Fate Takes a Hand

I wasn’t going to review this because the setup is so complicated that it would take me a page to explain it. Skipping some things, Jessica, a doctoral candidate working on her dissertation, is given a free ticket to Norway by a total stranger because he spilled coffee on her and he sees a troll statue on her desk from his hometown of Bergen. No questions, please. Actually, she is a doctoral student NOT working on her dissertation throughout the whole movie. In fact, the only reason why she accepted the ticket is because her mentor told her he would not give her still another extension (her third) unless she went. Not exactly a go-getter, this one. But she is recovering from the death of her beloved Grandmother who gave her the troll.  

While there in Norway, the viewer is treated to Henrik’s warm and wonderful family, beautiful scenery, a tour of Bergen, and immersion in Norwegian food (licorice with salt on it? Ick.), customs and Christmas traditions. Also the Norwegian personality: Don’t say a friendly hello to anyone you don’t know. Ignore everybody. The Norwegian part is the best part of this movie. That is besides Henrik, played by David Elsendoorn, who is adorable and nice. He mysteriously has a limp and does not have a job. People are always jostling him on the street and giving him mean stares. He also has an absolutely charming af grandmother who steals every scene she is in.  Jessica’s mission while there in Norway (besides not working on her dissertation) is to find the history behind her troll. She is disturbed that her Grandmother spent some time in Bergen and never told her about it. Why couldn’t Grandma have had a troll that originally was carved in Bergen without actually going to Bergen? It doesn’t occur to Jessica that maybe she bought the troll at World Market? When Jessica finally finds who carved the troll and why it was so treasured by her grandmother she also  learns that she is not alone in the world now after all. For some reason this makes her upset and crying and she runs away followed adorably by Henrik. But it turns out that she was just being a Drama Queen. She really is happy and a touching and heartwarming ending is not far behind. Also Henrik gets a job. Despite some really good things in this one there were just too many happy coincidences for my taste. Of course these unlikely flukes are called “fate” and “destiny”so that makes it OK, I guess.