Paris, Wine & Romance

Yes...I agree with others. It's hard not to notice her pregnancy.

My husband is from Oregon and when the main character said she is from the Willamette Valley, she pronounced Willamette all wrong. She pronounced it the way you think it sounds.

Sure, you always have a pretty good idea in general how a Hallmark movie is going to end and some of the tropes you will see along the way, but this movie threw in a few little twists, especially toward the end. I liked that.

Also, I think this kind of movie is always better if the romantic leads spend a lot of time together. The movies that get too caught up in other aspects of the story are not what I enjoy about this genre. This movie kept the two together even though I wouldn't say their chemistry was the greatest, but it was workable. Jen Lilly is just a little too reserved for great.

I watched the whole movie and didn't notice the baby bump, until I read reviews about it and went back. So what? Are we going to body shame her for that? I sure hope not.

Any time you have characters that are French, unless all those actors are truly French, accents will be an issue. For the most part, it didn't bother me. I did think that a lot of the characters said what sounded more like Jack than Jacques. Also, most times Paris was mentioned it sounded American rather than French. Again, so what?

One other plus for me is remembering scenes from Paris. I was thrilled to be able to visit there once and I love to pick out places I saw even beyond the obvious. There was also a gorgeous shot of what was supposed to be Burgundy. (I have know idea if it really was.)

For me, it has a decent story with some not so obvious developments and a decent romance.

This was a very well put together romance. I liked the story of a prestigious wine competition and the underdog Oregonian company taking the snooty French wine culture by storm. The whole set up seemed pretty authentic. And I do love wine, so I appreciated the little tidbits of info. I liked the tour around Paris. I'm not a big Jen Lilley fan, but her acting is OK. I loved the male lead. He was very handsome with a lot of Charisma. I just didn't think he "went with" Jen Lilley. Oh. I see she was pregnant when she filmed this. Nevermind. Lolita Davidovitch was very well cast as the glamorous but gracious loving mother, as was the brother. The resolution to the long distance romance problem was well set up and believable.

I just wish they had chosen another name for Jen's wine. "Ricci Ridge" sounded like "Richie Rich." It was distracting, though it did provide a few giggles.

The accents were pretty obviously forced, but I liked watching Jen Lilley (as always) and Dan Jeannotte for the first time in a Hallmark movie, I hope he gets more roles! Also, I enjoyed the winery plot, despite some inaccuracies.

The little things matter. Pinot Noir the "r" is silent. (Its a french and Oregonian movie ...please!!) And Wilamette is Will-AM-ette. Wow. Should have caught these to be accurate. Beautiful film otherwise.