Smooch (TV 2011)

SMOOCH is a modern retelling of the classic Frog Prince tale with a romantic comedy twist. A rakishly handsome "English Royal" comes to America for an arranged marriage, and ends up being ... See full summary »

Director:

Ron Oliver

Writers:

Howard Burkons, Terry Spencer Hesser

Stars:

Kellie Martin, Simon Kassianides, Nick Ullett

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kellie Martin	...	Gwen Cole
Simon Kassianides	...	Percy / Flynn
Nick Ullett	...	Wilkins
Kiernan Shipka	...	Zoe Cole
Rod Myers	...	Sam Simon
Shirley Benyas	...	Mrs. Bieker
Michael R. Wilson	...	Detective Stanley Novak (as Michael Wilson)
Emma-Lee Hess	...	Kate
Caroline L Price	...	Ruthie Novak (as Caroline Price)
Dan Pesta	...	Knight
Rio Scafone	...	Teacher
Olivia Wickline	...	Witch / Mrs. Polanski
Erin Nicole	...	Hilary Boswell
Geoffrey Beauchamp	...	Duke of Hamm
Joanna Hastings	...	Duchess of Hamm

Storyline

SMOOCH is a modern retelling of the classic Frog Prince tale with a romantic comedy twist. A rakishly handsome "English Royal" comes to America for an arranged marriage, and ends up being mugged in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and left with amnesia. A precocious 11-year-girl, who can't bring herself to dissect a frog in science class, goes to the park with the intent of setting it free, and through a serendipitous misunderstanding thinks she turned the frog into a man after kissing the frog's boo-boo away with a kind smooch. She brings him home and soon realizes the only way she can "keep him" is to have the man impersonate a "Royal Nanny" and convince her beautiful widowed mother to hire him. With the clock ticking and his royal family searching for him, the man - whose memory eventually returns to him - falls hard for the girl's mom, and it seems like a Valentines Day dream come true until he's found by his family and is forced to finally stop being a bit of a "toady"... and ...

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Hallmark Channel [us] Silver Screen Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Békaherceg

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beantown Ranch Entertainment, Silver Screen Pictures

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

It is early February 2011 according to the calendar at the beginning of the movie and there is a full moon in the sky. The full moon that month was on February 18th. Also Zoe says "there is a blue moon this month". There can never be a blue moon (a second full moon)in February even in a leap year, as the lunar month is 29.53 days long.

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Quotes

Gwen Cole: He was a FROG! - fraud! A fraud!

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Soundtracks

"Icicles"
Written by Janis Vaile
Performed by Janis Vaile

User Reviews

This isn't a perfect movie, but it's a perfectly fun movie:)

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.