Movie Review :: Hallmark’s Villa Amore

Hallmark Channel

It’s time to get your ‘Passport to Love’ stamped as Hallmark Channel jets viewers from Barcelona to Rome, but more specifically a small town in the countryside outside of Rome known as Capena for a romance that feels vaguely familiar.

Villa Amore, not to be confused with Love Island‘s Casa Amor, begins with a woman named Liara who is about to get married and have her dream honeymoon in Rome with Kyle, her soon-to-be husband. But just as they are about to leave, Kyle announces he’s going to Thailand instead to find himself. Distraught, Liara is going to cancel her trip but her mother encourages her to go anyway and just make it her own personal adventure. She’s unsure at first, but Liara decides it is the best thing to do to clear her head and she arrives in Rome unsure of what to do as a single woman who was supposed to be on her honeymoon. The hotel concierge is helpful in giving her options that tourists don’t normally take, and one place he directs her to is a local bakery where she is surprised to run into an American man behind the counter. Leo is there to do some maintenance for his cousin, but he suggests Liara try a sfogliatella, a crispy, cream-filled pastry. He tells her it’s the second best in Italy as his Nonna makes the best at her own little shop in Capena. As Liara’s trip comes to an end, she sees a bus to Capena pull up as she awaits her bus to the airport. Throwing caution to the wind, and seeing it as a sign, Liara gets on the bus to Capena to try Nonna’s sfogliatella. It does not disappoint, even though Nonna eyes the American with suspicion.

Taking in the little village, Liara sees a board of real estate listings and notices a villa for sale for 1 Euro. Calling her mother and comparing a photo she has with the one listed, Liara realizes that this is the same villa where her parents met and had always planned to revisit but her father passed away before they could. What better surprise for her mom than to buy it for 1 Euro as a symbolic gesture? Liara is assured by the realtor that she can sell it at any time. She also runs into Leo again in Capena, as if it were fate, and he gives her a ride to the property … which is not quite what she expected it to be. Well, no worries as it was just symbolic but Leo asks her if she read the fine print of the contract. She didn’t because it was in Italian but Marco assured her everything was on the up and up. Leo has to deliver the news that she is required now to renovate the villa and she has to get started within the next three months … except her visa will expire in three months and she will have to return to the US for another three months. There is no way Liara will be able to fulfill the terms of the contract, and after initially refusing to help her — he obviously knowns his way around construction — he has a change of heart and gives her a hand, also asking for help from a local electrician and some retired plumbers, the same men who installed his own ‘shower of the gods’, which Liara was able to use after Leo took her to his own 1 Euro home after she fell off a ladder. As the weeks progress, the relationship between Liara and Leo develops, Liara makes friends with her neighbors Mia and Marco, and even wins over the woman who runs the post office, Teresa (although she still feels a bit of a cold shoulder from Nonna, who may be worried that Liara will take Leo back to the States with her). She even grows a fondness for the stry donkey on her property, who she names Baci (kisses in Italian). But as time is running out, Leo advises Liara to apply for her residency, but the paperwork is taking forever to be approved. An executive from the hotel where she stayed approaches her about buying the property, but with some major changes that will undo things she’s already done. And no donkey. With the clock about to run out, it seems Liara has no choice but to get on that bus and return to America, leaving behind a home she has grown to love, a man she has grown to love, friends she has grown to love, and Baci. Will her fate change before it’s too late?

Hallmark Channel

If anything about Villa Amore sounds familiar, well, that’s because it is. The story is basically cribbed from 2024’s ‘Countdown to Christmas’ movie ‘Tis the Season To Be Irish, in which an American woman bought an Irish cottage (for 5000 Euros, about 4999 Euros over the asking price) and only then discovered the rules about having to live there and renovate it, falling in love with the village, the people and the man helping her do the renovations in the process. And instead of a donkey, she has a rambunctious sheep that follows her around the village. Has Hallmark actually run out of ideas for their movies?

Thankfully Villa Amore is just as charming as the earlier movie, carried by its two leads, Eloise Mumford and Kevin McGarry. Mumford, who gives young Marg Helgenberger vibes, is delightful as Liara. Even in the face of great adversity considering the situation she got herself into, she remains strong and determined to make the best of it in the time she has, always with a cheerful disposition even when she feels the locals are shunning her (as she is told, many fear she will fix the place up and sell it for a profit while others fear she’ll stay and build a McDonald’s). Even when she is down, she remains positive and Mumford’s performance is simply one of warmth and joy, her smile contagious. She is matched by McGarry, a handsome charmer with his own issues — a nagging father who wants him to return to the US to get back into his legal career regardless of how happy he is in Italy — but he completely supports Liara, offering his expert advice and roping in others to help make her dream come true. The movies does one thing really unexpected, and it is a welcome moment, when Kyle shows up at the villa to reconnect with Liara, convince her that all is well and they should go back home and resume or restart their life together. At this point, the Leo character in any other movie would have felt jilted because the female didn’t already tell her previous romantic interest to hit the road, usually walking away and making the woman feel like a heel and forcing her to choose between the two men. This time out, Leo actually tells Kyle off for jilting Liara and she has to ask him to take a step back so she can talk to Kyle. And, again unusual for these movies, she is quite steadfast that she’s moved on and Kyle can hit the pavement. There was no ambiguity, no will she or won’t she nonsense, which was refreshing. Of course her real problem was the expiration of the visa, and the potential to sell the villa, which hurt Leo more than anything else. Both actors convey their feelings in this moment terrifically, pulling at a few of your heartstrings.

The rest of the cast, mostly local Italian actors, are all wonderful, particularly Barbara Venturato as pregnant neighbor Mia who quickly warms up to Liara because there are so few people of their age in the village, and Alessandra Roca as post office owner Teresa, who can say more with one withering glance than she needs to with words. There’s also a little subplot involving a thirty year feud between Nonna (Aurora Cancian) and realtor Enzo (Roberto Attias) which has an amusing resolution.

While the story isn’t wholly original, it’s still charming and has a lot more humor to it than expected. Director Clare Niederpruem guides the cast with skill and shows of the beautiful countryside of Italy. It’s all completely romanticized to the point that you may even be lured into thinking about buying a 1 Euro house — yes, it is a real thing — just be sure to read the fine print! As it stands, Villa Amore is an absolutely charming romantic movie with warmth, humor and a couple you can’t help but root for.

Villa Amore has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.

Preview – Villa Amore

Hallmark Channel