Phil Trail's movie is an obvious crowd-pleaser that relies too heavily on staged, sitcom style humour and stereotypical characters that not even Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields can save. But Jones keeps it watchable and deservedly looks set to use it as a springboard to much greater things.
The outlook’s grey: tatty production values, clichéd backstory (dead mum, crippled confidence), no laughs. But it’s steered to success – just – by Jones, a natural, likeable everygirl who will make you care, possibly against your will, about a story as old as the Alps.
If you are over 15, you may already be rolling your eyes, but we know who this frothy romcom is really supposed to appeal to, and it will.
It’s about as deep and meaningful as a teen magazine photo-story and just as predictable.
Amiable, silly, feelgood stuff, destined to do nicely on DVD.
This is perfectly acceptable fluff that’s sweet, engaging and amusing, if hardly challenging.
It's a silly bit of fluff.
Fluffy British romcom.
Chalet Girl becomes a sort of goofy celebration of female self-empowerment, one in which the standard romcom goal of scoring a dreamy boyfriend takes a back seat to finding yourself through being good at something exciting.
Chalet Girl could certainly be funnier and more surprising but it knows its audience, is very well cast and is a lot cheaper than a ticket to the Alps.
Somehow, it ends up slaloming along just fine, and Tamsin Egerton continues to corner the market in Sloaney hauteur with extra hot sauce.
It's all very third division école de Richard Curtis.
Chalet girl: the real story
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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