Solo Mio

A love letter to Italy and romance, as Kevin James reaches beyond his comedy roots as a shlub dumped at the altar who decides to go ahead with his honeymoon alone.

I always appreciate it when a thespian or filmmaker steps beyond their roots and tries something new. Robin Williams went from being a zany comedian to one of our most affecting dramatic film actors. Sam Raimi started in schlocky horror and is now most known for superhero extravaganzas.

Kevin James tries to make the leap in “Solo Mio,” a tender romantic dramedy about a shlub who gets dumped at the altar in Rome and decides to take his honeymoon on his own. It’s a role that requires projecting a lot of sadness and self-doubt, and that’s not really James’ bag. He made his bones with lowbrow TV and movie comedies.

I don’t judge; James has been very successful at this chosen vocation and could have easily rode out his career on this path. His contemporary Adam Sandler has done this with “Punch Drunk Love” and “Uncut Gems,” though he soon runs home to his Borscht Belt roots.

I’ll be blunt: I liked this movie, I didn’t much like Kevin James in it. It never speaks well when you’re watching a scene and thinking of other actors who could’ve done a much better job at pulling off the emotionality of it. His version of pathos kind of resembles a sad puppy who ate something sour.

James has made some short films and a feature (“The Home Team”) with The Kinnane Brothers, a family-owned independent production company, before this collaboration. Brothers Charles and Daniel co-directed, and other brothers John and Patrick share screenwriting credit, along with James. (There are four more brothers, if you can believe it.) Having James involved probably helped the movie obtain funding so it could get made.

It’s still a sweet and enjoyable picture. James plays Matt Taylor, an art teacher from the states who is having his dream wedding in Rome; he knows a little Italian and digs the culture. He’s past 50, bald and chunky, and figured the whole love & marriage thing had passed him by. But then he met Heather (Julie Ann Emery) and fell head over.

Unfortunately, Heather leaves him at the altar, disappearing after dashing off a heartfelt note. She even leaves behind her wedding dress and engagement ring. He tries to track her down and leaves a thousand messages, but she’s making clear it’s over.

Matt learns that his whirlwind honeymoon tour is non-refundable, and he’s encouraged to go on it by himself — think of it as a vacation. He’s pretty stunned and despondent, so he goes along.

He’s soon the subject of conversation by the other couples on the tour — the guy riding alone on a tandem bike outing kinda stands out, after all. Eventually he befriends newlyweds Neal and Donna (Jonathan Roumie and Julee Cerda), a pair of therapists who fell in love, and Julian and Meghan (Kim Coates and Alyson Hannigan), who if you can believe it have gotten married for the third time, divorcing twice. Got to hope this one’s the charm.

Things change when Matt bumps into Gia (Nicole Grimaudo), the friendly proprietress of the coffee shop, Caffé Del Sole, around the corner from the hotel. She saves him from some street urchin thieves who boost his wallet, and senses a kindred spirit in love lost.

Of course, she can’t know that he literally was supposed to have married somebody else the day before, and from there the plot becomes a series of avoidances until he finally spills the beans, which pushes her away, and Matt feels like it’s a repeat of Heather, until the end when… well, you know.

One does not go into a movie like “Solo Mio” for audaciously original storytelling. Instead this is cinematic comfort food, a story of sweet/sad love with a lush backdrop of Italian food, music and vistas. And in that, the movie delivers in spades.

It’s a fantastic-looking film — cinematography by Jared Fadel — that lovingly shows off the locales of Rome and Tuscany, from the vineyards to the sculpture and fountains. The same goes for food, music and wine. (There’s lots of drinking in the movie and jokes about drunk people, which did make me wonder about faith-based distributor Angel Studios picking up the movie.)

Famous Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli also makes a guest appearance and even sings a duet with James. (Well, I’ve never heard of him, but I’m assured he’s famous to people who follow opera.)

“Solo Mio” is a simple movie, a little amateurish in its execution, and as I’ve said I wasn’t quite sold on Kevin James in this role. But I still had fun and there’s a few genuine misty moments. Points for trying and, to a modest extent at least, succeeding.