“Solo Mio” (2026) is a crowd pleaser that did not please me. Left standing alone at the altar and unable to get a refund on their honeymoon plans, Matt (Kevin James) decides to stay in Rome to nurse his wounds in the hopes that he will have a chance to reconnect with his fiancée (Julie Ann Emery). Thanks to a group of honeymooners and a friendly local café owner (Nicole Grimaudo), Michael finds the courage to enjoy life and take chances. I could not suspend disbelief from the beginning of the movie, so I never settled in. Has anyone ever been to a wedding before?
Here is how weddings work. The bride and groom invite people that they know. How many witnesses are needed for a wedding in Rome? At least two so that is the minimum if none of the people in their life could afford a destination wedding. The church in Rome is full of people. When Michael’s fiancé, Heather (Emery), leaves him, the wedding planner, not a matron of honor, delivers the news. Michael rushes out. No one accompanies, asks questions, calls him, follows up to see if he is ok, etc. When Heather resurfaces, she too is alone. WHY IS HE TALKING TO HIS MOTHER ON THE PHONE? WHY IS NOT SHE THERE TO SEE HER PRECIOUS BABY BOY GET MARRIED FOR THE FIRST TIME? Couples went to see this movie, and a lot of them are probably married. Why is no one else stuck on this issue? It is weird.
There is an explanation for it. The whole point is for a bunch of strangers to meet and immediately cotton to him because it is more amusing, so cowriters James, John Kinnane and Patrick Kinnane just wanted to get to the good stuff and did not care about this detail. Apparently, they were right. The tone would change if people who knew them were there. They would be busy trying to get them back together, not move on. I get it, but I could not get over it.
Matt is an art teacher who is too scared to draw, a good (?) singer who won’t sing, and a man with women falling all over him who wants to remain faithful to his fiancée and will not even dance with them. I live a fairly James free life, and if you are a fan, he is pretty serious in “Solo Mio,” and the straight man for the rest of the cast’s antics. He makes fast friends with honeymooners on his tour package who notice how alone he is and befriend him. Jules (Kim Coates) and Meghan (Alyson Hannigan, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) are repeat offenders and are on their second divorce and third marriage to each other. Jules appoints himself as an enthusiastic wingman. Henpecked Neil (Jonathan Rounie) and his therapist-wife, Donna (Julee Cerda), are opposites to Jules and Meghan in terms of temperament and demeanor. The bromance between Jules, Neil and Matt has more chemistry than most of the romantic pairings. They are cute but it is so strange that these men spend more time with each other than the alleged love of their lives. While in real life, many men may not have deep male friendships, and they should, so they fantasize about homosocial relationships instead of a balanced life. It is so acceptable that apparently no one noticed how truly strange this situation is.
His potential love interest, not rebound, is Gia (Grimaudo), the aforementioned café owner. The entire Italian cast is clearly slumming it for the money. While the American cast would stand out in a crowd at home, the Italian actors would lap them if every person suddenly turned into cars and started racing. Apparently Grimaudo could not speak English during this film. Well, she pulled it off, and no one would know any better. Gia is an odd character, and her story only gets odder as it approaches the denouement to create some stakes so the moviegoers would be concerned whether the lead and Gia would get together.
Gia rents a space for her café but could easily buy the building which explains why she could afford to disrupt her life and just hang out with a tourist. She is a less manic, pixie dream woman. She suffered her own heartbreak and is still inexplicably entwined with her ex, Vincenzo (Giancarlo Bartolomei), at work and at her family’s villa and vineyard. No, seriously, why is her ex still invited to family events if they do not have kids?!? Is this supposed to be normal in Italy?!! It is a red flag, especially considering their history which Gia details for Matt, that utterly disrupts the idyllic, crowded and affluent family gathering. Does her family hate her? They are not supposed to, but if they loved her, her ex would not appear with his latest conquest. There is a pivotal horse race and bet between the exes that inexplicably remains off screen.
Another story quibble: Matt has not explicitly told Gia that he got kicked to the curb. So you’re telling me that Gia has worked at this café for years and could not figure out that he was on the tour with honeymooners on a tandem bike. He even tells her that he recently broke up. How is this information a potential dealbreaker or a secret that he is keeping from her? It is not about raising stakes. It is about creating a M. Night Shyamalan eleventh hour reveal that no one needed or asked for and was never alluded to until long after one hour passed. If it was teased earlier before the wedding day, maybe it could work. It is characteristic of the lack of storytelling logic in “Solo Mio” that no one cares about except me.
People go to “Solo Mio” for the same reason that “Midwinter Break” (2026) does not work for that same group. People are looking to visit Italy for the price of a movie ticket and want to keep it light and cute. There are even a couple of celebrity cameos to help the audience save money that they would have to spend for concert tickets. As the movie ends, no one, including the married couples, seems to go home. It is more likely a time lapse and reunion, but again how does Matt have no one who is willing to go to Italy when he is over fifty. It is as if he was born yesterday fully formed like Athena. The fantasy is starting fresh and leaving the baggage, which includes family and friends, at home. It is a feature, not a flaw.
“Live a life that you do not need to take a vacation from” is like a synonym for “Only Mine,” the translation of Solo Mio, except it is not advice, it is the personal maxim of life as a vacation. “Solo Mio” is as dangerous as pornography for creating frictionless conflict and a life without mess. Escapism is fine, and the stuff that movies are made of, but this movie does not have a realistic bone in its body, and it targets mature adults. It seems profoundly sad that Matt’s best life does not have a shred of remnant from his life before his arrival to Italy. It is an image of oblivion more terrifying than death. Does everyone hate their life and want to start with a blank slate? Apparently.
