Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and I hope you’re hungry because
today I’m discussing Pizza My Heart, a rom com based on Romeo and Juliet
that surprisingly features very little pizza and a LOT of close up shots of the actors.
I had watched this movie several years back and had mostly forgotten about it due to its
forgettable nature, but was reminded of it when I saw a Drew Gooden video
on a movie called Little Italy starring Hayden Christensen, and I thought to myself, hey! Did
this movie rip off Pizza My Heart, the original pizza-centric Romeo and Juliet parody film?
No. It didn’t. But seeing as though I went through the trouble of watching and buying
this movie for 5.99, I may as well riff on it. Plus I am a walking Chicagoan stereotype,
I love pizza. That being said, the pizza shown in the introduction is not exactly churning my
butter, why does it look so disgusting? Oh neat, it’s the actor from Night at the
Roxbury. I know he’s a prolific actor but he will always be Mr. Butahbi in my heart.
Our story takes place in Verona. Not Verona Italy, Verona New Jersey. In the heart of
the city exists two competing pizza places, Montebellos and Prestalonis, each owned by a
husband and wife team. After making a pizza with his father, Vinny, Joe Montebelloi,
runs off because he is late for an appointment. He GENTLY runs off to the train station,
where he bumps into Gina Prestilani and knocks a portfolio of photographs from her hands. What a
nice meet cute. Wow you’re real pretty, than you I love you” He runs off to catch his train and
Gina half-assedly puts her photographs back into her portfolio. They’re just gonna fall out again!
Mr. Prestolani “Come on people move, it’s not heavy, it’s flour.” Oh,
I love that new Hollies song.” It ain’t heavy, it’s just flloouuuuurrrr.”
Dad: “Gina!” Mom: “Gina?” Who’s that? Oh, it's my daughter!
Gina is home from college, where she studied in Chicago (represent), to be a photographer. Her
controlling father feels there isn’t any money in the arts and presses her to become a teacher. Dad:
“You’ll make much more money bein’ a teacher.” Yes, teachers, the most overpaid of professions.
We also meet Gina’s feisty sister Annette, who is written to be bitterly jealous of
Gina. Annette: “What was I thinkin? I can’t decorate. I don’t have a degree in visual arts.”
Meanwhile, Joe is playing some poker with his chef buddies and they are
playin’ for recipes. Joe: (rattles off recipe) LEMONS YEEEEAAAAH.
Chef Tommy puts in his lobster risotto, and asks Joe to match the bet with his
famous pizza sauce but Joe folds, saying it wasn’t worth it. Wait, you had FOUR 9s?
One of the players happens to be a businessman looking to open a
franchise and is intrigued by Joe’s sauce, wanting to strike up a deal.
The night continues with a welcome home party for Gina. “Welcome back to Verona.” The movie
likes to mention Verona a LOT, just in case you forgot this is a Romeo and Juliet parody.
We now see that the two families share a backyard, separated by a concrete wall. I
guess they share a power supply, which looks INSANELY dangerous. Vinny, Mr. Montebello,
is pissed by the loud noises and wants to spray their hose all over everyone. Seems mature.
On top of pressing Gina to become a teacher, her Dad also wants her to marry a family friend,
and also their new manager, named Carlo. She makes a run for it and
Annette sweeps in and POUNCES, obviously infatuated with him.
Gina goes to retrieve a balloon that got stuck in the Montebello’s lemon tree,
while Joe goes to pick lemons, and BOOM. Love at SECOND sight.
Joe: “You!” Gina: “You!” Noooo YOU.
She explains the party is for her, and as a graduation gift he gives
her a lemon. Joe: “I’m sorry I forgot to wrap.” My god I want to fuck this man.
Right as they are about to kiss,
Vinny short circuits the power supply and Gina falls, caught by Carlo.
Carlo: “Glad to see you’re still falling for me.” Ew. Carlo apologizes for not picking her
up at the station and says he hopes she’ll forgive her because “You’re my girl.” Ew.
Now the power is out and Mr. Prestolina is pissed,
but doesn’t want to talk things out with the Montebellos due to their historic
rivalry. I just realized that Montebello is a portmanteau of Portobello and Montehugh. Man,
if you love Romeo and Juliet with MUSHROOM references, this is the film for you.
Prestolani explains that his great great great great great great grandfather
made the very first pizza in Verona Italy and the Montebellos stole it,
as told through these questionable illustrations.
So this started in Italy centuries ago… Why is this still happening? How in the world did
these two families end up in the same backyard in Verona, Italy? The next morning at church,
Joe and Gena can’t help but do some EYE Bangin’ , a religious experience indeed.
While Joe moves seats he knocks over the usher and everyone busts up laughing. Priest:
“This is a house of worship.” Now sit down and continue to give us your money.
After mass, the Priest welcomes Gina back home and says he’s looking forward to having her teach
preschool at the Church. She’s surprised to learn her dad applies for her and… can you… do that? Can
you write out an application for someone else and get them an interview? That doesn’t seem right.
Joe tells Vinny that the business man from the poker game wants to try their pizza in hopes of
franchising, but he is reluctant to franchise the restaurant since that would mean sharing
the sauce recipe, but is willing to talk about it if it means putting Prestolani’s out of business.
Joe calls Jean Paul, the man he met at Poker, and asks him to come to the town’s festival.
Prestolani’s is also getting ready for the occasion. Lou: “Tonight
we show them what pizza is made of!” You know… cheese and stuff!
Gina isn’t really enthused about going to the feast until Carlo tells her they are
setting up across from the Montebellos. Why do characters in RomComs always rely on seeing each
other at events, you know you can just go to each other’s restaurant and ask each other out, right?
Looks like Jean Paul is going to make it to the feast! Cab: “where to?” JP:
“Verona, New Jersey.” Okay, how many times are they going to mention Verona? (Supercut.)
Gina gets all dressed up to impress Joe, and look. I’m sorry. If I were going to woo a guy,
this is NOT what I would wear. She looks like she’s going back to church.
Meanwhile, Annette looks longingly at a photo of her and Carlo,
and instead of telling Gina about it, she just gets angry at everything.
At the food festival, both families reveal their leaning tower of pizzas, a truly original
idea that no one has ever done before. Lou and Vinny proceed to sling insults at each other.
Honestly, what is the big deal about this? I used to impressively stack
my white castle boxes and nobody applauded ME.
Carlo goes to Lou and asks permission to propose to Gina, via stuffing a ring into a cannoli.
Really? Michael: “Stop it. Get some help.” Lou tells Carlo he’ll tell his daughter to meet
him by the ferris wheel. Now we get a string of miscommunications which cause the film’s
conflict. Jean Paul runs into Gina and asks where he can find the best pizza in town. Not knowing
that was the code Joe gave him for Montebellos, Gina naturally guides him to Prestolani’s. UH OH.
On top of that, Gina never goes to the Ferris wheel because she wants to follow Joe,
Annette goes instead, who is thrilled to be near Carlo.
Gina meets up with Joe and they flirt a little, Joe even reminisces about how when they were ten,
Gina threw a football at him so hard it caused a scar. A scar
that happens to be under his chin so the audience can never see it.
So this is confusing; the movie actually implies that they hadn’t really known each other or met
previously, especially during the 1st and 2nd meet-cutes where they don’t recognize
each other or acknowledge each other’s names. (You, You). But that wouldn’t make
sense either if they grew up next to each other, so did the movie try to fix that by
weaseling in this thing they did as kids? Keep in mind they were living there up until college,
they wouldn’t have changed that much, they should recognize each
other. Especially if Gina clobbered him with a football. It’s really confusing.
After the fest, Gina and Joe meet up at a Gazebo and try each other’s pizza,
and again… honestly cute. Good chemistry, questionable looking pizza. Also, this pizza is
NOT what was shown in the intro. Yeah I am being pedantic but I’m from Chicago, I care about pizza
continuity. I do approve of this date though, I’m down for being hand fed pizza, roooowwwrl.
Joe asks her about Carlo and she says it’s complicated,
even though it’s not and she has no interest in him. Joe: “You know what’s complicated?”
Rubik's Cube? “You know what’s complicated?” Algebra? “You know what’s complicated?” The
Godfather II? “You know what’s complicated?” Taxes? “You know what’s complicated?” Knowing
if your youtube channel is going to get a copyright strike or not? (Stares at camera.)
Joe: “We spent our lives on the other side of a wall from each other and we have absolutely
no idea who the other person is.” Eh, seems easier than the cube.
Later that night, Annette is learning about dogs I guess? Annette: “Chihuahua,
a small breed of Mexican dog.” Why is she reading this outloud? Annette thinks Gina is acting funny;
she notices sauce on her sweater, tastes it, and says “This is too good to be our sauce.”
More conflict arises as Lou’s wife tells him they are going out of
business. Wife: “We’ve got to talk about the books.” Lou: “You know how I feel about books.
I like waiting for the movie to come out.” VERY funny.
Annette spies on Gina and sees her with Joe and for some reason is
pissed? I feel like she should be happy because that means Carlo is freed up.
It wouldn’t be a RomCom without a cute dinner date! Chef Tommy, from the Poker game,
lets Joe come in after hours and use the kitchen in return for some lemons, which are special
because they come from his grandmother’s lemon tree. Joe: “My grandmother always
said be kind to the tree and the tree will be kind to you.” Gina: “What does
that mean?” Joe: “I don’t know.” RED FLAG, RED FLAG, HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT BEING KIND MEANS.
HEY REMEMBER THIS HOBBY I HAVE?
While Joe cooks an amazing dinner for Gina, they start talking about their lives,
and Joe says he couldn’t become a chef like he wanted because his Dad had a heart attack,
so he took over as the head chef at Montebellos. He looks very sad about it. Time for a picture!!
I have to mention that even though this movie isn’t so great with comedy,
there’s a pretty funny scene where Joe says his brother Nicky
can’t be the head chef because he burns everything. Gina: “He can’t be that bad,
can he?” Nicky: “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” It was a clever lil edit, it got a laugh out of me.
Gina buys Joe a watch from a street vendor because he doesn’t wear one
since his days are so redundant. Joe: “Hey those are knockoffs,
you might have gotten ripped off.” Dude he’s RIGHT THERE.
Carlo is still pining for Gina,
and Annette feels bad so she tells him she doesn’t feel the same way for him,
and that she is out with Joe Montebello. He loses his mind, then everyone else loses their mind.
They are caught red handed, and get several back and forth scenes
of their Gina and Joe’s Dads screaming at them.
So now everyone is tense. Vinny tells Joe that Gina MUST be up to something,
that she is targeting him for an attack. And whaddya know, at that very moment Jean Paul
calls. It’s revealed that he tried the wrong pizza because Gina unknowingly brought him to
the Prestolani booth. Because he has no intention of talking about this OBVIOUS miscommunication,
Joe gets hurt. Meanwhile Lou is over the moon that Gina took business from Montebellos,
and Gina realizes she made a huge mistake.
Joe gives Carlo the watch to give back to Gina, and Carlo makes one last plea for
her to be with him instead. What the… okay guy, why are you WATCHING them? Stop that!
Carlo: “You’re like a lost ship, and I'm the keeper.” You’re broken, let me fix you.
These kinds of conflicts in RomComs are so frustrating and unbelievable,
I just can’t believe these two wouldn’t talk it out after having such intimate moments.
Like, you’re not even going to TRY to hear her out, Joe? What in the world? However I
do see how it once again tries to mimic Romeo and Juliet, seeing as though that story had
one of the biggest miscommunications of all time. Hopefully this movie doesn’t end in death though.
It’s time for some Shenanigans! You see, Jean Paul now wants to give both restaurants a shot
since he liked Prestolanis, so of course, the families try to sabotage each other.
The Montebellos dump mice in Prestolani’s during their presentation, and the Prestolanis sabotage
the power supply during the Montebellos, and is it just me or is the mice a little more
serious? The electricity could be the fault of the city, the mice just seem unhygienic.
Jean Paul is pissed. They all meet at the church to talk things out. Gina asks if she
can explain what happened to Joe and he gives her the cold shoulder like a giant asshole. Jean Paul
says they have one week to make the best all around pizza, but no more sabotage is allowed.
Carlo is going to take the challenge of making the
sauce. Carlo: “Gimme one week Lou, ONE WEEK.” ONE WEEK. It’s beeeeen
Nicky, this sweet summer child, is the only one who understands how dumb this
all is. He tells Joe Gina is perfect for him and he needs to pursue her.
Joe climbs the ladder and…has Gina been there the entire time? Did she not hear them?
Joe offers some balsamic vinegar as a peace offering, telling her to taste it from his
finger. Gross. Joe: “It’s not poison.” Another Romeo and Juliet reference, we got poison.
So here’s the thing about this scene. She does forgive him, but she never explains what happened,
which frankly pisses me off. Joe says he is sorry for overreacting but is he
still going to think she did this on purpose? Why didn’t she tell him it was an accident??
Gina actually proposes they drop out of the challenge because the contrast was originally
for Montebellos and her dipshit father says she has to choose between them and Joe.
Gina: “I remember being happy.” I remember being happy…
two days ago… Soooo she picks Joe! And they’re like.. let’s just run away and
not tell anyone! You know what they say about facing your problems… don’t!
While packing, Gina finds the photo of Carlo and Annette,
and realizes why her sister is always so angry at her. She encourages her to be honest with Carlo.
Holy fuck this is moving fast. Joe brings his pizza delivery truck
around and says his friend Chef Tommy can put them up in Chicago,
but he wants lemons in return, so they stop back at the restaurant.
Father Spezcia is pissed at both families for being immature dumdums,
and tries to get them to reconcile.
“You don’t think I know what you did. But he does.” And you will ALL BURN IN HELL.
See now THIS is how you dress for a date. Annette
tells Carlo how she feels and it is reciprocated. It’s cute!
After she locks up the restaurant, that balloon from earlier hits the faulty power supply and
starts a fire. Joe and Gina find it, and instead of you know… calling the fire department, he hops
the fence and tries to put it out. Meanwhile, a wire comes down, locking Gina to her spot too.
They both wait in the lemon tree. Mama Mia. Maybe this… IS going to end in tragedy?
Everyone gets to the scene and both restaurants are destroyed. Somehow, SOMEHOW, Joe and Gina
stayed safe in the tree. Gina: “Up here.” Okay why are you throwing lemons at them, they can
hear you. Also… you were in there the whole time and didn’t call the firefighters for help?? What??
Everyone apologies to everyone and this ends the centuries long feud between the Prestolanis
and Montebellos. Luckily, since they had a lot of time to talk about in the tree,
Gina and Joe decided to start a merger where they can join their sauce and their cheeses.
And the new place is called PIZZA MY HEART oh, sorry. PRESTO BELLOS.
Extra: “these are all Gina Prestolanis, she has such a good eye.” GOOD JOB EXTRA.
Everyone: “AhhhHHHHhhhh” (Drama sound) Oh god, oh no. Jean Paul: “First Chicago,
then Miami…” Yeah, bring that shit to Chicago, see what happens. Outrageous.”
Everyone gets what they want and everything is
awesome. Nicky: “To love” HAHAHAHAHAHA, this is how it ends?? On spinning
screen caps? Perfect, know notes!
(the end)
ohhhhkay, final thoughts.
Listen…this film was cheesy, unlike the pizza in this film, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it
and I would watch and riff on it again. It IS a made for tv movie, so yes; parts were dramatic,
but the pacing was good, the acting was cute, and the chemistry between the characters was actually
believable. The lead actress was very charming and loveable, the side characters were fun,
and even the over the top parents were great. I don’t think any of those things make it an
objectively good film, but if you’re looking to kill an hour thirty, this isn’t a bad way to do
it. The Romeo and Juliet references did seem a little shoehorned in, but it’s fine, even if they
did say Verona a million times. “Verona.” “Verona. “Verona.” “Find me a Switzerland in Verona,
New Jersey now!” I’m sorry, where does this movie take place? “Verona, New Jersey.” Overall a fun
little romp with some disgusting looking pizza, I give it 7 out of ten calzones. If you have a
suggestion for a weird made-for-tv movie you’d like to see me cover, please leave a suggestion
in the comments, most of what I cover are viewer recommendations. Until next time… Nicky: To love!
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on Pizza My Heart,
the only movie about pizza that didn’t make me crave it. Ridiculous. If you want to see more
from me I have plenty to show you but first I want to give a shout out to my patrons,
because they support this channel and make it possible for me to keep making videos. If
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If you want to see more from me I have a few recommendations on the screen - on
the right is the latest video from my flagship series, that time on Murder,
She Wrote, and on the left is a breakdown of some of the most ridiculous episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Thanks again and as always, I will see you in the next one.