The Winter Palace

I watched this movie because I like Danica, I don't recall having seen Neal Bledsoe before. Their chemistry was good and the scenery was nice. It just seems like every week there is a new Royal movie. I have not seen one that was really believable. This is not one that I would watch again, it was slow and boring.

Danica and Bledsoe had more chemistry in an earlier movie....and a better script. Bledsoe is watchable in this one but Danica is hard to watch. Her scenes feel rushed or incomplete.

I expect she will do better in her next effort.

Cannot recommend this one.

Plot-wise, this was a common example of the royal/commoner romance plot. Danica McKellar is a new author with one successful novel who is being pressured to submit her second romance novel per her contract. Predictably she has writers block and is given the opportunity to be a caretaker at a remote lodge in the mountains for some peace and quiet. No, it's not haunted and she doesn't turn into a homicidal maniac. Sorry to disappoint. The owners are European and haven't been there for years. All she has to do is knock the icicles off the eaves, take care of the furnace, and find her inspiration to honor her contract. The owner shows up unexpectedly and it's a prince with his two minions.

This was watchable thanks to Neal Bledsoe who played the prince. He was very attractive and had a lot of charisma. He also had a personality, starting off snooty and entitled and loosening up slowly but surely while becoming enamored of Danica. The two actors had a nice rapport going throughout. Danica did good in this one. Despite the usual, and I do mean usual, roadblocks, it all proceeds to a happy ending and I liked the resolution to the "how can an American romance novelist find happiness with a Concordian King" dilemma.

Horrible movie! Danica jumped the shark. She plays the same person, time and time over. Now she's become a bumbling idiot. If she's tried to change her usual character it's not working. Very disappointed.

Why can't the makeup department ever get Danica's eyelashes on correctly? It's distracting and certainly not flattering. Hallmark never got them right either.