A Paris Proposal

We have here the start of a classic antipathetic romance, and unlike most antipathetic romances in these Hallmark movies, the writers had the courage to carry the tense relationship deep into the movie ... almost to the end, in fact.

The man (a Frenchman with a disaster in his family's business) develops exorbitantly expensive ideas for ad campaigns. The woman (with a one year disaster of a marriage in her past) is practical and keeps her ad campaign ideas sensible.

Together they're assigned to travel to Paris to secure the account of a French diamond jewelry house who wants to expand into the USA.

The story of their conflicting ideas for the ad campaign needed to win the account drives the movie, and in the end they come to an mutual idea surprisingly easily.

However, the movie is charming, in my mind more because of the older French couple who own the diamond house than the stars.

I won't lie, this is a Hallmark romance that grew on me. The reluctant ad campaign team of Anna Bowman and Sebastian Laurent are sent to Paris to win the Durant diamond company's advertising contract for their expansion into the American market, by their boss. The boss was hoping that Sebastian would help Anna get back some of her creativity ("color with all the colors in the box") and that Anna would help Sebastian learn to "color inside the lines". Their styles couldn't be more different, but after a misunderstanding in front of their new potential clients the two have to pretend to be married...even to Sebastian's estranged French family.

The Paris backdrop is truly lovely and the costumes were wonderful! I particularly liked the black and white striped dress worn by Anna in Paris. I thought her friend in Paris was unnecessary, but I did really enjoy the glass of water scene.

This was surprisingly romantic and really grew on me, as initially I wasn't sure about the lead...but I really warmed to their chemistry and highly recommend this slow burn romance. I particularly enjoyed the end as a romantic.

I'm amazed because most people have same types of people getting together but recently we can see people who are so different from eachother and even though there's difference in their characters they still like and love eachother and okay with eachother...this movie is all about love and opposite characters falling in love with eachother and screen presence of these actors and actresses are so real and it's like we're seeing from the couples pov . Other actors and actresses did so well...that boss lady for this main couple...she did so well and we support black women acting and Awesome movie.

Hallmark movies that are shot on location are always the best kind, and 'A Paris Proposal' is better than it would otherwise have been thanks to it being shot in the City of Lights rather than somewhere in British Columbia that is standing in for Paris.

I'm not a huge fan of movies where the plot revolved around a fake relationship. They usually aren't done all that well. This is an exception.

Stars Alexa PenaVega and Nicholas Bishop do a good job with a decent script as advertising agency colleagues who are in Paris to land a big contract with a Parisian jeweller. One thing leads to another...and they're suddenly telling everyone they're married.

Truth be told: I didn't think I was going to enjoy this film very much, because of the plot, but I watched it for the authentic Paris setting and the movie grew on me after a while and I actually did enjoy it. The chemistry between PenaVega and Bishop shines through after some early adversarial moments between them.

All of that said, Paris is the real star of this show.

Anna Bowman (Alexa PenaVega) and Sebastian Laurent (Nicholas Bishop) are co-workers in an advertising agency and they don't get along. She's a by-the-numbers account manager and he's the creative kind. They are forced to team up for a pitch in Paris. A misunderstanding leads the clients to assume that they are married.

This is a Hallmark romance. It is a little funny when he's insulting her. This is a fine standard fire-and-ice coupling. They need to fight more. I don't get her outfit with the big front flower. She should be dressed like an accountant. That's the premise. They need to stick to it. All in all, this is fine for Hallmark and we get a Paris vacation on top of it.