Smooch

This is such a beautiful, magical tale of a prince turned into a frog, turned into a nanny for a very special girl who believes in fairy tales. Simin Kassandra's is perfect as the Frog Orince, as is Kiernan Shipka as Zoe the girl. Brilliant casting of those two! I like Kelly Martin, but she is usually cast into serious, unemotional roles of a mother who loves a man who died (Think about the Hallmark movie Hello It's Me). Same character portrayed here! She can't love a man other than her dead husband , finally takes off her wedding ring to move on in her life, to finally open her heart to another man. I'm glad it had the ending I was hoping for, but Kelly was still too unemotional in the end to make the final scene believable. She needs to learn how to take the seaweed out of her ass...Yes, both movies had seaweed in them, too! Otherwise, a beautiful fairy tale for all!

This movie has a whimsical aspect similar to a children's tale. Actually, it is mostly a children's tale and will probably appeal to the whole family. I don't think it's appropriate to consider it with the same criterion as a rom/com aimed at adults. There is no implied magic, but the story resembles a magical tale. The story is funny in a whimsical way. In some ways it is not a rom/com even though there is a whirlwind relationship between Flynn and Gwen. It doesn't get a lot of screen time so looking for chemistry here, or of selling the idea that the two fall in love just doesn't have a chance. The real relationship of interest is Zoe and Flynn. In a lot of ways Zoe is the star. Kiernan Shipka plays Zoe just the way she should. Not bad for a 11 year old actor if I calculate right. The movie is similar to some other movies of the same genre. The identity of the real prince is a secret. The stranger becomes the kid's nanny. This situation plods along until the reveal which is like so many other movies where the person with the secret is just about to confess. And that creates a rift. The obligatory grand gesture is what you might expect if concocted by 2 children. All of this is predictable. The story differs from anything believable in a myriad of ways, but it is a story for the whole family, not just adults.

The acting was appalling, the premise a joke and the whole thing was a waste of time. I usually like Kellie Martin but this was just embarrassing for all concerned.

I enjoyed this more than I expected given what Hollywood sometimes manages to do to English "aristocrats" in "comedies". Here we have a Marquis (Kassianides) suffering from amnesia and a young girl (beautifully played by Kiernan Shipka) who doesn't like killing frogs, is willing to believe they can turn into princes, and wants her widowed mom (Martin) to find happiness. It's a charmingly told story with witty character development and always on the light side. But.... Kellie Martin can act, and there are certain scenes in the film she handled okay, but she didn't convince me at all that there could ever be any chemistry between her and a man other than her dead husband, not ever. It irritated me to bits from the start it really did, and then I thought maybe it was part of the plot. Unfortunately it wasn't because her confinement didn't relax for a second even in the best scenes of the whole darned film. And in the meantime daughter Zoe is acting her socks off. Nick Ullett was very good as Wilkins, and young Rod Myers does well as Sam. In fact the cast do really well altogether. It's just the miserable Gwen who lets it down ever so irritatingly for me..... but still, six out of ten because chemistry is a purely personal thing!