Milliardaire ou presque

Particularly during this world-wide pandemic, The Hallmark films have been a perfect oasis for my wife and me. The lead actors are charming, consummate actors. They took the words written by a fine writer and made the story believable and seamless. The director also honored the writers' story. It was refreshing to see this film slightly deviate from the usual Hallmark format. I would gladly recommend this film to everyone. The viewer will spend a fast 2 hour in a beautiful setting with an excellent cast.

*This section may not end up with my sincere review above. Hallmark, I think you should read and discuss my observations. I have had a long career in the music production business. The music in this film is well written and performed by professional musicians. However, in the last 15 minutes...the two lead actors are having a very honest and loving conversation...but by most accounts the viewer will not hear the writers script or be able to respond emotionally to the two actors portraying impassioned feelings in their facial cues and vocal delivery. Why? Because for some reason, either the director, music composer or the music mix engineer at the final dubbing session decided to diminish the writers words and the actors performance by pushing the level of a singing vocalist way above the level of the actors voices. Invariably this "punch it up" surge in the singers track happens at the most important story point of the film. Thereby robbing the viewer of the time they have invested in watching the film. That is bad enough, but not six minutes later, the singing vocalist again "steps" on the last few lines of the film where the leads are trying to plan their future. This technique, of adding a song near the end of a drama, has become a popular cliche'. Grey's Anatomy is the most consistent offender of this cheap trick. For example: A lady's husband has died suddenly, by an excessive injection of the wrong medicine. At the end of the drama the apologetic Dr talks to the decedents wife..." but this is where the predictable, obligatory song that has nothing to do with the story must be sung over the Dr's apology and wife's grief.

I never realized there was such a thing as a personal travel concierge, but I guess the premise isn't that much different than say a party planner. Can't say that switching an average Joe for a billionaire is that common for a premise, but still the whole thing wasn't that unusual. Then there is what I call "the hanging lie" or "hanging secret". That always goes the same way - you know what's going to happen. There were no great highs or lows or big surprises.

Nazneen Contractor and Brooks Darnell were both new to me this past Christmas season and I can't say either one impressed me in the combined four previous movies I've seen with one or the other. But something connected for me in this movie. I guess that's what chemistry is between the leads. I also enjoyed Erik Athavale's part as Gabe. (Interesting that he's reunited with Darnell.)

I just plain enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed going along for the ride.

Hallmark often has great winter scenery which is true again.

The 2021 New Year New Movies films, only five, were mostly good, especially 'A New Year's Resolution'. The one exception being 'Snowkissed', though personally would count that as more of a Winterfest film as it would have been categorised as in any of the previous years. 'A Winter Getaway' also feels more like a Winterfest film than a New Year New Movies film. Expectations were somewhat mixed, the story sounded really charming but due to really disliking Nazneen Contractor in 2020's 'The Christmas Ring' that brought the expectations down.

Of the New Year New Movies films, 'A Winter Getaway' is to me the second weakest. Do prefer 'Take a Shot at Love', 'A New Year's Resolution' and 'Two for the Win', but it is much better than 'Snowkissed' (the only bad one of the five in my view). 'A Winter Getaway' does do a good deal right and one aspect came off much better than expected, but there was room for improvement too (though the flaws have been executed far worse in many other Hallmark films).

'A Winter Getaway' succeeds a lot more than it fails. The best aspect of it is the scenery, which is nothing short of spectacular which is what a vast majority of the 2021 Hallmark films have in common. The camera was clearly in love with it and there are some lovely and lovingly framed shots throughout. Enough of the script flows well and is light-hearted without being too jokey and not going into cutesy overload generally.

While the story is not perfect, it is not as formulaic as most Hallmark films are and has a genuine sweetness and charm without the sentimentality going overboard. 'A Winter Getaway' to me has two lead characters worth caring for. Brooks Darnell is a charming leading man but the biggest surprise was seeing the massive improvement in Contractor's acting here compared to 'The Christmas Ring'. She is a lot more relaxed and expressive here. Their chemistry is engaging and is particularly sweet towards the end.

However, there was room for improvement. The supporting cast are competent, but nobody stands out and they don't have the memorability factor that the two leads have. The film is perhaps a slow starter and some parts are on the overripe side in the writing.

Really have to agree with everybody regarding the music. The film is over-scored in general, but it really does drown everything else at the end. Which is a shame because the final 10-15 minutes do have a good amount of heart.

Overall, above average but wasn't wowed. 6/10.

I found the music to be so annoying. In several scenes I could not hear what the actors were saying over the VERY LOUD music!

The movie has potential. The story seemed interesting. But I thought the ending with dancing and music and dialogue all at once was difficult.

It didn't feel genuine and there was too much going on to focus on the actors alone. It felt forced to me.

There are some of these movies that I would watch again; unfortunately this is not one of them.