An avalanche plot

In past reviews I’ve said that a British comedy is always funny, fresh and well worth watching ... but this film is so far off the mark I’m willing to concede that there are exceptions to any rule.

Despite an impressive cast of stars, the film still fails to shine. Perhaps the reason I wasn’t entertained is because I’m a 27-year-old man and Chalet Girl was ostensibly made to provide background noise at a teenage girl’s slumber party.

If I had to describe this movie in just four words (without the use of profanity) I’d say ‘Cinderella in the Alps’, but with such a transparent plot it snowballs into an avalanche of predictability.

After her mother is killed in a car accident, Kim (Jones) settles in to a life of customer service while spending her spare time helping her father (Bailey) with daily chores that he’s either too lazy, or too injured, to do himself.

Kim’s luck turns around when she gets wind of a job as a chalet girl at an exclusive resort in Austria, catering for the whims of the rich and beautiful.  She goes for the interview and has to compete with a bunch of girls with names like Arabella, Isabella and an assortment of other posh sounding names with ‘bella’ at the end.

Surprisingly, she gets the job and after preparing six months worth of frozen dinners for dear old dad, she packs her bag and heads for Austria in the hope of sending money back home.

When she arrives, she’s met by the pretty but mean-spirited Georgie (Tamsin Egerton) who is just as spoiled and stuck up as the girls were at the interview stage ... but at least she isn’t called Bella!

She show’s Kim the ropes (begrudgingly) and then leaves her to her own devices, which results in a really bored Kim taking to the slopes in her spare time because she has nothing better to do.

Despite being a total novice, Kim quickly discovers she has a talent for snowboarding, thanks in no small part to a Swedish snowboarding guru, Micky, who takes her under his wing and teaches her the finer points of the sport.

Meanwhile, in the chalet itself, which is home to industrialist Richard (Nighy), wife Caroline (Brooke Shields), and son Jonny (Ed Westwick), Kim quickly learns her place in the household dynamic.

After making some new friends (including the once hostile Georgie, who suddenly becomes perfectly affable for no apparent reason) and shedding her homesickness, Kim soon captures Jonny’s attention.

This wouldn’t be so bad if Jonny wasn’t already engaged to Chloe, a nice girl with whom he has little in common but sticks with to placate his mother.

After causing some damage to the chalet during an ill-timed party, Kim owes the family some money for damages and the only way to pay them back is by taking part in the annual snowboarding tournament ... but is she ready for the big time?

My biggest problem with the film is that there is a blatantly obvious culture clash scenario which would result in comedy gold, but, sadly, this theme is dismissed in favour of cramming in a heap more clips of Jones’ stunt double tackling the snow. This results in a plot which is rockier than the climate in which the film is set.

There are a few funny moments but not nearly enough to distract from the tedium and predictability of the story. Jones gives a passable performance in her quirky role and does her best to hold the audience’s interest when the script fails to.

Also, according to my girlfriend, Ed Westwick is ‘mega’ in US TV show Gossip Girl but didn’t really come into his own in this film. So, there you have it, despite picking the movie and making me watch it, even she didn’t like Chalet Girl!