'THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY'......NETFLIX'S COSTUMED HALLMARK MOVIE...

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)    We don't want to end up sounding too snarky about this movie.........an ambitiously rendered period romance that takes place in post-World War 2, 1946 England.

                It's perfectly sweet, cozy, comforting and adorable.........you couldn't ask for a better movie to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon........

                 In fact, what it really reminded us of.......a smooth hybrid of a 'Masterpiece Theater' BBC offering and a Hallmark Channel Movie.
     

                  Our plucky, indescribably cute novelist (Lily James) travels to Guernsey, one of the English Channel islands that suffered Nazi occupation. Once there, she finds herself entranced by the tragic romances and mysteries that surround the quirky group who form that titular Society........a book club the group made up on the spot during the war........to avoid the Nazis arresting them for staggering around drunk after curfew.

                   In between flashbacks that reveal a sad tale of wartime sacrifice and doomed love, plucky Lily finds herself in a Guernsey romance of her own.......with a shy, humble but ever so sexy Literary And Potato Peel Pie society member. (Michiel Huisman). (In this movie, her defenses get peeled along the the potatoes....)

                 But wait!

                 What's a British girl to do when she's been proposed to, Hallmark Channel Style, by a smooth, slick, dashing American hunk (Glen Powell, taking on the most thankless role any actor can play).....gifting her with an engagement ring that looks like a jumbo, precious artifact that Indiana Jones might consider searching for instead of the Lost Ark.

                 Anyone who's spent any amount of time with a typical Hallmark Channel romance can figure out the resolution to this in about 1/4 of a millisecond........

                 Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Glen Powell, stuck with the inevitable role of Guy Who's Destined To Be Kicked To The Curb Just Before The End Of The Movie.

                 But since this film is so much classier and better written and directed than your run-of-the-mill Hallmark movie, Powell enjoys a far better kiss-off scene than all those other Rejected Hunks.

                  Our only regret with this movie........watching it in the midst of humid, rainy late Summer.. It's designed more for crisp Autumn or Winter nights, with frost on the windows and a cup of hot chocolate warming in your hands.......at the mere thought of that (and the presence in the film of the great, great Tom Courtenay, who we've been watching forever), we'll peel off 3 stars (***) for "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"

                    They don't come any cozier than this.