The Best & The Worst Of Hallmark's "Her Pen Pal"

Starring:  Mallory Jansen and Joshua Sasse

Released:  2021

Summary:  An event planner is put in charge of planning her best friend's Paris wedding, and she decides to reconnect with a childhood pen pal.

Have you ever visited Paris? Image: Crown Media

Her Pen Pal Is a Fun Movie

All-in-all, Her Pen Pal was an entertaining addition to the 2021 Summer Nights line-up.  Most fans loved it, with only a small number of dissenters saying it didn't keep their interest.  That's okay!  We're all allowed to have an opinion, and it's so lovely when we can disagree on these things amicably!

The movie scored big on some aspects and tanked on others.  Let's take a look at both.

The Best Parts of Her Pen Pal

• The movie setting is Paris--one of the world's most romantic cities!  Hallmark has filmed other movies in Paris too, like Paris, Wine, and Romance with Jen Lilley, but we could use more.  Hallmark gives us an inside peek at many famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and that is a real treat for those of us who may never travel overseas to see them in person. 

• Jacques is exactly how you might picture a French man:  suave, self-confident, forthright, and dripping with romantic words and gestures.  Added bonus--who doesn't LOVE a French accent?

Is Joshua Sasse hot?  Oui oui! Image: Crown Media

• The whole pen pal angle is fresh, not overused like so many Hallmark plots.  Since Victoria and Jacques corresponded for so many years, they really know each other in all the ways that matter, making a whirlwind romance more believable.

• The ending parallels life a little more honestly.  While the viewer assumes Jacques will proceed with transforming his chateau into an event venue and Victoria will join him because she's gotten bored with wedding planning, nothing is finalized.  Victoria has a successfully established business to consider, and all of her family and friends live in the States.  Neither of them declare their love, as Hallmark couples typically do after spending ten seconds together.  Not having all the details hammered out for a fairytale ending is more realistic.

The Worst Parts Of Her Pen Pal  

• Mallory Jansen is pretty and fits the part of a Hallmark leading lady, but she over-acts.

• Victoria admits she doesn't cook and eats fast food almost every night.  Herein lies the movie's true fairytale--no one can eat from a drive-thru bag daily and stay that skinny.

In real life, that croissant would go straight to her thighs.  Image: Crown Media

• Joshua Sasse is British--not French!  I want him to be French.  I knew I shouldn't have Googled his name and learned the truth!

• Have you ever witnessed a husband fussing over his pregnant wife the way Seth does with Nathalie?  That was more than a tad ridiculous.

• It seems like 75% of Hallmark movies cast their leading actors as writers or event planners.  There are literally hundreds of possible occupations these characters could have.  Not every movie needs to have a portable career.  

• Hallmark has gone full-blown "woke" when it comes to their insistence on pairing couples in supporting roles from different races, and it's so blaringly obvious that it overshadows their stories. Don't hear what I'm not saying--I am not against diversity.  There is nothing wrong with interracial relationships.  What I'm saying is it's okay for Hallmark couples to be of the same race, whether they are Asian, black, white, Indian, Latino, etc.  Only 10.2 percent of America's population is in an interracial or interethnic marriage.  Judging from Hallmark's casting, you'd think that statistic is closer to 90%.  Hallmark's fan base is getting turned off by this woke garbage.  In Her Pen Pal, there are two couples in interracial relationships, and since this is happening in nearly every new movie, it comes across as forced and unnatural and too political rather than genuine.

Would You Watch It Again?

Fans often judge a Hallmark movie this way:  They either say, "I would watch it again," or "I'm erasing it from the DVR."

As long as the majority will vow to watch it again, the movie will survive.  

Would you watch Her Pen Pal again?

Most of us would.  It's not every day we get to visit Paris on the arm of a handsome Frenchman (who is really British). 

Dear Jacques--will you be my pen pal too? Image: Crown Media