Kevin James strikes a new, softer chord in Solo Mio, the romantic comedy from the Christian faith-based Angel Studios. It’s an Eat Pray Love riff which sees the usually boisterous comedian moping around Rome after his fiancée leaves him at the altar, and it’s kind of pleasant to watch James find a warmer, more vulnerable level which is normally absent from his typical fare. But the film is paper-thin and emotionally hollow. Though there isn’t much mention of religion, the film still feels inextricably tethered to the studio’s larger mission, vapidly suggesting that the only thing one can do to cure a broken heart is to immediately leap into the next marriage prospect. The lasting relevance of Elizabeth Gilbert’s evergreen memoir is due to its focus on self-realization and betterment. Solo Mio, by contrast, has nearly no characterization, and, other than a handful of trite shots of James participating in all manner of stereotypical Roman tourist activity, gives us no genuine insight into whom this man is, nor what he might want out of life except a wife. It’s to James’ and Nicole Grimaudo’s credit that the film works at all, as both actors give genuine and sweet performances inside a film whose script otherwise lacks sincerity.
Solo Mio Is Less About Finding Oneself Than it is a Desperate Search for Companionship

James plays Matt Taylor, a fourth-grade art teacher whose seemingly perfect relationship with Heather (Julie Ann Emery) is suddenly upended when she calls it quits at the exact moment she is supposed to walk down the aisle. The disappearance is a shock to Matt as much as it is to us, since the entire pre-title sequence is devoted to a saccharine montage of the two routinely falling in love and getting engaged. Oddly, the film introduces exactly zero other characters from Matt’s orbit. There is no best friend, no coworker, no groomspeople, no family. We briefly hear him on the phone with his mom insisting that everything’s fine, and that Heather just needs space, but otherwise, Matt is a total loner. With seemingly no one to turn to, Matt just kind of carries on. He tries to cancel the “two-becomes-one” honeymoon package he purchased from their hotel, but, with nothing refundable (nor exchangeable), he decides to indulge in the tandem-bike tour solo. Considering Matt is an art teacher, you’d think he’d have at least a little exposure to European customs, but he seems oddly clueless about basic Italian norms like kissing on each cheek and the pronunciation of everyday Italian words, but at least his befuddlement does introduce us to Grimaudo as Gia, a barista at the café around the corner whose burst of light is an appreciated ray in the doldrums of this rote romance. Having said that, Gia’s interest in Matt feels like a complete plot contrivance. She is a character who seems placed here merely to boost Matt’s spirits. Like Matt, we learn next to nothing of her character except that her café is likely to close. The two do bond over their shared heartache, but Matt is oddly cagey about being specific about his circumstances, and it does feel hard to root for a romance in which one person is mere hours separated from the love of his life walking away at the final hour. Nonetheless, the two continue onward, participating together in the bike tour alongside two other American couples that are catastrophically insufferable. Meghan and Julian (Alyson Hannigan and Kim Coates, respectively) have divorced twice before and are now married for the third time; therapist Donna and patient Neil (Julee Cerda and Jonathan Roumie, respectively) are newly married after the latter declared his love in a session with the former. Both couples clearly hate each other, but if you think that the filmmakers are making some statement about the fickleness of marriage or the foolishness in thinking that a permanent union will fix your problems… think again! Both ethically dubious couples are played as dastardly charming (if a bit odd) quirky new friends. Solo Mio is made by the seven-member Kinnane brothers: directors Charles & Daniel, writers Patrick & John, editor Pete, producers William and Brendan. The family-first DNA of the film and its studio backing is never not clear here. Meghan and Julian’s self-evidently toxic relationship is never evaluated for what it is, and is instead defended as a case in which they “never gave up” on each other. There are multiple mentions of having proper foundations for a relationship, which seems pretty clearly coded as an endorsement of faith.

Nearly every “joke” just comes from an American mispronunciation of Italian.

That’s all well and good, but surely Matt might need some time to heal from something so traumatic. All that really is to say that, in a more honest film, he might be given the chance to fully explore himself before jumping at the next possible opportunity. By his own admission, he never saw this coming, which does suggest a person who is either fully cut off from hearing his partner or else someone who has put so much stock into marriage that he forgot to ever check in on his own wishes and desires.

Both James and Grimaudo deserved a film with a bit more heft, one that earnestly deals with its own premise with emotional curiosity. Nearly every “joke” just comes from an American mispronunciation of Italian. The irony of the film’s title — which roughly translates to “only mine” — is that it feels like advice the Kinnanes probably should’ve given to their protagonist, someone who could do with alone time.
Solo Mio releases in theaters on February 6th, 2026.

Release Date

February 6, 2026

Runtime

100 Minutes

Director

Charles Kinnane, Daniel Kinnane

Writers

John Kinnane, Patrick Kinnane, Kevin James

Producers

Kevin James, Mark Fasano, Jeffrey Greenstein