Dir. Phil Traill, UK/Germany/Austria, 2010, 96 mins
Cast: Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Tamsin Egerton, Bill Nighy, Brooke Shields, Bill Bailey
Review by Carlie Newman
It is good to see a predominantly British film that has no pretensions to be anything other than a straightforward comedy with a romance thrown in. The cast and director of Chalet Girl ensure that you get what is promised. Nineteen year-old Kim Matthews (Jones) is working in a fast food restaurant to support her very depressed father (Bailey). He has not been able to recover from the death of his wife in a car crash as they drove back from a skateboarding competition in which Kim was competing. Kim has been forced to give up her skating ambition to concentrate on earning money to pay off the family’s debts. When she is offered the chance to become a chalet girl in the beautiful ski resort of St. Anton, Austria she jumps at the chance.
A glamorous chalet girl, Georgie (Egerton) with a lot of experience collects Kim from the station and somewhat bitchily explains the ‘rules’ of being a chalet girl. In fact, she leaves Kim to do most of the work for the Madsen family (who arrive by private jet): successful banker Richard (Nighy), his American wife Caroline (Shields), their good-looking son Jonny (Westwick), wealthy girlfriend Chloe (Sophia Bush) and her brother. Out of her depth with the work and the prosperous clients, Kim finds herself falling for Jonny, the boss’ son, against the very obvious wishes of his girlfriend and mother, who are about to push Jonny into becoming engaged to Chloe. Kim also discovers that she has a real talent for snowboarding and enters a prestigious competition with a large money prize.
Felicity Jones is already making a name for herself and here she shows good comic timing. Jones works well with Egerton as the posh Georgie who fits in better with the affluent life-style of the participants in the expensive skiing scene. Westwick brings the right combination of American smartness and care for others, as he shows his sympathy for Kim’s many blunders around the chalet, such as not knowing how to open a bottle of champagne properly. Laid-back Nighy plays his part in a… well, laid-back manner and Shields manages to be bitchy and attractive at the same time. A well-written script by Tom Williams and a cast of good British and American actors combined with a light touch by the director make this into a most enjoyable romp. The lively music tracks contribute to the upbeat tempo. It is not quite in the Bridget Jones category but it makes a jolly night out at the cinema.
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