40 Below and Falling (2015) (aka: A Frosty Affair) Movie Review

40 Below and Falling (2015)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jewel Staite in 40 Below and Falling (2015) (aka: A Frosty Affair)

Navigating Alaska

It was all planned; term ended and Kate (Jewel Staite - The Christmas Ornament) was finishing her job as a teacher in a remote Canadian town, then she would fly out the next day to marry the man she has been dating just 2 days later and start a new life in the city. Trouble is that on the night before she is due to fly out there is a major snow storm preventing planes from coming in and out and all roads are blocked. It is then she has to try and persuade the less than easy to get on with Redford (Shawn Roberts - Undercover Angel) to help her get back to civilization on his snowmobile and as they embark on a little adventure she finds herself beginning to question if she is about to marry the right man.

As I've said many a time; with each passing year it feels like those who make movies for TV have worked through the same list of story ideas which they had done the year before and the year before that and so on. As such "40 Below and Falling", which is also known as "A Frosty Affair", can be quickly and easily describes as a cross between "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Forces of Nature". And for those who don't know those movies we have an adventure filled journey home where in this case the bride to be begins to fall for the stranger she is travelling with, who unintentionally causes her to question whether she is marrying the right guy for the right reasons.

Shawn Roberts in 40 Below and Falling (2015) (aka: A Frosty Affair)

Now there is nothing wrong with "40 Below and Falling" reworking familiar stories, done right a movie like this can entertain but unfortunately this only ends up ordinary at best. Everything about it is pretty routine and the stuff which isn't ends up highly telegraphed and a lot of it ends up extremely daft such as an encounter with a wild haired outdoors man. Maybe if I was a young teenager the humour in this would make me smile more but unfortunately it didn't and more often than not made me groan.

The word unfortunately is what I find myself using again when it comes to Jewel Staite and Shawn Roberts as whilst their characters are of course as chalk n cheese as "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady" were, the chemistry, that spark of attraction is just not there to make that side of the movie work.

What this all boils down to is that "40 Below and Falling" might entertain a young audience but for those who have been around the made for TV movie block a few times will find it mostly routine and lacking in anything to make it stand out from the crowd or become memorable.


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