I was disappointed by this one. It aimed at the tone of Amélie, though that was stranger, brighter and far more original. But the start did catch the attention and promise something.
But barely a quarter in there were bad signs. As soon as the main characters were established it was as if the writer got bored and just jotted down some plot notes. 1. Nasty cranky neighbour suddenly softens, turns into fairy god-father. 2. Some kind of love interest with a quirky, shy but handsome bloke met by chance. 3. Fade out the interesting Irish cook side-kick in favour of love-interest but add a ridiculous Shakespearian love twist - maybe an identical twin thing. 4. Make sure all the ends are neatly tied in a bow at the finale.
Rather like the Irish cook, the only interesting female character other than the lead, an acerbic, rigid librarian, fired our heroine and vanished from the film, until a wrap-things-up shot. It might scrape past the Bechdel test on the grounds of the heroine/ librarian and a 3 line exchange - but it sure didn't pass in spirit.
I wanted to like the Bella, heroine, with her strange back story and obsessive peculiarity but she too was pruned back, all the interest snipped away. Her oddity was kept inoffensive - excessive neatness/cleanliness and a few fixed routines, nothing to jar, embarrass, frighten. She was beamed into tplace with no any apparent ties whatsoever - no girlfriends, no advisors, no contacts - but she'd rented a large house-with-garden and planned to write children's books? Why? Her terror of plants, a key part of the plot, was utterly unconvincing - she seemed disgusted at going out in a storm but choose to meet the love interest in a park. Oce the nasty neighbour made her suddenly love gardens, and the love-interest solved their little mix up, Bella's mental health issues seemed to be all resolved. That so often happens, doesn't it? This trite treatment of obsessions and phoebias to catch the initial interest as a curiosity is tiresome and patronising at best, almost dangerous at worst.
Embarrassingly I'd imposed this film on family as relief from the incessant action films. Asked what they thought my older teen said "8 at the start - 4 all the rest". Seems a fair assessment to me. Heart in the right place, but really, must try much, much harder.
I wanted to like the Bella, heroine, with her strange back story and obsessive peculiarity but she too was pruned back, all the interest snipped away. Her oddity was kept inoffensive - excessive neatness/cleanliness and a few fixed routines, nothing to jar, embarrass, frighten. She was beamed into tplace with no any apparent ties whatsoever - no girlfriends, no advisors, no contacts - but she'd rented a large house-with-garden and planned to write children's books? Why? Her terror of plants, a key part of the plot, was utterly unconvincing - she seemed disgusted at going out in a storm but choose to meet the love interest in a park. Oce the nasty neighbour made her suddenly love gardens, and the love-interest solved their little mix up, Bella's mental health issues seemed to be all resolved. That so often happens, doesn't it? This trite treatment of obsessions and phoebias to catch the initial interest as a curiosity is tiresome and patronising at best, almost dangerous at worst.
Embarrassingly I'd imposed this film on family as relief from the incessant action films. Asked what they thought my older teen said "8 at the start - 4 all the rest". Seems a fair assessment to me. Heart in the right place, but really, must try much, much harder.