Fiancés malgré eux

This Hallmark romance begins with a familiar situation: coworkers who go together like oil and water. Anna (Alexa PennVega) and Sebastian (Nicholas Bishop) work for a New York ad agency. When they are sent to Paris to sell an important new French client, a small mistake results in the impression that they are married. To their consternation, their charade snowballs, until it threatens everything, including personal relationships.

PennVega and Bishop work well together. Others in the cast have their moments---especially Elie Kaempfen as Andre the hotel clerk who adds some moments of light comedy.

The conflict in the film resolves fairly quickly, but the final scenes are satisfying.

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.

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.

7.4 stars.

We are very familiar with this plot, two people are acquainted, co-workers, or friends etc... they pretend to be dating, engaged, or married etc... "A Paris Proposal" happens to take place in a city in France, can't quite remember the name....the two subjects are co-workers with polar opposite personalities. They work for an American company, although he is French, artistic and worldly, whereas she is American, analytical and perfectionistic. Match made in heaven. He has a very strong accent, but it's polished enough that he is understandable.

They fly to Paris and are in the middle of a sales pitch with a major jeweler, when a slight coincidence leads them down a rabbit hole of lies. In the spur of the moment they make the best of a difficult situation, but are now stuck pretending to be married in order to score the deal. Are they capable of fooling everyone, including the antagonist? As the stakes get higher, the ruse begins to unravel.

The leads have sufficient chemistry to make this an interesting film. It is somewhat entertaining, and the background is picturesque with the incomparable cityscape of Paris. Some of the dialogue is lost in translation; you can detect many innuendos and interactions being studded with French influence. That aside, "A Paris Proposal" is charming and delightful. The allure of PenaVega wearing a $23 Million dollar pink diamond and a fashionable dress was reason enough to stick around. Unfortunately, something intangible is missing.

The uncomfortable plot really doesn't suit Paris - if the leads had simply been straightforward colleagues that fell in love whilst interviewing couples at romantic locations for the ad campaign, it would have made better use of the city. Instead the frequent bickering and stressful interactions the two have with each other and secondary characters, is just irritating and spoils memories of the place for those of us who've been. It doesn't make me want to go again, and nor see this production through, and definitely not rewatch. It's a missed opportunity really, as there could have been a great movie produced with this team if the script had been more uplifting.