Fancy-free

I’ve had a generally positive impression of Mallory Jansen as a Hallmark leading lady. She is very pretty but not in a beauty pageant way. As I have mentioned before, she reminds me a little of Audrey Hepburn, and that is certainly a good thing.  She is credible as the typical Hallmark mid-thirties single woman dealing with life and professional issues that age-group is concerned with. Possibly because she is actually in her mid-thirties. Unfortunately, although she settled down in the middle, she was very annoying at the beginning and at the end of this movie. The character she played was partially to blame of course, but let’s just say the actress gave it her all and that increased my irritation. It was a valid decision for the character, but yikes. Luckily, I liked her love interest, played by Australian actor Ryan Corr. He reminded me of Gerard Butler. The two made a good couple after she calmed down.

Georgie, cheesily called “Georgie Girl” throughout (and yes, we have the song) is a Travel Journalist who is known for writing about her 24 hour whirlwind vacations in random cities throughout the United States. This matches her personality. She is always in a rush, her life ruled by her watch, schedules, and lists. She  fancies herself as efficient, but is always on the edge of disaster, dropping papers, barely making deadlines, stepping out in the middle of roads and almost getting herself runover, etc. The expression on her face is always either very worried or panic-stricken. Her caring boss, perhaps recognizing that she is possibly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, gives her a new type of assignment: Spending a whole week in Melbourne Australia where she is to stop and smell the flowers as well as the deadly snakes, sharks, and insects. He doesn’t want her typical piece concentrating on the usual sights and tourist attractions, but wants her to immerse herself in the culture and get to know the people and the Melbourne that the locals know and love. Of course she only packs her usual carry-on because checking luggage is “such a time-waster.” Cue the Hallmark bottomless carry-on.

In Melbourne, her driver is late which doesn’t exactly calm her down (she assaults a vending machine in her frustration) and when he finally shows up he informs her that it is 7:30 in the morning which she didn’t know before despite her obsession with time. She decides to tackle the first thing on her list, which, true to form, is the typical tourist destination that her boss told her to avoid. Luckily, her driver, who is the Gerard Butler character, has other ideas and takes her to visit some impressive street art and a great coffee shop not on her list. She is no dummy and realizes that this knowledgeable Melburnian is just the person to be her unofficial tour guide to the Melbourne of the locals per her bosses directive.

The middle part of the movie isn’t bad at all. It consists  of Georgie calming down thanks to Zach the travel guide and we are treated to the sights, sounds, food (Vegemite!) and people of Melbourne Australia. We learn Zach’s back story. The chauffeur service is his Dad’s and he was just helping out temporarily. He is currently in construction but was recently a famous, now retired, Australian Rules Football player (there needs to be a shorter name for that sport) and even still is quite the celebrity. He had blown out his Achilles and he is sad and a little at loose ends, career-wise. They fall in love while going around Melbourne and especially on a day trip to his little hometown down the coast. There, she meets Zach’s Dad and his best friends, a married couple expecting, at long last, their first baby. Everyone has wise words for her. Unfortunately this interlude is shattered by her New York office finally getting in touch with her (bad cell service in the little town) and informing her that she is scheduled for an important TV interview on National TV that very night to discuss her article that she hasn’t even started yet(!). Surprise! “Where have you been!…Get back to Melbourne, ASAP!!!!!!!” Of course this causes her to revert back to her old annoying self and frenetic ways, and harsh words are said between her and Zach, who is to blame (apparently) for her not finishing her writing assignment and getting her off track. Fun fact. The TV interview host is Dannii Minogue who is a real TV personality and sister of Kylie Minogue. But Georgie is back to panic-mode and the all-important-to-her-career interview and her relationship with Zach is headed for disaster until it’s not. At least the relationship, anyway.

So, for me, this was a pretty good Hallmark whose main character had a lot to learn, seemingly learned it, but reverted back to type when faced with a little adversity before she finally saw the light once and for all (hopefully.) Unfortunately I took issue with her behavior after she finally saw the light in the middle of the nationally televised interview. Native Australian Malory Jansen wrote and produced this movie as a tribute to her home town of Melbourne. As such, she did a very credible job. It was filmed on location and Melbourne seems like a really cool and fun town. Despite hitting all of the usual Hallmark beats I liked the message. One of the reasons Georgie was the way she was is that it took her a long time to find out what she wanted to do with her life and feels like she is always playing catch up with her peers. Zach teaches her to quit measuring herself against other people and “run her own race”. Where you are is where you are supposed to be. The writing was not brilliant but just fine. The dialogue was good. And of course the scenery was great and helped to keep me engaged.