Made in Italy review: A warm, laid-back tale about mending bonds and a house

3/5

The lead characters of director James D'Arcy's Made in Italy are on the clock to sell a grand Tuscan house, one with the most spectacular view in the idyllic town. Should be easy right? Except it's not. The house, which has been abandoned for the better part of two decades, comes with a set of memories that a recluse artist named Robert and his son Jack, played by real-life father-son duo Liam Neeson and Michael Richardson, have to literally dust off before they even begin the sale. 

Set in the picturesque locales of the Italian town and filled with warm characters, Made in Italy is a poignant tale of how a widower and his estranged son mend their broken relationship while trying to fix a house that they inherited. The reason for the planned sale is for Jack to buy a gallery that he has been running for his ex-wife’s family. 

Despite its emotional core and how it almost mirrors the lives of its real-life counterparts (Neeson's wife died in a skiing accident when Richardson was young), the movie squanders the opportunity to truly tug at heartstrings in moments that matter. While every now and then the writers try to explore their relationship, you get a sense that they are barely scratching the surface. That’s also why the scenes where Jack confronts Robert for never saying his mother’s name aloud or where they recall the fateful day as they finally get some closure don’t quite hit the mark, despite their immense potential. 

The laid-back pace of the lacklustre script is a strong reason for this. The movie works as a lazy weekend watch with its easy-going characters who are more concerned with having a good meal than fixing their lives. It also seems that the writers ran out of ideas for the sequences of how the father and son go about repairing the house - all we get is them painting languidly and arguing about weasels.

The film though has its moments and these mostly come when Robert and Jack are not together. Jack’s meetings with a local restaurateur Natalia (Valeria Bilello) and Robert’s quips with sardonic real-estate agent Kate (Lindsay Duncan) will surely leave you smiling. 

While Made in Italy doesn’t hold a candle to another British comedy The Trip to Italy, the charming performances of Neeson and Richardson are the bright spots that make this warm tale set in the Tuscan countryside watchable.