Teen Hallmark Fun
Young Zoe Cole (Kiernan Shipka) can't bring herself to dissect a fog in science class so puts it in a box and takes it down to the Golden Gate Park with a plan of releasing it. But when the frog jumps away and then she finds a man where the frog leapt to she believes it has miraculously turned in to a prince. She isn't far wrong as the man she finds is in fact Prince Percy (Simon Kassianides) who is in America for an arranged marriage although miserable at the thought led to him getting drunk and ending up being mugged in the park. The thing is that Percy is suffering from amnesia and so she tells her widowed mother Gwen (Kellie Martin) that he is a nanny and she should hire him. Things become complicated when not only does the Prince fall for Gwen but his family search like crazy for him as he has a marriage to go through.
Whilst most of the Hallmark Channel movies I have watched have been aimed at a more grown up audience I would say "Smooch" is very much aimed at a younger audience with the character of Zoe playing a prominent part in the story as it is through her love of fairytales that we have this play on the classic Frog Prince Tale. And I reckon that maybe if I was 30 years younger or more I might this cute little romantic comedy quite entertaining in that sort of pantomime kind of way.
But it has been many years since this sort of cute romantic comedy did a great deal for me and prefer my Hallmark movies to be more charming than cute. As such despite this featuring Kellie Martin, who has some funny scenes, I have to say that "Smooch" did next to nothing for me with the sort of humour, including a dress up montage, which made me groan more than laugh.
What this all boils down to is that "Smooch" may still have the potential to amuse young teens with its cute romantic comedy and fairytale themed storyline but for those who watch Hallmark movies for their charm this one might not be the warm experience you were hoping for.
