Letters to Juliet is one of the latest in the line of travel romance movies, where our heroine usually ends up in some beautiful foreign country and falls in love with either the surroundings there, a man she meets along the way, or both. This one takes place in the popular destination of Italy -- Verona, to be specific, where vacationing would-be-writer Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), neglected unwittingly during the trip by her fiancé (a surprising Gael García Bernal), is left to her own devices.

Sophie gets involved with a group of women who answer the letters tourists leave to Juliet Capulet at her tourist attraction home and statue; through this, she winds up on a quest when an elderly lady, Claire, (Vanessa Redgrave), whose 50-year-old letter Sophie answers, arrives in town with her grandson, Charlie (Christopher Egan), to look for the lover she didn't have the nerve to stay with those 50 years ago. The three of them travel around the countryside looking for this long lost lover. And it's all rather pleasant, but it's also all rather conventional.

The movie tries hard to press all the romantic buttons, with ideas such as: when a true love shows you an opportunity, you should take advantage of it immediately, or it might cost you 50 years. This plays out with some interest in regards to Redgrave's subplot -- and thanks to her presence, the material gains some dramatic heft where it otherwise might not have earned it. But in comparison, the main protagonist's own romantic problems and solutions are not very convincing. Seyfried is charming on her own, but she doesn't have much chemistry with Egan, who is supposed to provide the temptation of a better partner when compared to Sophie's current beau. Part of the problem is that Sophie and Charlie start off greatly at odds with each other, and then nothing really sells the idea that they would fall for each other outside of the familiarity they gain from simply being in close proximity for a few days (on a side note, the device of making one man look better by having the heroine be stuck with another man who clearly does not meet her needs is a personal pet peeve of mine -- it's a cheap way to stack the deck).

Obviously, Letters to Juliet isn't trying to be anything more than it is -- a diverting romance -- but such efforts require star power and chemistry, and in these areas the supporting players and storylines outshine the primary ones.

(Released by Summit Entertainment and rated "PG" for brief rude behavior, some language and incidental smoking.)

Review also posted at www.windowtothemovies.com.