This could have been an unassuming little rom-com if somebody had bothered to read the script and fix it up before filming. The thing was littered with laughable plot holes. Why had our highly educated professional linguist heroine never heard of our hero (an internationally famous author whose work had been translated into 30 languages and whose face was plastered over every billboard in the city)? The basic premise that the abandoned daughter was trying to find her birth mother was just forgotten about when her location was found. The daughter never went to meet her (a one line reference was shoved in "I'm sure something will work out). The protagonists appear to need no sleep, food or comforts. The heroine was left out in a car in the freezing cold all night and then left outside the house all day (still with no food, heat or toilets) while the hero spent hours chopping down a Christmas tree and reconciling with his father while they decorated said tree indoors. Meanwhile she shivers outside. The birthday scene in the small town Bed & Breakfast was laughable. The room suddenly became a five star hotel suite with hundreds of candles, room service which could deliver a gourmet meal, champagne and celebration birthday cake with no notice. Bizarrely the heroine had somehow managed to straighten her long very curly hair in the blink of an eye. This process actually takes hours at a professional salon (oh and it was curly again in the morning). I found that scene very questionable. Was the director trying for "love transforms woman into magical princess"? Implying that the African-American heroine's hair wasn't already beautiful, which it was. And why was everybody holding their coats and jackets closed in the freezing outdoors? Zip them up! Or were all the zips broken? Lastly the thing was littered with pointless conversations and references that served no purpose in the plot. A whole scene where the heroine shows off her proficiency in several languages - just because. A scene where our hero discusses his back story with a former school mate, why? We have already heard at length why he went away and what he has been doing. Altogether a very annoying movie.
Review of The Noel Diary
