Noël à Paris

We could have seen more of Paris or had a bigger plot. But I truly loved the chemistry of the couple. Not use to ear the French Accent but it really brings something for a change. Authenticity. Good actors, soft story but meaningful with real family issues. A good watch. God Bless. L.

A woman meets a wealthy French businessman and he whisks her away to Paris for a trip. It's nice to see someone not struggling financially on TV for a change. It's fantasy after all But he has some demons about his biological father. A little crisis ensues. They used a real French actor which has good and bad pionts. His accent is real but hard to understand. The girl is pretty. Liked seeing Daphne Zuniga as her boss. This is not Hallmark so it's something different from the usual fare. UPTV usually has some message of forgiveness.

I loved the plot, but it somehow felt rushed. The ending happened all at once, when in reality, it would have taken longer to get to those points, both with the engagement and his dad. I can get with a fast engagement if it's believable, but the chemistry just didn't sell it.

Now, for starters, I would like to say that I am all for the Hallmark/Lifetime formula. It works! This film does not. It is so boring that it actually became confusing at times because I had trouble focusing for more than 30 second intervals. The characters are not even two-dimensional. They have no personality traits besides "bad relationship with dad" or "dead mom," so the "deeper" themes that they were going for fall flat. The decorations in the background clash, but even by themselves, they are ugly (see poorly painted wooden snowflake things on barn wall). Furthermore, the audacity to call a movie Christmas in Paris and a) have most of it take place in Montana, and b) not even shoot in Paris, is astounding. I wish that this had been a soulless Christmas movie like Hallmark or Lifetime would put out, but it isn't. Instead, it feels like my soul has also been crushed.

This is a straight up Harlequin Romance Movie and as such it's pretty OK. And I don't mean the Hallmark movies based Harlequin novels. This is right out of of the playbook that produced about 11 or so TV movie romances in the 1990s and early 2000s that Hallmark had nothing to do with. Since I saw this on ION television it really does have that different and old-fashioned approach to a romance. The hero was very attractive and a stereotypical early prototype romance hero: A Rich, Powerful, Mysterious Playboy who is a genius at business. He falls for "normal(ish) girl: beautiful, good, and spunky. it was well-cast and fun. I liked the side story of our hero hating and then reconciling with his biological father(who really looked the part as well) and the asthma angle. For anyone who liked this movie, I urge you to look up these old Harlequin movies some of which are available on You Tube.