“OUR ITALIAN HUSBAND” starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Brooke Shields, Maria Grazia Cucinotta (who was in Il Postino). 2006

This movie turned out to be a great surprise – it’s a comedy romance about an artist (Favino) and his wife (Cucinotta) who makes sandals living in Italy. The artist Vincenzo is struggling with his craft in Italy while his wife Maria makes the sandals and the kids sell them to tourists after staging little mishaps that force them to have to buy a pair. Vincenzo is contacted by a New York City gallery who’s interested in his sculpture and he takes off, leaving Maria and the kids in Italy. Vincenzo writes to Maria but a shady landlord pays off the postman to not deliver the letters to Maria because he has his eye on her. Maria can’t stand it anymore and takes the kids to America and finds that Vincenzo is living with a pregnant Charlotte (Shields) who actually married Vincenzo too. Paul Parmesan (Chevy Chase) is Charlotte’s boss as well as a home-shopping club salesman and con-artist; and Vincenzo, Maria and Charlotte wind up getting caught in his home-shopping club con-job. I don’t want to give it away but I do recommend you watch this movie. You can rent it at a local Hollywood Video Store (I purchased it at one of the branches).

This won high praise from Italian newspapers and critics, giving it 4 stars. I thought it was funny and very well acted. The sandals are the best in the world (in real life, there is sandal maker on the Isle of Capri who sells them for up to $200 if the buyer chooses the color and style. (The story of the sandal maker was televised in the U.S. a couple of years ago.)