Stranded in Paradise (2014)

Literally half the movie was one disaster after another for Tess. I don't watch these movies to spend half of the time being depressed. What made it more depressing is that the disasters were not the usual overdone parody of bad luck, but you could actually see them happening. Except for the cellphone. This is a common plot device, but leaving your cellphone on a taxi seat seems idiotic to me, especially for a woman who is supposed to be so detail oriented and organized. That's just it. I couldn't buy it that this woman was supposedly so successful and suddenly became completely inept. She whined, albeit briefly each time a new one hit her. She was so uptight, nervous, and overly fearful, especially about the hurricane. She was a totally unlikable leading lady. And don't even start about mom. Why would either one of them fall for the other? Except for the Bambo dance and a walk though the island, there was no connection. She was a basket-case and he was just a boring vagabond. Both actors were stiff. I was shocked when they started dancing in the square because it just didn't fit either one of them. Through the entire movie there were only a few short minutes of any kind of joy.

I really think this is an awful movie. It could have been a blockbuster but with that main actress and that direction it is a total failure. All through the movie I kept thinking that this should have probably been much better with Sandra Bullocks or someone else who has the feeling for timing and that kind of stuff that they do when they act. But it's not only about the actress, it also have to be about the direction or the cut of the movie - they totally miss the timing of all the emotional punches, if you get what I mean. I'm really disappointed, since I think that James Denton is a good actor, but with Vanessa Marcil and director Bert Kish it is a total disaster.

A good escapism romance, a virtual vacation where you just sit back, turn off the brain and watch a woman with good hair and nice power suits have the worst day ever. You don't have to think too hard here (and shouldn't) as the plot takes you to sunny Puerto Rico with a cute story, a few laughs and a charming male lead.The story follows a suddenly unemployed executive who tries to land a new job at an HR convention in Puerto Rico. After several smaller disasters a hurricane shuts down the island and a fire puts her out of her hotel, all into the orbit of a handsome fellow traveller.I liked both of the leads here; decent acting and nice chemistry from James Denton and Vanessa Marcil. I also have to admit to getting a certain amount of pleasure watching Tess have the worst day ever, whatever could go wrong did for her. There were some entertaining secondary characters here too; the Basil Fawlty-ish hotel concierge and I also liked the old lady with her bits of life wisdom. The storm scene was poorly done but I was still satisfied. 4/5/15 *Vancouver B.C as Denver FYI- This has been based on a Christian fiction book. The source is irrelevant though as the movie bears no religious undertones except that it is very clean, with just one kiss towards the end.

My husband and I watched this last night as it seemed a harmless bit of fluff and there was nothing else on. Ended up really enjoying it...not for the movie itself, which is barely average, but because once we started noticing the continuity errors (such as setting off for a destination in the middle of the night and arriving in broad daylight...We are talking Puerto Rico here!)we spent the rest of the movie cracking up over them. Especially during the "hurricane" segment where they were boarding up windows in preparation, but sitting next to a window with open shutters during the height of the storm. The more you start looking, the more things are just all sorts of wrong, to the point that that alone is worth the watch.Also, the hotel manager was an almost perfect amalgam of Basil Fawlty and the waiter Manuel, which had to be purposeful casting.