Released: October 14th, 2011
Starring: Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Sophia Bush, Brooke Shields, Bill Nighy, Tamsin Egerton
Writer/Director: Tom Williams/Phil Traill
Description: Pretty tomboy Kim Matthews, 19, used to be a champion skateboarder - but now she's stuck in a dead end job trying to support her Dad. Opportunity comes knocking in the form of a catering job in the one of the most exclusive chalets in the Alps.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
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It is nice to see that other countries produce mind-numbing films just like America. Usually there's a mystique about British films in the U.S. in which most audiences assume that every movie produced is like "Sense and Sensibility" or "The English Patient". But, alas, they make really terrible romantic comedies just like us.
"Chalet Girl" was originally chosen for this project because another movie with Sophia Bush in it ("The Narrows") has been pulled off Netflix. I was intrigued when I noticed that Felicity Jones, who I love in "Like Crazy", was the star of this film, and Bill Nighty never disappoints. But this movie follows every overdone archetype in the history of rom-coms. Rich guy falls for poor girl who is witty and unlike anything else in his life, but is also exactly like his mother.
Yet, the one concept that is supposed to make it stand out was one of it's most blatant plot holes. So the story is about Kim Matthews (Jones), who was a prodigy skateboarder that disappeared from competition after a car accident killed her mother. This is all laid out in the first five minutes by a commentator covering a skateboarding event. We find out later that Kim quit skateboarding because she has flashbacks to the accident when she attempts to jump.
There are two things wrong with the concept in both idea and execution. Kim is built up as this nation-wide skateboarding phenom, but somehow she goes unnoticed in her small hometown. Now, I'm not saying paparazzi need to be following her around, but I find it hard to believe that she'd be able to work at a fast food restaurant in which hordes of teenagers would patronize on a regular basis. The commentator make it out to be that no one in England knows where she is, or what she is doing right now, and that is contradictory to how they introduce her a mere 30 seconds earlier.
Now let's move on to the tragedy holding her back, which has never been done before (*cough* "Blue Crush" *cough*). The one thing I don't understand is how exactly this car crash is stopping her from performing. I understand if something happened during a competition, but something like a car accident is hard to explain without using stereotypical feelings. Kim can do everything else involved with snowboarding except jumping because she see her car falling off an overpass, and this fear is the reason why she's stopped competing. The major flaw in this is that she snowboards down high peaks without any fear, but put a ramp in front of her and she freezes. The concept tries to create sympathy for Kim without really explaining the core reason why she's like this, and even when they try to it's very elementary and shallow.
Producing a movie with these two flaws would be enough to make any movie mediocre, but Tom Williams decided to throw in a poor girl falls in love with the son of the rich family she works for, and just to "spice" it up a bit, he was engaged. Unlike other romantic comedies, the fiance, Chloe (Bush), wasn't evil, she was the in-the-way girl, which is totally original. The love story was the most paint by number one I've seen during this project. And yes, it had the two friends who love each other, but don't know it yet B plot going on too.
With all of the failures in the script and concept, it was a shame to see solid performances by Jones and Westwick wasted in this movie. Jones, in particular, stood out to me because my only exposure to her was in "Like Crazy", which was more romantic than comedy. She has solid comedic timing, and is probably the British version of Anne Hathaway. Westwick is perfectly suited for being a leading man in rom-coms. He's charming, has sex appeal through the roof and is more than adequate in the acting department. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing him pop up in more once "Gossip Girl" is over.
"Chalet Girl" is a British rom-com with lots of problems that occur because studios are unwilling to take any chances with the genre. They know they can milk money out of girls no matter how recycled the material is, and with each passing year a new crop of young adult girls enter the movie-watching audience and ensure that money never dries up.
Rating: 4/10 -- Generic rom-com, who's only redeeming quality is the adorable Felicity Jones, whose beauty is hard to explain, but is obvious to those who watch her. Also, I chose the poster because the "snow-mantic comedy" line is too ridiculous to ignore.
