Jonathan Currinn
Last week, Netflix released the brand new romantic comedy film, Falling Inn Love, which stars Christina Milian in the lead role. This is her first film release of 2019, following last year’s TV movie Memories of Christmas; her last feature film was actually 2013’s Baggage Claim, but lately she has been focusing on TV, starring in Grandfathered in 2015-2016 and, more recently, the second season of The Oath, which aired this year.
The film starts off showing the life of Gabriela Diaz, played by Christina Milian (Be Cool, Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Pulse, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past), mainly her upcoming meeting with her boss, Chad, played by Daniel Watterson (Dirty Laundry, American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story). Only, she totally missed the memo that her presentation had got pushed back a couple of weeks. Later that day, we’re also introduced to her partner, Dean Connor, who is played by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (UnREAL, Dirty Grampa, Stargate Universe). It’s not long until her life unravels, the investors pull out of the company leaving all staff unemployed, and when thinking things over with Dean, suggesting she move in with him, she realises that he doesn’t want to commit to their relationship and she dumps him. Whilst drowning her sorrows, she stumbles across an email about winning an inn in New Zealand, and with nothing left to lose, she enters and wins.
Her next steps are to start packing, and she says goodbye to her best friend, Sage, played by Simone Walker (Flatmate Wanted, Shortland Street), telling her that she can use the apartment as an escape if she needs to. Soon enough, Gabriela arrives in New Zealand and takes a few buses to reach her destination in the rural countryside. She doesn’t arrive in the small town instead, she arrives at a bus stop on an uphill lane, with no signal. Whilst tapping away at her phone, her suitcase rolls down the hill and crashes into a vehicle. Now, this is where the romantic side of things kick in; the driver of the car, Jake Taylor, played by Adam Demos (UnREAL, Janet King, Couped Up), steps out and helps her with the suitcase and directs her towards town – noting that they don’t tend to get people like her in rural New Zealand, and she finds him quite obnoxious.
She soon befriends a gay couple who work and own the café – which is where she visits first, before heading to The Bellbird Valley Farm. Unfortunately, it’s rundown and in disrepair, completely unlike the actual photos and video which enticed her into entering, in the first place. Not only is the inn in need of some serious work, but there’s also a goat wandering the premises, which she later names Gilbert. She also gets a visit from a nosey neighbour, Charlotte Wadsworth, played by Anna Jullienne (Shortland Street, The Blue Rose, 800 Words, Mean Mums) who later offers her money for The Bellbird Valley Farm as she has wanted that place since she was a young girl – instead, she owns her own inn within the town.
Instead of running back to San Francisco, Gabriela decides to stay and fix up the inn and implement her renewable energy ideas. She visits the local hardware store where the owner, Norman, played by William Walker, agrees to help after she gives him the nickname “Norm” – he says he’s never had a nickname before. During her short time in the village, Chad has been popping up everywhere, and when she asks Norm for someone to help her fix up The Bellbird, he directs her to Chad. At first, she decides she doesn’t need help since she still finds him unpleasant, but knowing that she doesn’t have any other options, they agree to work together.
Life goes on, with constant comedic and romantic scenes throughout. There’s also sabotage coming from Charlotte, which doesn’t quite work out the way she wants, and some brilliant friendships, especially Gabriela befriending Shelley, played by Claire Chitham (Shortland Street, Outrageous Fortune, Fresh Eggs). As The Bellbird Valley Inn gets fixed up, soon it’ll be time for Gabriela to make a choice, will she return back home to San Francisco, or stay in the countryside of New Zealand? With some twists and turns towards the end, making this choice ten times more difficult, will Gabriela make the right choice?
Watch The Trailer To Falling Inn Love Here:
The recently released Netflix film has been directed by Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions, The Sweetest Thing, Just Friends), and Robyn Snyder acted as the Producer, whilst the script comes from Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy. Other stars appearing in the film include Blair Strang, Jonathan Martin, Arlo MacDiarmid, Johnny Bright, Lucy Wigmore, Irene Wood, J.J. Fong, and Celeste Osterman. Two goats are used to play Gilbert the Goat. As for the location, it was filmed just outside of Auckland, in a small town called Thames.
Falling Inn Love is available to stream on Netflix right now! We highly recommend this rom-com and it’s great to see Christina Milian in a lead role, once again. She also dipped back into music, recently, with the release of her awesome collaboration with DARKO, titled “Saturday“, which also had some brilliant remixes released.
