Beauty and the Billionaire

What do you need for a good Hallmark-Style Rom-Com. You need a male lead and a female lead that are engaging and have some chemistry. Check. You need a plot that, even if it follows a predictable pattern, has a few quirks and twists that make it interesting. Check. You need a fun background for the action to take place. Check. You need good dialogue with a little wit. Check. Most Rom-Coms in one way or another follow a Jane Austen book. This movie is no exception. We've got Pride and Prejudice here with an arrogant billionaire learning some life-lessons and falling in love with a spunky female who's not afraid to stand up to him. It's really nicely done from the beginning to the concluding kiss you know is coming but it's not about the kiss, it's about the journey and this is a fun one.

I enjoyed watching this movie. I liked the lead female character, Addison, and how she is portrayed by Sashleigha Hightower. Chris Reid as Justin was believable in his role. As usual...the relationship starts off rocky but the difference in this story is that you could see when and why these two started and did develop romantic feelings for each other. Typically, in these romance movies I never understand how or why the leads fall in love.

The journey from dislike to like to love was engaging and we see and feel the transition.

Even Addison as brother Pete, played by Tanner Gillman made a progressive change as well. I was on the fence at first with his character who wad really just a vehicle to introduce/involve the sister in the story.

Overall, I recommend watching. Not sure if I would watch it again but I did enjoy it.

Addison Burke, on vacation from her medical practice management job, awkwardly gets snagged in to help her brother who works for the boss of a billion dollar company. She gets to see the two sides first hand, of how the CEO mistreats his underlings, and how his people try to butter him up for future career advantages. The film takes you to St Martin where all try to make a killing buying a company. Written and edited by Brian Brough. The film was very well cast, especially with Sashleigha Hightower. Because the script with so much subtle humor, I had to watch it a second time to laugh again and process the pressures of uber-corporate life.

I enjoyed general storyline but had a feeling from every moment the actors play is artificial. I don't know what it is about - the pauses where they respond before they had a time to consume the information, maybe facial expressions that do not match what is said or feeling they are trying to remember the lines, mismatching connections between the shots or the combination of all above. Even internals of a jet look artificial. Could have been just my perception but there are only handful of movies that I had that feeling about.

Overall - ok to watch once but is not looking to be re-watching. Just ok overall.

The lead male is incredibly unrealistic. He's wealthy, but wealthy people don't act like he does. No one does. And this isn't just occasional bits of jerky behaviour -- it's every single word and interaction he has. He is completely awful. He is an irredeemable jerk, and for some reason, everyone is all too willing to put up with it. A bunch of sellouts acquiescing to the jerk. That's not a great setup for a movie.

Obviously the plot and characters evolve in ways you can probably predict, but the opening half hour destroys any hope of realism the movie hoped to attain.

The scenery, though, is spectacular. It kept me watching, despite the fact that the lead character was despicable.