A One Mann’s Movies review of “Find Me Falling” (2024).
A brief weekend respite from the LFF finds me curled up on the sofa with the illustrious Mrs Movie Man to watch this romantic offering from Netflix. It is so romance-by-numbers that I feel somewhat ashamed I never saw a twist coming!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
John Allman (Harry Connick Jr.) is a washed up rock star who has retreated to a cliff-top house in Cyprus to lick his wounds. Unfortunately, the cliff is well known in Cyprus (and beyond) as a place to effectively end it all.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: TV-MA. (From the BBFC web site: “Suicide”.)
Talent:
Starring: Harry Connick Jr., Agni Scott, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Tony Demetriou, Angeliki Filipidou, Lea Maleni, Athina Roditou.
Directed by: Stelana Kliris.
Written by: Stelana Kliris.
Running Time: 1h 33m.
“Find Me Falling” Summary:
Positives:
- Full of Cypriot warmth and charm.
- Ali Fumiko Whitney is a charming actress with a beautiful singing voice.
- There’s a neat twist I didn’t see coming.
Negatives:
- Harry Connick Jr is a bit on the wooden side.
- The plot is not taxing to follow!
Review of “Find Me Falling”:
Oh, no… don’t tell me it’s her!
There’s not many rom-coms that start with a suicide, but this one does. But then we get into more of the ‘rommy’ stuff. The first female we see is a girl on a scooter. I said “Eh up, here comes the love interest!” Then she takes off her helmet and I find it is Ali Fumiko Whitney playing Melina who must be playing all of 25 in the film (the actress is actually 29). I went “No, surely not”, as I imagined the 57 year old Connick Jr. looming over her in bed. Fortunately, at the first hint of any such suggestion, Melina goes “Ugh, gross”. It turns out the love interest is elsewhere in the form of the (slightly more age-appropriate) Sia (Agni Scott, who is 44). Sia is the cute local doctor.
Hits all the romantic beats.
The subsequent story unfurls in predictable fashion of boy meets girl, boy pisses off girl, boy regains girl. It’s all quaint and sweet (almost too sacharine in places) with some colourful local characters who are entertaining to watch. I enjoyed ‘Granny’ (sorry, I can’t work out who played her) who already has her bag packed for the great beyond. She gets very annoyed as God keeps sparing her!
It’s all largely very predictable. However, there is a twist in the story that I didn’t see coming but really should have! We also get dealt an extra, and very welcome, element of storyline as a distraught young Anna (Athina Roditou) turns up on the clifftop.
The players
Everyone is ‘fine’, although Harry Connick Jr., who I’ve never found to be ‘Mr Personality’ in movies however good a singer he is, I found particularly wooden in some of the scenes here.
The ‘find’ of the film for me though is Ali Fumiko Whitney who is delightful in the role and has a superb singing voice: she sings a number of songs throughout including the title track, “Find Me Falling”, with Connick Jr. over the end titles.
Summary Thoughts on “Find Me Falling”
It’s a sunny, harmless slice of rom-com (more rom than com it has to be said) that flows through your senses harmlessly enough. The illustrious Mrs Movie Man summed it up by saying it was ‘fine’ but a film that you say “Thank God it’s over” when it finishes! If you’re thinking that doesn’t sound like a 2.5 star film, I would tend to agree with you… but I think it is a solidly made romantic flick by South African/Cypriot Stelana Kliris and one in general that I think the ‘Barbara Cartland crowd’ will enjoy.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Find Me Falling”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56DuFZX9cuE .
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