Let me start by saying that I enjoyed it even if I knew, I sensed that I was told the story as if I was a child. a very young child who needed repetitions for clarity. The characters talk and explain themselves with a writer's tone. None of it makes any real sense and yet I stayed with it, mainly because I was intrigued by Brando Pacitto as a character and as an actor and I was totally enchanted by Joseph Haro. They create a vibe that was contagious even if remains at the periphery of something. I haven't been able to get into Gabriele Muccino's world yet. His preppy characters are as far from a mystery as anything I've ever seen and the dialogue is pure TV but I have to admit I'm glad I saw it.
14 Reviews
Technically excellent, the script oddly unbelievable.
chatwithmichaelmac15 September 2022
A decent film to watch with wonderful acting and scenery that curiously keeps its audience at a distance by presenting rathe bizarre choices of its characters in their rather unconvincing relationships with each other.
Part soap opera, part just silly, it's redeeming feature is presenting the central Gay couple as relatable, likeable and far from the usual Hollywood stereotypes.
With a less rambling and absurd storyline, with characters making more credible and logical choices, this could have been a very special film. As it is, it's a reasonably pleasant, if mindless, distraction.
The actors are all attractive eye candy which disguises their often stupid story-lines. Surely it can't be that hard to write story arcs that add too, rather that detract from, the viewers enjoyment.
Part soap opera, part just silly, it's redeeming feature is presenting the central Gay couple as relatable, likeable and far from the usual Hollywood stereotypes.
With a less rambling and absurd storyline, with characters making more credible and logical choices, this could have been a very special film. As it is, it's a reasonably pleasant, if mindless, distraction.
The actors are all attractive eye candy which disguises their often stupid story-lines. Surely it can't be that hard to write story arcs that add too, rather that detract from, the viewers enjoyment.
Potential Not Fulfilled
daoldiges4 June 2018
I love a good summer movie, and in general the basic story here is solid, as is most of the acting, but the weak script and at times stilted direction negate each other and leave you with a basically OK film. My friend I saw it with really liked it and connected with it, but for me it was just pleasant and not particularly special.
None of the characters' motivations make ANY sense.
stanleycoleman16 August 2018
A young, good-looking, and inexplicably well-off gay male couple occupy a multi-million dollar unit in the historic Duboce triangle district of San Francisco -- they also own a sailboat and a car as well. The couple decide to host some strangers from Italy, who turn out to be a pair of bratty and insufferable teenagers.
After insulting their hosts immediately upon meeting, the two teens continue to disrespect said hosts by bickering like petulant children. Despite this, the gay couple chooses to not only be generous with their home, but also their time, because despite being young, gay, good-looking and rich in San Francisco, these two men apparently have no lives or friends, allowing them plenty of time to entertain their ungrateful and annoying guests.
The story gets even weirder and further stretches reality. One of the men decides to quit his job in order to pursue his passion of riding horses, which is made possible because his partner agrees to "pick up more hours" as a realtor in order to compensate. This is also perfect timing as their freeloading guests extend their stay from the originally intended few days to an entire month without anyone questioning it.
One half of the bratty teens suddenly falls for the other half, but the other half started off being a virginal prude who then falls for one of the gay hosts she originally deemed a "pervert".
Honestly, none of this convoluted nonsense makes any sense at all. The only thing that made this movie worth watching for me was seeing shots of beautiful Rome and San Francisco.
After insulting their hosts immediately upon meeting, the two teens continue to disrespect said hosts by bickering like petulant children. Despite this, the gay couple chooses to not only be generous with their home, but also their time, because despite being young, gay, good-looking and rich in San Francisco, these two men apparently have no lives or friends, allowing them plenty of time to entertain their ungrateful and annoying guests.
The story gets even weirder and further stretches reality. One of the men decides to quit his job in order to pursue his passion of riding horses, which is made possible because his partner agrees to "pick up more hours" as a realtor in order to compensate. This is also perfect timing as their freeloading guests extend their stay from the originally intended few days to an entire month without anyone questioning it.
One half of the bratty teens suddenly falls for the other half, but the other half started off being a virginal prude who then falls for one of the gay hosts she originally deemed a "pervert".
Honestly, none of this convoluted nonsense makes any sense at all. The only thing that made this movie worth watching for me was seeing shots of beautiful Rome and San Francisco.
fun vacation trip!
ksf-212 August 2018
Marco and Maria are school mates from Italy, and vacation with a gay couple in San Francisco. Fun, cute, entertaining. Good quality editing, directing. good acting. Fun story line, treating gay couple with respect. They DO toy with the audience for quite a while to see if Marco or Maria will try the "gay life", since they make a big point of showing us how inexperienced they both are. If the gay guys live on the edge of Alamo Square, and own a SAILBOAT, the real estate agent must be selling a lot of million dollar homes! and one wants to quit his job. very understanding hubby. and what the ##$$ happened to the friend in Palo Alto who found them a place to stay? we never see him again after the first two minutes... did he croak when filming started? you'd think after flying to Amurrica, Marco and Maria would make the effort to go visit him. and who flies to Cuba for a day or two? I guess if you have the dough... Okay.. in spite of this, its cute and fun, and the whole point seems to be "enjoy you're summer vacation, whether or not it ends up going where you think it's going to go". Some missed connections. some lessons learned. Also called "L'estate Addosso". Good work from director Gabriele Muccino; he's been making films for 20 years now. Showing on netflix. Highly recommended!
Double language coming of age piece.
Mozjoukine2 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Gabriele Muccino's film is disturbingly uneven. It opens with a downwards shot of Roman teenager Brando Pacitto (chiefly notable for playing Jesus on TV) stretched out on the grass, possibly deliberately invoking BOYHOOD, and his English language narration injects our old friend alienation. "Days with my friends were all the same."
He completes his finals but is involved in a traffic accent which leaves him battered but the recipient of a compensation check and his pot smoking vulcanologist chum Guglielmo Poggi urges him to take a holiday in the 'States.
Somehow he finds Matilda Lutz, the girl nobody likes at their school coming along too. They call her "the Nun" because she won't drink, have sex or do dope with them. So far so so.
The pair arrive in San Francisco where accommodation has been set up in a flat occupied by gay couple Taylor Frey and Joseph Haro. She thinks of them as degenerates. Well we know where this is going. Sure enough it becomes a plea for understanding and tolerance. This might be new and needful to some audiences but hardly for people who will turn out for a Muccino film with sub-titles.
However something exceptional does happen. Going around together in San Francisco, to which the boys arrived in the same way our travelers did, from a conservative background, we get Frey's back story which is presented as being sensational. The newcomers lose their restraint.
The boys' dog sleeping in his bed drives Pacitto into sharing with Lutz'. She finds herself getting about (somewhat nervously) in an itsy bitsy bikini and they hit the gay clubs together. The film becomes one of Muccino's lyrical hymns to the group. The stop over stretches and they all go off on a trip to Cuba together (this one is into international flights) which convinces us that they are sharing an experience that they all will cherish all their lives.
This section is totally winning and it's a pity that the film can't do anything with the impetus it produces. Having the piece narrated by Pacitto, it's least interesting character, doesn't help either. Matilda Lutz' transformation is truly awesome and we can only hope she gets to do that in a few more movies while Haro and particularly Frey, along with the travel footage, come across appealingly.
It seems that this one is already in there with BIX and JIMMY P. as failed European attempts to crash the English language market. At least they are all better than Rossellini's Ingrid Bergman films. I guess that's some kind of progress.
He completes his finals but is involved in a traffic accent which leaves him battered but the recipient of a compensation check and his pot smoking vulcanologist chum Guglielmo Poggi urges him to take a holiday in the 'States.
Somehow he finds Matilda Lutz, the girl nobody likes at their school coming along too. They call her "the Nun" because she won't drink, have sex or do dope with them. So far so so.
The pair arrive in San Francisco where accommodation has been set up in a flat occupied by gay couple Taylor Frey and Joseph Haro. She thinks of them as degenerates. Well we know where this is going. Sure enough it becomes a plea for understanding and tolerance. This might be new and needful to some audiences but hardly for people who will turn out for a Muccino film with sub-titles.
However something exceptional does happen. Going around together in San Francisco, to which the boys arrived in the same way our travelers did, from a conservative background, we get Frey's back story which is presented as being sensational. The newcomers lose their restraint.
The boys' dog sleeping in his bed drives Pacitto into sharing with Lutz'. She finds herself getting about (somewhat nervously) in an itsy bitsy bikini and they hit the gay clubs together. The film becomes one of Muccino's lyrical hymns to the group. The stop over stretches and they all go off on a trip to Cuba together (this one is into international flights) which convinces us that they are sharing an experience that they all will cherish all their lives.
This section is totally winning and it's a pity that the film can't do anything with the impetus it produces. Having the piece narrated by Pacitto, it's least interesting character, doesn't help either. Matilda Lutz' transformation is truly awesome and we can only hope she gets to do that in a few more movies while Haro and particularly Frey, along with the travel footage, come across appealingly.
It seems that this one is already in there with BIX and JIMMY P. as failed European attempts to crash the English language market. At least they are all better than Rossellini's Ingrid Bergman films. I guess that's some kind of progress.
Incredibly silly movie
stagnitto-15 August 2018
This has been done a million times before and it is so predictable. Foreign girl, American guy (okay gay), not meant to fall in love...fall in love despite gay guy's husband, but gay guy's husband also falls in love with husband and foreign girl and foreign girl's boyfriend and everyone returns home as if nothing has happened except foreign girl's boyfriend continue together disliking each other forever after. So silly.
Masterpiece
goodforce23 October 2021
Four uninteresting people meet up in the most strained of scenarios...
global_dan7 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The whole thing feels like someone had some concept ideas, but stringing them together into a movie strains credulity at every moment:
And the list goes on. Amateur hour on so many levels other than the cinematography. Ugh.
- a stoner Italian 'finds' a gay SF couple who are prepared to host a random couple of Italian teenagers sight unseen in their multi-million dollar SF apartment at a moment's notice. The stoner then disappears for the rest of the movie?
- the two Italians get on a flight together 2 days later, despite having barely acknowledged each other over the past 5 years and without so much as parental advice or even visibility.
- the Italian girl insults and clearly disapproves of the gay couple's relationship, while accepting their hospitality
- the morning after the two bickering Italians arrive, the Italian guy manages to grab a bike and go for a ride all the way to the sea and find his way back before breakfast, despite having never been to the US before, let alone SF
- the gay couple seem barely weeks older than when they met in 'scandalous' circumstances yet already have super successful careers and a fancy apartment, and the ability for one of them to decide drop their career during the 5 day visit of the Italians to focus on horseriding! And they have a yacht! And the ability to fly with their houseguests to Cuba!
- Despite this, their work seems to barely intrude on their ability to hang out with their random Italian houseguests and they appear to have no other friends.
- one of the gay couple walks out in a huff leaving the Italians open-mouthed, for the other to immediately bring them back inside within a minute, by which time the Italian two are half way through preparing dinner.
- a night out at a club ends in a cheesy scene at dawn running into the water at a beach screaming "this is the best night of my life", only one of many cheesy scenes
And the list goes on. Amateur hour on so many levels other than the cinematography. Ugh.
A Nice Little Movie
clintstevens28 January 2018
There doesn't seem to be much interest in this film, perhaps the dreaded 'G' word kept people away. For the most part, the four friends live together temporarily without too much drama, but the interaction between the two gay guys, the straight laced virginal girl and the straight boy seems a little too tidy. I couldn't help wonder what gays made of this movie, with one of the two partners tempted by the female and the other lusting over the straight boy. A nicely developed friendship between the four with a melancholy ending.
Feel Good Fun Movie with an LGBTI theme
stylebudd30 July 2018
From the opening scenes to the very end - I enjoyed every minute of this film. It gives one a warm fuzzy feeling. Beautifully shot, great sets, cool wardrobe. I wish I could be a part of features like this. Stories like these need to be told. I particularly enjoyed the coming out stories and the way the guys felt the first time they touched and kissed. Coming out is liberating and should be celebrated. Well done to the entire cast and crew - please make more films like these!
Summer won't last so is the winter
shanikayrs30 December 2017
Brilliant flick, that warmed me up in the 31 'st December.
The movies is with pretty much all irregularities , deviations of life patterns and slightly pinching and swinging the beauty and dusty darkness of young life . What I love about the movie is it gives a space, for all who haven't figured them in all the details of it .
The all kind of friendly, happy ,romantic, bitter ,anxious,erotic,carefree chemistry is in well balanced with in the game and it all in mix of right proportion. Indeed the the entire crew had done a great job here.
We got memories to live, we got to leave them and then become nostalgic . But that very thing will be your story. Marco think about the death, and movie open with clues to utter depression but the movie in it's flow, gracefully chunked this ever longing depressive question and dispose. Such a relief exactly like the summer.
You don't know what Matt and Paul is doing, Jul never showed after, after the trip. I am sure Marco will say same even after another decade. This all ringing a bell to say that ' don't dare question the adventure of life' as it was never to be strictly alter. Dear Marco , Of course you are not the only one learning to be something and struggling with flashbacks. 8 happy stars to 'Summertime'
We got memories to live, we got to leave them and then become nostalgic . But that very thing will be your story. Marco think about the death, and movie open with clues to utter depression but the movie in it's flow, gracefully chunked this ever longing depressive question and dispose. Such a relief exactly like the summer.
You don't know what Matt and Paul is doing, Jul never showed after, after the trip. I am sure Marco will say same even after another decade. This all ringing a bell to say that ' don't dare question the adventure of life' as it was never to be strictly alter. Dear Marco , Of course you are not the only one learning to be something and struggling with flashbacks. 8 happy stars to 'Summertime'
Highs and lows
Ladiloque30 December 2016
Muccino does it again.
As in the more than 10 years older "Come te nessuno mai" and "L'ultimo bacio" the beauty, hunger, clumsiness, frailty and naivety of youth become the stars. This is an irrelevant story with the main scope of trying to evoke our own best memories of a special summer. And in this sense it is successful: energy, curiosity, erotic tension, recklessness are all delivered.
This said, the movie is quite volatile: highs and lows alternate with a worrying pace. You find yourself in a beautiful dream and in 5 seconds everything becomes the nightmare of a commercial of the worst detergent on the market. Indeed - unfortunately - some scenes are astonishingly bad. Nonetheless the highs deserves a plus: so I'm going with a 10 here (even if it deserves a 6 at best: no way the average is below 6 already...).
Contextually: the movie reminds me of "Y tu mama tambien" (with all due respect: Cuaron's movie is much better imo): if you loved it and feel like having a "deja vu" you should give it a try.
Mostly great music choices, quality photography and a fascinating (and extremely good) female lead actress.
As in the more than 10 years older "Come te nessuno mai" and "L'ultimo bacio" the beauty, hunger, clumsiness, frailty and naivety of youth become the stars. This is an irrelevant story with the main scope of trying to evoke our own best memories of a special summer. And in this sense it is successful: energy, curiosity, erotic tension, recklessness are all delivered.
This said, the movie is quite volatile: highs and lows alternate with a worrying pace. You find yourself in a beautiful dream and in 5 seconds everything becomes the nightmare of a commercial of the worst detergent on the market. Indeed - unfortunately - some scenes are astonishingly bad. Nonetheless the highs deserves a plus: so I'm going with a 10 here (even if it deserves a 6 at best: no way the average is below 6 already...).
Contextually: the movie reminds me of "Y tu mama tambien" (with all due respect: Cuaron's movie is much better imo): if you loved it and feel like having a "deja vu" you should give it a try.
Mostly great music choices, quality photography and a fascinating (and extremely good) female lead actress.
Beautiful Summertime
sodaniellam18 August 2018
This movie made me want to live and be Free again with MY LIFE!!! The cast was brilliant and the story made me want to be their Best Friends!
This movie was 100 times better than "Call Me By Your Name"
Thank You for Making this Movie.
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