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.
Plot summary
Isabella is the ambitious new owner of her family's Oregon winery whose dream of becoming world-renowned takes a big step forward when she enters a prestigious wine competition in Paris. Upon arrival, Isabella meets her biggest competitor, Jacques, from one of the world's foremost winemaking families. Impressed by Isabella and her expertise in wine, a budding romance develops between them. However, as the results as the competition are announced, Isabella believes Jacques badmouthed her wine. Hurt, she returns home. When Jacques discovers what upset her, he seeks to win her back, even if it means leaving behind his beloved winery.
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Richie Rich wine?
A bit surprising
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.
A Paris Romance
Wine! Hallmark seem convinced that everyone is fascinated with the stuff, and that's why it seems to form the basis of a fair few of their films.
However, this was enjoyable enough, with some nice moments. The other brother got off a bit lightly at the end though.
I can't say I noticed that Jen Lilley was pregnant while filming this, I think I was more concerned with the fact that here characters confidence verged into being obnoxious at times.
Overall this is a fun film, I enjoyed it. People need to stop nit-picking.