Pizza My Heart

This one was good, one of those family feud/star-crossed lovers stories influenced by "Romeo and Juliet", minus the melodrama and tragedy. The Montebellos and Prestalanis replace the Montagues and Capulets and Verona is now New Jersey rather than Italy and the war they're fighting is a pizza one! But the son in one family loving the daughter in the other, while her family has other matrimonial plans for her remains the same. Add to it a secret love, (involving "Juliet's" sister), frustrated career ambitions, a misunderstanding, a near tragedy, an often-exasperated parish priest, and a few other ingredients and you get a fun pizza of a movie, not to be taken seriously, but leaving you wishing that real life could work out like this. BTW: there's another movie based on this one, "Little Italy". PLEASE, don't waste your time on that loser and stick to the original!

The plot of this film is literally copy and pasted from a better film, 1995's "Love is All There Is" a retelling of Romeo and Juliet about two families that own rivaling Italian restaurants and starring Lanie Kazan and a young Angelina Jolie as the Juliet character. This was cheesy, poorly written and acted, but entertaining if you're looking for a background watch while you cook dinner or something. Still, I couldn't get past the Conceptual plagiarism. I mean, how hard is it to come up with your own ideas, especially in the framework of a retelling.

I enjoyed this fun, "happily ever after" movie. It is a Romeo and Juliet spin off, fortunately without the tragedy at the end! The characters were pleasant and intelligent, and easily engage the viewer from the beginning. Gina and Joe definitely have chemistry! I loved Gina's stylish and feminine wardrobe, by the way. The first 2/3 of the movie was believable and funny...*SPOILER* but unfortunately, like so many movies seem to do, it kind of lost it's "believability" towards the end. It was as if the writers had to wrap up the story somehow, and weren't sure how to end it. If your home/business was on fire, would you not run away and call 911? Who would sit up in a tree (that logically should have also caught on fire)? And why would the parents, who have worked hard their entire lives for their restaurants, suddenly turn everything over to Joe and Gina when they want to take over? Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and recommend it to anyone looking for a clean, lighthearted romantic comedy!!

In a modern variation of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, the old tale of forbidden love is set in present day Verona, New Jersey where two Italian-American families, the Montebellos and the Prestolanis, run rivaling pizzerias and hold a grudge against each other. Naturally Joe, the son of the Montebellos (Eyal Podell), meets Gina, the daughter of the Prestolanis (Shiri Appleby), and warm feelings develop between them. In addition to the long-running mutual hatred between their families, Joe and Gina's romance is also hindered by their sense of responsibility to their folks: both are being pressured for pre-set careers despite longing to see more in life. I guess you shouldn't expect much from a made-for-TV rom-com drama; but still, would just a hint of fresh ideas be too much to ask? The story advances exactly, and I mean exactly, as can be predicted right from the beginning. I actually suspected the laughably clichéd plot might be some kind of sarcastic parody of all the lame romance flicks that get churned out each year, but no, there's nothing to suggest that we aren't supposed to take it all at face value. Besides the dull story, the other aspects don't provide much to enjoy either, even if technically the movie is not totally incompetent. The music further adds to the sea of clichés and the actors are just pretty faces with little charisma. The only exception would be the sturdy Michael Badalucco as Gina's father, but he isn't really given much decent material to work with, so it is difficult to find any reason to recommend Pizza My Heart to anyone but the biggest and most undemanding romance fans. All those tasty pizzas got me really hungry though; I guess that's a positive reaction.

This movie was not the worst movie of all time. It was a movie that at the end I wasn't sure whether I loved it or hated it. I have decided I loved it. It was a T.V movie so parts of it were cheesy but the plot was good, and it kept moving. It wasn't slow and most of the dialogue was clever. The acting was great. I think the actors portrayed the characters quite well. The downside to the movie was that it was very predictable. I didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing because it was a modern day Romeo and Juliet. There were some unexpected twists to the movie which kept it interesting and kept you guessing. Overall this was a great T.V-made movie.

I'm a sucker for these types of movies; so to me, this modern take on Romeo and Juliet was an absolute joy to watch. It's not only a perfect romantic movie, but there are some elements of comedy within it. (Take for instance, the mice being released in the Montebello's restaurant.) The characters themselves were very believable... I even started to FEEL the resentment of the two families! My only regret has to do with the people that didn't watch this... I say to them one of two things: for the uncultured, grow up; and to the ones that didn't get it, stop over-analyzing everything and enjoy the movie. 10/10

I don't usually take time to watch TV movies with commercials, but this was on at a good time, featured actors I like, and had a catchy title. Never mind that this story has been made many times over (Romeo & Juliet, if you didn't already know)...familiarity with the plot in this case adds to its charm, even though one knows in advance that there will be few, if any, surprises. In this version, competing restaurants/recipes provide fuel for the families' feud, adding a new twist to an old tale. Although I knew half way through how the feud would resolve from the pizza perspective (one knows from the outset how the romance will resolve), I must admit without giving anything away that I had not foretold the catalyst, despite several clues. One thing that not all R&J adaptations have is a romantic subplot in addition to the main one; but the one here was just as touching, if not more so, due perhaps to its unexpectedness, than the main one. I'm a sucker for a warm-hearted love story, especially when presented in the context of strong, close-knit families; and these two love stories together had me making my way to the kitchen for tissues more than once toward the end. I rate this movie based on its context in addition to traditional factors; thus, for a TV movie, it scores well in my book.

I was skeptical about this new version of Romeo and Juliet. Not for idea, noble always, but for...ingredients. Two Italian families, makers of pizza, in terrible rivalry . They children fall in love one for other but parents, especially fathers... An opportunity , impliying a competition, not very fair at beginning , a fire and a wise priest are pieces of reconciliation and succes ...together - near second happy couple-. I am not a fan of Shiri Appleby and in this film her character seems without salt of pepper. But I like Michael Badalucco and Natalija Nogulich as charming couple and I appreciate the effort of Eyall Podell as Romeo. Not last, applauses for priest. And the conclusion - poor restaurants and splendid result of ashes.

Pizza My Heart While it's not widely known, Christopher Columbus' voyage to America was initially a pizza delivery. And while that factoid has been lost to history, this comedy assures America's obsession with pizza hasn't. In fair Verona, New Jersey is where we lay our scene: two families, The Prestolanis (Michael Badalucco, Natalija Nogulich) and The Montebellos (Dan Hedaya, Gina Hecht), war with each other over who sells the best pie in town. But their long-standing feud is about to be turned on its head when Gina (Shiri Appleby) falls in love with her sworn enemy Joe. (Eyal Podell). The lovers must now bring peace to their pizzerias. ABC Family's modern retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy, this 2005 movie-of-the-week is a goofy but guilty pleasure that tones down the calamity of the play and gives way to zaniness. Lastly, when ordering from a Romeo and Juliet themed pizzeria, get them to hold the poison. Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

I watched this when it first came out out. It was funny. Especially, when the principals are running around in secret. It still holds up very well. Dan is funny. However, 2 minuses: 1. Carlo IMO is a twit. 2. 2. Why do the 2 dad's have to keep arguing at the end?