Yet another movie in Hallmark's Winterfest that delivers amazing views, picturesque snowy scenes, and gorgeous mountain shots---but fails to deliver much else.
Ke$ha-lookalike Alex is a copy editor longing to break into the world of writing, and is sent on assignment by her boss to tackle extreme sports. She is a complete novice, but not in a way that is at all endearing, considering that she has done absolutely zero research ahead of time and arrives with inappropriate clothing for the occasion and has zero clue what equipment to use. She turns to her love interest, photographer Cole, who somehow manages to keep his business afloat even though he does little more than run a website and a hut full of his photographs that's near the ski resort that Alex is staying in, and has eschewed all forms of social media as means of advertising. Somehow, this has given him the illustrious title of being an elusive, interesting focal point for an article, never mind that were this at all realistic, no reader would turn heads for a photographer who has virtually no online presence and longs to stay as quiet and unpopular as possible with his work. Still, Alex's boss, upon learning that she has inadvertently tracked Cole down, demands that she worm him into the article.
Before all this can come to a head, however, Alex must first convince Cole, who is the only available person in the entire resort, to teach her extreme winter sports. He is reluctant, but soon agrees. One would think that this would encourage Alex to be accomodating and open-minded, but she proceeds to whine and complain at every turn, whether it be about proper winter clothing, crossing bridges, or partaking in literally any winter sports whatsoever, never mind that this was the entire point. No worries, though, because soon she will be clamoring her boyfriend to take her heli-skiing, because a few days on the prowl with Cole has changed her entire being. There were several points in the movie when I had to vocally announce my complete disbelief that whoever wrote this screenplay has any idea what a fear of heights actually looks like, because Alex, who is presented to us as someone too terrified to even try a zipline without five minutes worth of coaxing, suddenly squeals in delight as she soars over treetops (rather than, say, shut her eyes and pray for it to be over). She does such a complete 180 that it's impossible to take her as a character seriously.
To add fuel to the fire, Alex has a Ken-doll boyfriend waiting for her back home who comes at exactly the right moment to ruin everything. Cole, although reluctant to help Alex at the beginning, soon takes every opportunity to spend all the time he can with her, from lunches together, to shopping for clothes, to dancing in a country bar with her, and all this building romance of course has to be popped by Alex's boyfriend making an appearance. His presence (and entire existence in the movie) is pointless, and his misplaced proposal ends very blandly, with him admitting to her with no semblance of emotion in his voice, after her rejection, that he agrees that they're on separate paths. He leaves never to be seen again. Since this movie is built on the premise that the employee who writes the most compelling article at Alex's company wins a first-class ticket to the city of their choice, I would have much preferred to see the role of Alex's boyfriend be replaced with a competitive coworker aching for the same prize and therefore urging Alex along in her goal.
After believing himself to be a pawn in Alex's road to writing glory, Cole ends all relations with Alex. This does not stop him, however, from plastering up humongous photographs of Alex enjoying the winter sports he introduced her to up in his photography hut. The pictures are a hit, never mind that they look like the generic photography that one would find in a frame from a dollar store and then promptly remove because you don't know who the person pictured is. Alex is similarly heartbroken when she returns home, but lucky for her, her workday begins later than everybody else's, allowing her to sift through old childhood memories while everybody else is already busy at work. Her article wins the coveted prize of a paid plane ticket, although what we see of this article is nothing more than an opening paragraph riddled with meaningless fluff words about how she learned to fly, etc, etc, and gives us very little clue as to what she did actually learn on this grand adventure.
Both leads had little chemistry, although this could easily be chalked up to inexperienced acting. It was hard to believe that Cole, after first regarding Alex so coolly, wanted to spend as much time with as he did, just as it was equally hard to believe that Alex went from someone who struggled to hike up a cleared, straightforward path on a mountain, transformed into an adrenaline junkie. Once the believability factor was diminished, it was hard to get back into the storyline.
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