STORY TOOLS

A Wedding for Bella

-- Video Business, 12/31/2003

Color, PG-13 (mature themes, language, sexual situations), 105 min., DVD $26.98

DVD: deleted scenes

Street: Feb. 3, Prebook: Jan. 13 (DVD Jan. 6)

First Run: L, Jan. 2002, $1 mil.

Cast: Scott Baio (Very Mean Men), Kristin Minter (TV's ER), Rosemary Prinz (TV's All My Children),

Shuler Hensley (Someone Like You...),

Billy Mott (The Mothman Prophecies)

Director: Melissa Martin

SCREEN MEDIA/UNIVERSAL

Story Line: Dom Pyzola (Baio) is a corporate raider by day and a master baker of biscotti by night. When he finds out that his upstairs neighbor/surrogate mother Bella (Prinz) is ill, he rashly decides to propose to her rebellious daughter Lucca (Minter) in order to fulfill Bella's dream before she dies.

Bottom Line: There isn't much subtlety in this predictable but entertaining romantic drama. From the start, viewers know that Dom is a great guy, despite the fact that he spends his days in a spare (and thus obviously soulless) corporate boardroom. He is too skilled as a biscotti baker to not have a good heart. And when the lovely though inappropriate Lucca shows up, it's not hard to realize that these two are actually made for each other, despite some initial squabbling. Former heartthrob Baio plays it well though, and his charm is still evident on screen. Although this Wedding (originally titled The Bread, My Sweet in its theatrical run) lacks the spark of such similar ethnic romantic fare as Moonstruck and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it will nonetheless work for audiences hungry for a sweet, safe romance. It will probably sate more appetites, however, when it starts running on cable channels dedicated to showing movies for women. --Mayna Bergmann

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