Her Pen Pal

'Her Pen Pal' is the third of Hallmark's 2021 Summer Nights films, after the average 'You Had Me at Aloha' and the fairly lacklustre 'The Baker's Son'. The main reasons for seeing it was for Hallmark completest sake and also because of Paris, which is a wonderful city in locations and culture and memories of staying there are very fond (the humidity aside). Have not seen enough of the work of either Mallory Jansen and Joshua Sasse, but their performances were agreeable enough to convince me to see more.

As far as the 2021 Hallmark films go, 'Her Pen Pal' is not one of the best (one of the stronger winners being 'A New Year's Resolution'). It is also not one of the worst, like 'Beverly Hills Wedding'. It's one of the middle of the pack ones. It is to me one of the stronger faring Summer Nights entries, while it is miles away from being flawless it has its charm and is agreeable in quite a number of areas. So worth a watch, if not enough for repeat viewings.

There are many good things about 'Her Pen Pal'. A big star here is Paris itself, which is nothing short of stunning and like a character of its own. 'Her Pen Pal' also fares better than 'You Had Me at Aloha' at making the most of the cultural aspects of the locations, something that this did quite well without stereotyping. The music is not too intrusive or over-emphasised, it's not my definition of unforgettable but it is not at odds with anything.

Jansen and Sasse are both charming leads and their chemistry has genuine warmth and is not too rushed or aimless, though it could have been utilised more. The script is light-hearted on the most part and at least flows, complete with some amusing moments. Really liked Jansen's character, who is not too perfect or over the top negative, and appreciated her development and back-story, which is one of the more interesting and believable back-stories of the 2021 Hallmark films. The story has charm and doesn't take itself too seriously or too much of a joke.

Not everything works though. Jayne Weisener badly overacts her role, have never seen ditziness this exaggerated, and it comes over as really obnoxious. Both the performance and the character. Would have liked a lot more development to Sasse's character, the film did so well with Jansen's but Sasse's is incredibly one-dimensional and at best sketchy.

Moreover, there is some awkwardness and excessive cheese and the story has very little new, feels rushed at times and has a forced and too neat conclusion.

Overall, worth a look but not something that had me jumping out of my chair. 6/10.

Love the chemistry between the two leads (Joshua Sasse and Mallory Jensen). They are so natural and it helps that they worked together for two seasons on Galavant and of course they're accomplished actors in their own right. Between the great food and location posted on social media, it was a memorable and fun reunion for these two and Galavant fans shared the news with others. Hallmark should take a note in pairing up other couples from cancelled shows to star in future productions. If the cancelled shows were popular and the actors have chemistry, they will bring their following to Hallmark--a Win-Win for all!

Premise and some of the developments are typical. The ex was pathetic.

There were some laughs and good dialogue early on, but the ending, though pretty much the usual, disappointed me for lack of anything special.

Views of Paris were nice including some places I wasn't familiar with, but were the actors shot live in all those spots or was it green screen? If it was real, it didn't look right a couple times.

The leads mostly had chemistry.

Victoria's is a wedding planner. And of course she is planning the wedding of one of her best friends, which turns out to be in Paris, France. Once there, she remembers her pen pal from school, a french guy called Jacques, whom she dated for a while before meeting the now ex boyfriend of 12 years who just broke up with her.

My main complain is that if you are gonna have a French character, you should have a French actor. Yes, I can excuse a Canadian playing an American but and English playing a French? Not cool.

I actually loved the story, there were no major plot holes. Cliches? Yes we have a lot of them: we have two friends/exes reconnecting, a jealous ex boyfriend, nosy friends and misunderstandings, so it's your typical Hallmark movie. So you may wonder what makes this a good one? Firstly, Mallory and Joshua had passable chemistry (I forgot they worked together on Galavant, a TV show I watched) and of course, the location. We see a few typical spots of France (and if you pay attention you may see a few people with masks and even the police/security while they were filming)

I would have loved to watch a flashfoward tho, to see how the characters were doing (or maybe they are planning a second movie, which I will gradly watch). . For a second movie, however, I would get rid of the ex boyfriend and bring more diverse characters/actors. The movie didn't drive me crazy but I enjoyed it.

The plot had some "Huh?" moments, but it was noticeably better than most plots in this genre. I really appreciated that there were some genuine obstacles and hard feelings rather than the usual silly misunderstandings. I also appreciated that they invested some money and care into the settings rather than scraping the bottom of the barrel with their budget.

All in all, worth watching.