Culture

Director: Phil Traill (1/5)

This story is a clichéd gem. Kim (Felicity Jones) is a washed up pro skateboarder who spends her time working to support her lazy yet loving father at the local fast food joint. After a casual but ‘fateful’ discussion with a co-worker, Kim interviews for and scores a job as, wait for it, a ‘chalet girl’. Suddenly Kim is swapping chips for caviar and finds herself in the Austrian Alps, working at an aristocratic family’s winter lodge.
 
Enter a cast who is probably the only reason why this movie did not go straight to DVD. Kim finds herself working alongside a blond bimbo for a family led by Love Actually star Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields. It’s refreshing to see Gossip Girl’s Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) in a ‘nice guy’ role and without the American accent as the son of the family. One Tree Hill’s Sophia Bush also makes an appearance too as Chuck Bass’ fiancée.
 
So while Kim struggles to serve the family during the nights, she spends her days learning to snowboard and before long her ski resort friends are helping her train for the snowboarding competition at the end of the season. Predictably Kim and Chuck Bass get close, despite the fiancée and disapproval and apparent hatred of Brooke Shields’ character.
 
This movie was unbelievably predictable and trashy. However, as a personal lover of a good chick flick every now and then, I must admit I enjoyed it. The ski and snowboarding shots in Austria made me desperately want to travel and a part of me couldn’t wait to get back on my skis.
 
If you’re looking for something to blob out in front of which doesn’t require much mental capacity, then this is your movie. The plot is conventional, the writing corny and the premise rather unrealistic. My recommendation? Wait till Chalet Girl comes out on DVD, have a girls’ night and swoon over Chuck Bass.