Considering this movie had the unbelievably festive city of Vienna as its backdrop, it's baffling how bland it ended up being. The setting is stunning (if you've been to Vienna before, it will make you reminisce, and if you want to go, it will encourage you to do so) and the movie gets credit where credit is due for truly hitting all the most beautiful spots in Vienna, but all aspects outside of the location completely lacked. The chemistry isn't there, the acting of some of the side characters is truly atrocious, and the conflict is annoying at best.
The relationship between Jess and Mark did not draw me in at all. A lot of the reviewers are really hitting hard at Brennan Elliott's acting, but I didn't find him any worse than Sarah Drew - both of them were very much average in their abilities (and that's not mentioning Sarah Drew's blatantly fake violin playing). The real problem is that together, they just don't have any spark whatsoever. Not helping the matter are their strained initial meetings, like when Jess asks him to dance the second time she sees him and he awkwardly rejects her, creating a weird speed bump in their chemistry that really didn't need to be there at all.
Then came the unrealistically perfect relationship Jess proceeds to have with Mark's family. She meets his kids once and all of them immediately take to her, more than happy to spend time with her and confide in her. The worst offender here is easily Mark's youngest child, whose acting is so stiff and terrible that it frequently took me out of the story. I realize she's a very young child, but Hallmark really has more talented kids to choose from who actually bother to show emotion.
The third nail in the movie's coffin came with the conflict of Mark potentially leaving Vienna because of his work, a conflict I found more irritating than anything else. The movie obviously tries to nudge the audience to side with Jess when she pushes Mark to completely ignore the ambitions he has for his career and stay in Vienna for the sake of his kids, and this was something I couldn't get over. As far as kids go, they're living a pretty privileged life, what with living in luxurious mansions in some of the most beautiful cities in the world while their father works a presitigious and steady job, but Jess acts as if relocating to Zurich (yet another beautiful city) is such a hardship.
And lastly, my spectrum for humor is pretty tolerant, jokes about how the German language sounds more "like sneezing" than real words are not just tired jokes, but from my perspective as a German, they're also not very funny. It's honestly just rude to make fun of any language (let alone one you don't even understand).
The relationship between Jess and Mark did not draw me in at all. A lot of the reviewers are really hitting hard at Brennan Elliott's acting, but I didn't find him any worse than Sarah Drew - both of them were very much average in their abilities (and that's not mentioning Sarah Drew's blatantly fake violin playing). The real problem is that together, they just don't have any spark whatsoever. Not helping the matter are their strained initial meetings, like when Jess asks him to dance the second time she sees him and he awkwardly rejects her, creating a weird speed bump in their chemistry that really didn't need to be there at all.
Then came the unrealistically perfect relationship Jess proceeds to have with Mark's family. She meets his kids once and all of them immediately take to her, more than happy to spend time with her and confide in her. The worst offender here is easily Mark's youngest child, whose acting is so stiff and terrible that it frequently took me out of the story. I realize she's a very young child, but Hallmark really has more talented kids to choose from who actually bother to show emotion.
The third nail in the movie's coffin came with the conflict of Mark potentially leaving Vienna because of his work, a conflict I found more irritating than anything else. The movie obviously tries to nudge the audience to side with Jess when she pushes Mark to completely ignore the ambitions he has for his career and stay in Vienna for the sake of his kids, and this was something I couldn't get over. As far as kids go, they're living a pretty privileged life, what with living in luxurious mansions in some of the most beautiful cities in the world while their father works a presitigious and steady job, but Jess acts as if relocating to Zurich (yet another beautiful city) is such a hardship.
And lastly, my spectrum for humor is pretty tolerant, jokes about how the German language sounds more "like sneezing" than real words are not just tired jokes, but from my perspective as a German, they're also not very funny. It's honestly just rude to make fun of any language (let alone one you don't even understand).