Gina, Joe, and their fathers
Pizza My Heart is a 2005 romantic comedy film that premiered on ABC Family. Directed by Andy Wolk, it is a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in Verona, New Jersey, though it was filmed in Louisiana and New York.Eyal Podell stars as Joe Montebello, the son of a pizza restaurant owner, and the brains behind their famous tomato sauce. On the way to the local train station, he bumps into Gina Prestolani, played by Shiri Appleby; Gina is the daughter of a rival pizzeria, and while she's just come back from design school with an interest in artistic photography, her family would prefer that she get a job as a teacher and also marry the man that's been helping the restaurant in her absence. Joe and Gina quickly fall in love, but their family rivalry threatens to tear them apart, especially when a lucrative offer is on the line.
This film also features Dan Hedaya as Joe's father Vinnie Montebello, Gina Hecht as Joe's mother Gloria Montebello, Joanna Canton as Gina's sister Annette Prestolani, Michael Badalucco as Gina's father Lou Prestolani, Natalija Nogulich as Gina's mother Mary Prestolani, Nick Spano as Carlo Delrio, and Tony Amendola as Father Spealo of the church that both families attend.
Pizza My Tropes:
- The Bard on Board: The film is clearly based on Romeo and Juliet, with the Montebellos and Prestolanis replacing the Capulets and Montagues. However, some parts are subverted, such as replacing the poison with Joe gifting some olive oil to Gina (even stating "it's not poison" when she's hesitant to accept it) to show he doesn't have a grudge over the Poor Communication Kills scene.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: After both the Prestolanis and the Montebellos try to sabotage the other family's presentation for a business opportunity (by, respectively, letting a box of mice loose and cutting the power), the businessman is angered to the point of forcing both families to talk things out at a church if they don't want him to rescind the opportunity entirely.
- Chekhov's Gun: During Gina's welcome home party near the start of the film, a foil balloon gets caught in the Montebello lemon tree. In the film's climax, as Joe and Gina go to get some lemons for a friendly chef that's offered to help them skip town and get away from their families, the balloon hits a power conduit and bursts into flames before falling onto some discarded pizza boxes in one yard, while simultaneously knocking a wire lose near pizza boxes in the other yard, causing a double-House Fire.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Despite only falling in love recently, Joe and Gina have known each other since childhood, with Joe at one point remarking how he still has a scar (that's never on-camera because it's under his chin) from when they used to play ball together.
- Contrived Coincidence: At the town festival, both families independently decided to promote their booths by making their own "Leaning Tower of Pizza" out of pizza boxes, then accuse the other family of stealing their idea during a simultaneous unveiling.
- Description Cut: When Joe first tells Gina that he has no choice but to be the head chef because the only other candidate, his cousin Vinnie, is a Lethal Chef, Gina asks "He can't be that bad, can he?" Cut immediately to Vinnie shouting "Fire in the hole!" as he removes a pizza that's on fire from an oven.
- Feuding Families: The Montebello and Prestolani families hate each other, starting when their ancestors set up competing businesses in Verona, Italy. Complicating matters is that they're literal neighbors, their backyards separated by one fence.
- House Fire: The climax of the film has Joe and Gina trapped in the Montebello backyard after a fire spreads to both restaurants. Fortunately, instead of perishing like Romeo and Juliet, they hide in the Montebello family lemon tree and end up spared.
- Lethal Chef: Joe's cousin Vinnie notoriously burns anything he tries to cook.
- Love Triangle: Gina and Joe fall in love at the start of the movie, but Gina's father wants to set her up with Carlo Delrio, who's been helping at the restaurant. Complicating matters further is that Gina's sister Annette is genuinely in love with Carlo, but because of the family rivalry, Annette would rather keep Joe away from Gina by telling their families about their secret relationship and be snippy at Gina for "taking" Carlo from her instead of explaining her true feelings to anyone. In the end, Gina and Joe end up together, as do Annette and Carlo due to Gina finding a photo of Carlo in Annette's room and leaving a note for her to just tell him the truth.
- Meaningful Name: The Montebellos are named after both the Montagues from Romeo and Juliet and portobello, a species of mushroom commonly used as a pizza topping.
- Meet Cute: Joe's first scene with Gina in the film is a Crash-Into Hello that accidentally scatters the photos in the portfolio she's taking home from design school, and then stopping to help her gather them all back up, taking a moment to pause and look at her affectionately while doing so.
- Only Sane Man: Vinnie is the only member of either family who realizes how stupid their Feuding Families are, encouraging Joe to talk to Gina and clear up their Sustained Misunderstanding because they're clearly good together.
- Poor Communication Kills: The main conflict of the story is sparked when Jean-Paul, a businessman who's been talking with the Montebellos and trying to franchise their pizza restaurant, goes to the town festival and asks where the booth of "the best pizza in town" is to Gina, who directs him to her own family's booth without knowing his intent. Once the Prestolanis are aware of the opportunity, it leads to the two families then competing and sabotaging each other in order to make the deal.
- Portmanteau: At the end of the movie, the new restaurant run by Joe and Gina forming a partnership between their families is named "Presto Bello", combining their last names.
- Romantic Spoonfeeding: During one of their secret dates, Gina and Joe each serve the other a slice of pizza from their own family's restaurant, which is eaten out of each other's hands.
- Secret Relationship: Because of their Feuding Families, Joe and Gina have to keep their mutual attraction a secret. However, Gina's sister Annette first catches on when she curiously tastes a bit of sauce on one of Gina's shirts and realizes it's not their recipe, and then confirms it by secretly watching the two spending time together before revealing the secret to both families.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike Romeo and Juliet, both romantic leads survive the film.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: Once both families realize Gina's Poor Communication Kills moment, they (including Joe) interpret her Secret Relationship with Joe as emotionally manipulating him and sabotaging the competition. At no point does Gina try to state the truth herself, so it's up to Only Sane Man Vinnie to tell Joe that she clearly does care about him and he should actually talk things out with her instead of overreacting.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: During a town festival, Carlo attempts one of these, hiding an engagement ring in a cannoli for Gina. However, Gina's father Lou ends up biting into the ring instead, and advises Carlo to just meet Gina by a Ferris Wheel, which also doesn't work out due to Gina not being interested in Carlo and sending Annette in her place.
