Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun is a 2003 Chick Flick about an author (Diane Lane) who is happy one day, then finds out her husband is cheating on her and soon ends up divorced and living in a sad little apartment. She finds this situation intolerable, so decides to go on a vacation to Europe. While there, she buys a giant villa in Tuscany (of course) on a whim, and spends the rest of the movie fixing it and her life up.


 * Olive Garden - The movie arguably wouldn't work at all otherwise
 * Big Fancy House - A bit run down, but freakin' enormous.
 * Boyfriend Bluff - A variation. Frances grabs Mercello and pretends to be his girlfriend in order to get rid of some rude admirers.
 * Hollywood Economics - She gets $300,000 from the sale of her house, and isn't implied to have a great deal more sitting around. The villa she buys must be worth a million Euro...at least, not counting the renovation with crew. It doesn't quite add up.
 * The scene where she makes her offer to the original owner heavily implies that it's a rather paltry sum. She's only sold the house because a pigeon flies over and... eliminates on her, which the owner takes to be a sign from God (or something like that). Francis goes over things like renovation expenses, as well, though it's never quite explained how much she actually has.