abcj-2 I'm sure I'm biased because I've been watching Kiernan Shipka since the beginning days of "Mad Men". The last time I saw her interviewed, she said she wasn't even able to watch herself on the series due to the adult content. Kudos to her parents for that decision! "Smooch" is the perfect vehicle for Kiernan to have fun being a clever but still innocent "tween" in a family film with a "G" rating on the Hallmark channel. It really doesn't get anymore apple pie than this. I'm glad this cute little actress could actually watch one of her own performances all the way through.Kiernan is precious as a huge fan of the fictional "Blue Moon" frog prince series and as she is throwing herself out there for all to see the tween angst that 7th graders go through (I used to teach 7th grade and that part really wasn't exaggerated much). The subplot of her Valentine crush is typical for girls her age and is actually quite toned down. Kellie Martin was the weakest link as the widowed mother who can't move forward. She wasn't bad, but her chemistry with Flynn, Simon Kassianides, was way off. He is quite the young hunk and seemed like his leading lady should have been a bit younger. For the sake of the rom-com magic and family fun, I suspended disbelief and had a delightful time watching how Kiernan and her Marquess were going to get out of their fun mess.On the boards there were negative comments about Simon being so readily accepted as the male "nanny" which I must admit I also found to be a tad creepy. I think parents today are overprotective for a very good reason which would possibly cause one to think the worst in a situation like this. However, Flynn was ever the perfect gentleman, and I was reminded a bit of a much older and rounder Mr. French on "Family Affair" reruns. I watch mostly classic films, and this plot device was not uncommon for decades and decades. It worked well here as Flynn came off as such an innocent amnesiac. This would be my only very mild note of caution for parents who may find this hard to explain. However, as progressive as our society is now, is it even that strange? Anything goes these days it seems.This isn't a perfect movie, but it's a perfectly fun movie for girls of all ages who still believe in fairy tales and happy endings.

perkypops I enjoyed this more than I expected given what Hollywood sometimes manages to do to English "aristocrats" in "comedies". Here we have a Marquis (Kassianides) suffering from amnesia and a young girl (beautifully played by Kiernan Shipka) who doesn't like killing frogs, is willing to believe they can turn into princes, and wants her widowed mom (Martin) to find happiness. It's a charmingly told story with witty character development and always on the light side. But....Kellie Martin can act, and there are certain scenes in the film she handled okay, but she didn't convince me at all that there could ever be any chemistry between her and a man other than her dead husband, not ever. It irritated me to bits from the start it really did, and then I thought maybe it was part of the plot. Unfortunately it wasn't because her confinement didn't relax for a second even in the best scenes of the whole darned film. And in the meantime daughter Zoe is acting her socks off.Nick Ullett was very good as Wilkins, and young Rod Myers does well as Sam. In fact the cast do really well altogether. It's just the miserable Gwen who lets it down ever so irritatingly for me..... but still, six out of ten because chemistry is a purely personal thing!

edwagreen Frogs and princes may blend together in fairy tale books, but when it comes to movies, you can forget it and "Smooch" is a perfect example.Royalty comes to the U.S. for a pre-arranged marriage. Our handsome prince soon realizes that the girl is not for him; besides, she needs a great lesson in geography.On the other side of town is a woman who never got over losing her young husband. She has a young daughter and by movie magic, the girl brings our prince home and he becomes her "male" nanny. There is the usual romance between mom and dad before his parents show up. You know the results. They're so predictable.The prince's butler really steals the picture. It's really about a prince growing up and finding true love.

boblipton This is a cute little TV movie in the "Miracle on 34th Street" vein. Besides some rather amusing acting -- particularly Simon Kassianides as a Marquis or perhaps Prince who prefers to get drunk and fall into an amnesiac fugue rather than marry his horror of a social-climbing fiancée, and Kiernan Shipka as a straightforward young girl who would rather believe in magic than live a rather empty life, there is plenty of subtext in this movie about hope, expectations and San Francisco -- although that highly cinematic town is not shown to any advantage. Surely a few more original pickup shots could have been arranged.The romantic interest is provided by Kellie Martin, who is directed in the manner typical of a Hallmark TV romcom: brittle, fast-talking and ready to fall. There won't be much in the way of surprises in this work, but a light, almost negligent handling of the issues by director Ron Oliver keeps things moving along at a decent clip