Paris, Wine & Romance

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.

I enjoyed this movie. I liked the Paris scenes and also the unique story line around a wine competition. I didn't pick up on the mis-pronunciations since I don't know the correct pronunciation of Willamette to begin with. But, I do believe Hallmark should definitely have been aware of it and made sure the actors pronounced things correctly. As far as the supposed "bump," I wasn't aware of it until reading reviews. I noticed a woman whose body looked realistic and wasn't in too tight or too short of clothing. I could relate to her. Stop expecting women to have tiny waists and flat stomachs! I appreciated her being an independent, strong woman who didn't change her life for a man. The ending was a big leap of faith for him and I struggled with that the most. Overall, though, I enjoyed this movie on a relaxing evening with my glass of wine.

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.

Not sure why there were so many poor reviews. I did not notice any negative points as some reviewers had pointed out, ie Jen Lilley's pregnancy and mispronunciations of words! Though I understand the outrage from people who live in Oregon! However I still simply enjoy the two leads developing their chemistry throughout the movie and the beautiful scenery of Paris. Not the best one I see from Hallmark, but it's a solid showing!

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.