A Week in Paradise: Movie Review

Melodramatic romantic drama.

A Week in Paradise is a romantic drama that just leans so heavily into the melodrama of it all. How do movies in this genre still not understand that you can’t take yourself this seriously? The first half of the movie is a massive slog to get through. A cheating husband, a wife who is just so distraught she can’t possibly go to work, so okay, a week in Nevis will do.		2022 Directed by: Philippe Martinez Screenplay by: Kate Wood Starring: Malin Akerman, Philip Winchester

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop: Movie Review

Old-fashioned and low-key, a British mystery.

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop is, as you can probably guess from the title, an old-fashioned and juvenile mystery. A family-friendly mystery meant for … kids? Except probably not, with a cast full of adults, a potential murder on their hands and an English country-side setting straight out of classic novels, it’s more like a Miss Marple mystery to be solved by the Scooby Doo gang.		2021 Directed by: Brad Watson Screenplay by: Josh Ridgway, Kate Wood Starring: Nathalie Cox, Kelsey Grammer

The Ledge: Movie Review

Suspend your disbelief.

I always appreciate it when filmmakers can make a compelling movie set in essentially one location, but The Ledge is hanging from some very precarious threads. It has all the ingredients of a good story: our heroine is a very strong, very tough girl who isn’t going to let a group of douche bros get away with murder. Her main obstacle is literally the side of the cliff with one ledge she can stand one. And the villains, four asshole friends, who are my main source of frustration.		2022 Directed by: Howard J. Ford Screenplay by: Tom Boyle Starring: Brittany Ashworth, Ben Lamb

I Want You Back: Movie Review

A screwball rom-com.

I Want You Back is a sort-of throwback romantic comedy. It meanders a bit before it ends up in screwball comedy territory, but leans into comedy with entertaining plot turns throughout. It’s a rom-com that starts with heartbreak and ponders the depression and loneliness of life before it ever tries selling us on a romance. It balances humour and grief and delivers something that’s funny and sweet.		2022 Directed by: Jason Orley Screenplay by: Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger Starring: Jenny Slate and Charlie Day

Book of Love: Movie Review

Bad characters and bad writing.

Book of Love is the type of romantic comedy you want to like more than you do. They cast Sam Claflin, and then can’t do anything else right. Henry (Claflin) is a novelist, comparing himself to E.M. Forster, but instead being met with criticism he argues against and a bookstore selling his novel at “Buy 1, Get 3”. Unbeknownst to him, his novel has been translated into Spanish and is a massive hit in Mexico, so off he goes.		2022 Directed by: Analeine Cal y Mayor Screenplay by: Analeine Cal y Major, and David Quantick Starring: Sam Claflin, Veronica Echegui