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A Wedding for Bella (2001)
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Reviews Counted:49
Fresh:27
Rotten:22
Average Rating:5.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: What kind of guy would, in the same day, abandon a ridiculously successful career and propose to a woman he’s only met once—and what role does food play in his decision making process? What kind... What kind of guy would, in the same day, abandon a ridiculously successful career and propose to a woman he’s only met once—and what role does food play in his decision making process? What kind of woman agrees to marry the guy who gave up the job, even though she knows it’s all a sham? Who is the sweet, little, Italian woman behind it all? Why can’t she eat Pino’s pies anymore... And most important of all, what is she making for dinner? In Italian, a good man is “a piece of bread”— plain, simple, and always welcome. Dom Pyzola is a second generation Italian-American corporate raider who has a post graduate degree, a hot car, and an inkling that he’s not a nice guy. And he’s living parallel lives! In the corporate world he is the designated asshole; in the Biscotti Company which he owns, he is a piece of bread: he takes care of his older mentally handicapped brother, and keeps a day job waiting for his brother, Eddie, an actor. He is a surrogate son to Bella, an Italian immigrant who lives above the bakery and who has been saving, dollar by dollar, for her daughter’s American wedding since the day she gave birth. Set in the Italian section of Pittsburgh’s Strip District, The Bread, My Sweet is a love story about what happens when Dominic’s worlds collide.When he, alone, discovers that Bella has six months to live, he quits his corporate job, finds Lucca (Bella’s daughter), and tries to convince her to marry him and to stay married only for as long as her mother lives. The Bread, My Sweet is about love of family and culture — it’s about sacrifice. It’s a journey to a place where work is hard, wine is made in the basement, the future is stored dollar by dollar in coffee cans, and where people may believe that doing the outrageous thing is better than doing nothing at all. -- © 2000 Who Knew Productions [More]
Starring: Scott Baio, Kristin Minter, Rosemary Prinz, John Amplas
Starring: Scott Baio, Kristin Minter, Rosemary Prinz, John Amplas, Billy Mott
Director: Melissa Martin
Director: Melissa Martin
Reviews for A Wedding for Bella
Contrived and clichéd, the dramatic momentum ends long before the movie does.
For a directorial debut, The Bread, My Sweet shows some promise, but Martin will have to engage her audience more if she wants to make a mark in film.
If you're willing to swallow those formulaic plot machinations, you may reasonably enjoy this rough-hewn debut effort, which is far more effective in its quieter, dialogue-heavy moments than when it attempts more ambitious cinematic conceits.
Performances are really what count in a character-driven romantic comedy like this, and each is well above the indie average.
Like a Lifetime movie that’s a step ahead of its peers, The Bread My Sweet is as gooey and tearful as the title suggests.
A story of death-as-deus-ex-machina – where the contrivances are not so offensive – with interesting performances.
An undercooked loaf of whimsy and sentiment...a little sourdough in the mix would have improved the recipe.
Pretty much of a mess, full of narrative gaps and characters who arbitrarily appear and disappear.
Despite good performances and a warm ambience, this squishy story needed more time in the oven.
Although this Moonstruck knockoff is diverting to watch, it's basically a low-budget loaf of Italian-American movie cliches.
Whenever Martin attempts translation to the filmic -- montages, artsy jump cuts, painfully obvious symbolism (you bet the tambourine girl represents death) -- calamity ensues.
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