was announced Hayden Christensen, Emma Roberts, Andrea Martin, Alyssa Milano, Danny Aiello, Adam Ferrara, Gary Basaraba, Andrew Phung, and Jane Seymour had joined the cast of the film, with Donald Petrie directing from a screenplay by Steve Galluccio and Vinay Virmani. Pauline Dhillon and Ajay Virmani served as producers on the film, while Fred Fuchs, Tiffany Kuzon, Patrick Roy and Christina Kubacki served as executive producers, under their Firsttake Entertainment, Telefilm Canada and Gem Entertainment banners, respectively. Entertainment One handled distribution in Canada.[2][3]

Principal photography began in June 2017.[citation needed]

Release[]

The film was released in Canada on August 24, 2018, by Entertainment One[4] and in the United States on September 21, 2018, by Lionsgate.[5]

Reception[]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 13% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10.[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[7]

The movie was widely mocked as one of the worst movies of the year.[8] For example, it was the pick for episode 206 of the popular, weekly podcast How Did This Get Made?, which discusses unusually terrible films.[9] When trailers were released confirming it was an actual movie, the film was widely mocked on social media and failed to get a wide theatrical release, screening in just a handful of theatres and being made available On Demand while still in theatres.[10][11]

See also[]

  • Mystic Pizza, a 1988 romantic film in the same pizza environment.

References[]

  1. ^ "Little Italy". Lionsgate Publicity. Lions Gate Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  2. ^ First Take Entertainment (July 6, 2017). "Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen star in romantic comedy "Little Italy" directed by Donald Petrie". PR Newswire. Cision. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  3. ^ Kay, Jeremy (November 1, 2017). "Emma Roberts, Hayden Christensen rom-com 'Little Italy' lands at Voltage". Screen Daily. Screen International. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
  4. ^ Perrone, Kristen (July 12, 2018). "The 'Little Italy' Trailer Is Perfectly Cheesy & It Can Have A Pizza My Heart". Elite Daily. BDG Media. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  5. ^ Boone, John (July 12, 2018). "Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen Are the Romeo and Juliet of Pizza in 'Little Italy' Trailer (Exclusive)". Entertainment Tonight. CBS Television Distribution. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  6. ^ "Little Italy (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  7. ^ "Little Italy Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  8. ^ Erol, Esra (December 27, 2018). "'Little Italy' Is the Worst Food Movie of 2018". Eater.
  9. ^ How Did This Get Made? Episode 206 https://www.earwolf.com/episode/little-italy/
  10. ^ Roeper, Richard (September 23, 2018). "'Little Italy,' like its laughable poster, seems to come from a dumber era". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. ^ Tan, Steffanie (July 14, 2018). "Anakin Skywalker Makes You Cringe Even More In 'Little Italy' Trailer". pedestrian.tv.

External links[]

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