A Change of Place

Harlequin romance novels should not be made into movies. Ever. The plot was thin, ridiculous, and frankly, quite unbelieveable. The dialogue was trite.

Andrea Roth did well as Kim and Dominique, and Geordie Johnson was an amusing (and somewhat silly) villain Jacques Arnaud. Worth watching only if you really need a laugh.

Andrea Roth stars as twins Dominique and Kim in "A Change of Place," a 1994 movie produced by Harlequin Enterprises and based on a Silhouette novel.

Twins switching places is the stuff of fantasy, and these Harlequin movies take the place of those big, trashy miniseries from the '80s that I used to love.

Dominique is a hot Parisian model who also happens to be a drunk, and her sister, Kim, is an art student preparing for her thesis. In order for Dominique to go into rehab, Kim replaces her in Paris; Dominique is afraid that if the press finds out she's in rehab, it will ruin her career. I don't know about that, but it definitely would have gotten her the cover of PEOPLE magazine.

Kim has an ally who realizes immediately that she's not Dominique, the fitter Marie, who trains her as a model. Kim also meets the new partner in the fashion house, the wealthy Philip (Rick Springfield). There is an instant attraction. However, Dominique left out a few things, as Kim soon learns from the villainous Jacques (Geordie Johnson) who wants to bring down the House of Chambertin. Ian Richardson, who must have really needed the money, plays Henri Chambertin, the designer.

These movies aren't meant to be great; they're meant to be light entertainment, like the books. Don't analyze it as if it's Citizen Kane, and you just might enjoy it.

Kim Jameson (Andrea Roth) is a busy Fine Arts graduate student while her twin Kate (Andrea Roth) is a model known as Dominique. Kim meets up with Kate after a 4 years absence. She finds Kate a troubled flamboyant drunk. Then Kate has an idea to take a break in rehab while Kim takes her place in the modeling world. Henri Chambertin (Ian Richardson) is her boss at House of Shambertin and Philip Claremont (Rick Springfield) is the American who recently bought a controlling interest. Philip would love to fire Kate. Marie (Stephanie Beacham) is the only one at the company that Kim can reveal the switch to. Then Kate's boyfriend Jacques shows up like he is expected by her. It turns out that Kate isn't completely truthful and Kim starts falling for Philip.

The look is pretty cheesy and cheap. It's a low grade Harlequin Canadian TV movie. The production is generally weak. The only saving grace is Andrea Roth. She is able to play both twins well but that's all there is here. Rick Springfield does a reasonable job. The plot is twin switching with some questionable modeling world hijinx. Most of the locations are obviously not Paris. This is better than most of those types of TV movies but still not good.

I first discovered Andrea Roth in this movie and thought she was brilliant ,thats how i became a fan.But the movie itself is wonderful too.It has intrigue ,beautiful actors , comedy ,pleasant soundtrack,really fun story and you don't know how everything will turn out .It's not only a movie for romantics.I recommend it to everyone. BEST Best best !!!!!!

A Change of Place is a lovely escape. OK, any chance to look at Rick Springfield is a lovely escape, but this film is really not bad. The shots of Paris don't hurt either. You get enough of Paris to make you long for a week or two there, but it isn't gratuitous. Restraint is the beauty of this film. It certainly could have fallen into the traps that so many of these made-for-TV chick flicks do. But the script and the direction manage artfully to avoid those pit-falls. The plot is more believable than in many made-for-TV films. It doesn't indulge in melodrama. Rick Springfield is a good actor even when he has a bad script, but in this case the dialogue is natural and one cannot help but like Philip, even when he is being curt to the heroine. The characters are not caricatures. Andrea Roth does a nice job playing identical twins without exaggerating the personality differences. Geordie Johnson is really amazing in his portrayal of the menacing Jacques. It had to difficult not to overplay this villain, but Johnson makes Jacques believably threatening without turning him into a preposterous Judith Krantz bad guy. This film is not an iconic dramatic masterpiece, and that is OK because it wasn't meant to be. It is a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. I highly recommend it.