"It's actually a really heartwarming story of how different your life can be if you take a chance and go for it..."

Chalet Girl is your classic don't judge a book by it's cover rom com. Much like my review and initial expectations for No Strings Attached, I was frankly a bit depressed when I saw the Chalet Girl poster, to be honest it looked like an advert for the photo stories they used to have in my teen magazines when I was fifteen. However I was pleasantly surprised with this British romantic comedy. Ok, so as usual in a British film, there were more stereotypes than you could shake a ski pole at, but the humour was surprisingly spot on and very funny.

Chalet Girl follows Kim, a typical no nonsense working class girl with a wicked sense of humour, who after her Mother dies, has her world ripped apart along with her skateboarding championship dreams, resulting in her dead end fast food job and having to encourage her lovely but hopeless Dad (Bill Bailey) to eat more than beans on toast three times a day.

A chance interview (with a superb Jessica Hynes in an unusually posh role) leads to a last minute offer as a chalet girl. In a sort of My Fair Lady moment, where Kim has to prove she can lay an exquisite dining room table and carry posh glasses (she can't) Kim ends up being the last person qualified for the job. However she lands in the Alps completely unprepared and subject to ridicule from the other rah rah chalet girls, complete with perfect snow bunny outfits, fur hats, expensive ski's and a sickeningly great professional bond with the owners of the Chalet, the Masden Family, played by a brilliant Bill Nighy and a cold, bitchy Brook Shields. However much to Kim's delight, they bring with them their gorgeous son Jonny (Ed Westwick) who soon catches Kim's eye and visa versa and things start to look up. Ed Westwick is perfect as the charming and desirable Jonny, and plays the gorgeous but grounded posh boy to a T, and will no doubt have the girls queuing at the cinema door and round the corner.

However Chalet Girl isn't as predictable as it sounds, and the pace is fairly slow as we watch Kim eventually bring the rah girls round, make friends and learn to snowboard. It's actually a really heartwarming story of how different your life can be if you take a chance and go for it. Felicity Jones is really refreshing as a spirited but sensible hard working girl, proving that brains and personality win over looks every time, and her down to earth attitude and sarcastic sense of humour win a place in Jonny's hearts as well as our own.

Chalet Girl is also littered with other memorable characters, who are really well developed and likable, including her snowboarding guru teacher, who starts off as just a random guy she meets on the slopes. Chalet Girl gives you the warm feeling of a community in the snowy Alps, where anything can happen, and made me want to pack my rucksack, hit the slopes, and make loads of new friends, and if I meet a Jonny, all the better.

CHALET GIRL HITS UK CINEMAS ON MARCH THE 16TH 2011

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