Love Is All There Is (1996) Reviews

Romeo and Juliet gets updated -- and played for laughs -- in this romantic comedy set in the City Island section of the Bronx. Mike and Sadie Cappamezza (Joseph Bologna and Lainie Kazan) are a hard-working couple who have run a family-style Italian restaurant for years. The Cappamezzas' fiercest rivals have long been Count and Countess Malacici (Paul Sorvino and Barbara Carrera), who operate a pretentiously upscale Neapolitan eatery (and whose titled nobility seems to be in question). The Malacicis don't like the Cappamezzas any more than the Cappamezzas like them, and for years they've been trying to run each other out of business. So no one is pleased when Rosario Cappamezza (Nathaniel Marston), Mike and Sadie's son, and Gina Malacici (Angelina Jolie), the daughter of the Count and Countess, are cast in a student production of Romeo and Juliet -- and annoyance gives way to shock when Rosario and Gina fall in love offstage as well as on. The husband and wife team of Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor co-wrote and co-directed this film; Taylor also appears in a small role as a psychic. While completed in 1994, Love Is All There Is didn't enjoy a theatrical release until 1996. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi