Made In Italy (2020)

Rating: ⭐⭐ 

The main attraction about Made In Italy apart from its Italian reference, is to see actor Liam Neeson act side by side with his real son Micheal Richardson (from Liam's marriage to the late Natasha Richardson) in what appears to be a melodramatic tale of reconciliation between a sour father and son relationship. Liam Neeson who is so often seen playing the role of a mean tough guy in action movies, gets out of his comfort zone here to do something sweet and low key. Does it work? Are we going to have to grab our handkerchief for the teary scenes? Well ... sadly nope ..

I will not be quick to blame the actors here. I think the film's failure to resonate with its audience and garner the sort of emotional response and feeling here lies with its mundane and very ordinary script and directorial style. The story moves along in a familiar fashion and the characters end up very one dimensional. The misunderstood father, the angry son, the witty real estate agent, the beautiful local restaurant cook, the badly behaved ex's etc. One would have assumed that casting Liam Neeson with his real live son would create an authentic father and son relationship and provide the chemistry for some raw and natural emotional scenes. Afterall like in the movie, Liam and son did lose his wife/mother Natasha in a real life tragic accident. Their scenes together were fine but they just did not go beyond the expected perhaps again due to the limitation of the script that they had to work with.

Thankfully the story's main purpose was to get us all to Italy with an excuse for the main characters to spend a few weeks there to try and sell of an old abandoned country house that was left to them by Liam's wife when she died. This is because the only thing that kept the movie alive and kept me watching and admittedly yes, even enjoying the film is the lovely Tuscany countryside scenery and the references to everything Italian from the language, the food, the family bonding and the quirky Italian small town environment and social custom. The story and performances end up playing second fiddle to this Italian landscape. Watching this makes me feel like having a good old fashion Italian meal.