Fridae

In Chalet Girl, Felicity Jones plays a former youth sports champion who, after the death of her mother, hangs up her skateboard and dons an apron in a fast food franchise to put her clinically depressed dad and herself through the rest of their sad lives. Except that fate intervenes by upgrading her to a housekeep in an Austrian skiing resort for the rich, where she will inevitably pick up a new sport as well as snag a rich but caring boyfriend.

It’s such a no-brainer of a film that one almost forgets how first-time director Phil Traill is juggling several film genres in Chalet Girl all at once without dropping the ball. It’s a sports underdog film that doesn’t play like a typical underdog film (no training sequences where Felicity Jones carries a huge dog while snowboarding in the morning!), a romcom where the female lead doesn’t go on a manhunt or set about falling in love, a fish out of water comedy whose protagonist adjusts to foreign life without the predictable situation comedy, and an upstairs/downstairs comedy that doesn’t pick on class differences but rather makes good-natured jibes at the loveable and zany upper class twits of England.

Given how various genres are thrown together in Chalet Girl, it’s actually a wonder how easy it plays on screen. Credit should be given to the direction and screenplay, as well as an ensemble cast whose efforts keep the film coasting effortlessly through the air. Here, Felicity Jones proves she can front a film, while Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields take turns stealing scenes with their comic delivery and timing.

Easygoing, silly, and fun, Chalet Girl is ideal if you want to be entertained without feeling stupid.