Cheese is Life. Apparently.

This is about a lady who flees America, the land of bad cheese,  to Paris, the land of good cheese. And through her love of cheese, she finds her true self and what she wants out of life. So if you love cheese and enjoy movies set in Paris, you will love this one. I like both, but then, I don’t think American cheese is so bad either. Bethany Joy Lenz stars in this and that is always a big plus. But boy, her character, Ella, really really likes cheese!

After a disappointment at work involving cheese, believe it or not, Ella decides she needs a vacation. She had created a dish for the chain restaurant she works for using a good quality specialty cheese, and they used a cheap substitute. Also, she didn’t get her well-deserved promotion, the higher-ups stole her ideas, and her mother is pressuring her to buy a condo and freeze her eggs. It is all too much. She remembers Paris with fondness where she visited with her father after college, picnicked on the Seine, and where her life was changed by eating Comté cheese. Off she goes. Her first stop is a Fromagerie (what else?) where she meets the owner, the very handsome but grumpy Serge. She also makes friends with her landlady, the wealthy and charming Clotilde, with whom she shares her gorgeous apartment. And she meets Gaston, a handsome food critic with a reputation for being a player, who is slender, elegant, flirty, and dresses very french, all in black with tight rolled up pants and no socks.  She immerses herself in Paris life and makes lots of friends because she is BJL and everyone likes her despite her atrocious French. She also gets to know Serge who sells her cheese on a daily basis. One thing leads to another and Ella decides to quit her job and extend her stay in Paris for 3 months. Her mother is very dismayed by this, because she misses her daughter and thinks she is living in a fantasy world. Also, $ $ $ $ $ ? She is not wrong. Serge is expanding his cheese store and needs help. Ella offers her assistance as an intern, unpaid, except for 5 pieces of cheese a day and Serge’s personal tutelage about the beloved dairy product.

Meanwhile, things are heating up romance-wise with both the slippery handsome Gaston and grumpy masculine Serge. We kind of know who she is going to end up with because Serge is challenging, rugged, and attractive and Gaston is a little too French. And when Ella finds out that he isn’t a big cheese fan, it kind of seals the deal. He even buys her a bottle of Chanel No. 5 because he thinks she smells too much like cheese! Rudest Present Ever! In the end, Ella gets the type of visa that allows her to work for money, Serge gives her a real job, she stays in Paris with all of her friends and the life she loves, and her mom will visit her from America. A lot. Ella and the cheesemonger have a promising future together because their love will age and mature like a fine Cheddar. I paraphrase a real line from the movie.

This one was just “pretty good” for me. It did not meet my expectations because I always hold Bethany Joy to a high bar, she is just so good. She didn’t quite hit it with this one. All of the cheese and cheese metaphors got a little much at times. But a big plus was Stanley Weber, who played Serge. For such a romantic-looking guy, he has a very unromantic name. But anyway, the two made a great couple. Sometimes BJL’s co-leads just can’t quite measure up to her charisma and talent. The set decoration, ambiance, and Paris photography (lots of montages) were marvelous, and Bethany’s wardrobe was fabulous as usual. She must have a special rider on her contracts with Hallmark so that she can pick out her own clothes and accessories because they always have lots of pizzazz. It has become kind of her signature, in my opinion.