Bossa Nova

How can you argue with a movie in which a guy makes a beautiful blouse with his own hands for the woman he's courting? Flowers, chocolates, Hallmark cards? Fuggedaboutit; we're talking haute couture amore here. A whole lotta love is in the air in director Bruno Barreto's crowd-pleasing romantic comedy about Mary Ann (Amy Irving), a widowed American teacher living in Rio de Janeiro, whose English classes and tutorials attract a couple of would-be Latin lovers: Acacio (Antonio Fagundes), a testosterone-fueled, ass-grabbing, semi-lovable soccer champ who wants to expand his English in order to share with his opponents colorful observations regarding their parentage; and Pedro, an older, recently separated attorney whose more subtle approach involves the aforementioned Gianni-on-the-spot approach to fancy gift-giving. In the best of the entertaining interconnected subplots, Stephen Tobolowsky shines as an American geek who hooks up with one of Mary Ann's friends through a torrid email-based romance, and then flies down to Rio to present himself as goods-not-quite-as-hubba-hubba-as-advertised. You can crab about questionable verisimilitude to life's real dating game all you want, but by the time the credits roll in this lighthearted (and admittedly lightheaded) bit of exquisitely filmed eye candy, your heart will sporting the proverbial smile. Recommended. (R. Pitman)