Parents' Guide to A Week in Paradise

Movie PG-13 2022 99 minutes
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Common Sense Media Review

Monique Jones By Monique Jones , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 13+

Poorly made romcom has adult situations.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 13+

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

A WEEK IN PARADISE is a romantic film about an actress named Maggie (Malin Akerman) whose marriage crumbles amid a scandal. Retreating to her cousin's Caribbean resort, she recuperates and meets a new love. But then her husband comes back, complicating matters.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 1 ):
Kids say : Not yet rated

A Week in Paradise is, unfortunately, barely a movie. It was made by the people behind Chicken Soup for the Soul, so there's an element of soothing familiarity. But that element is so bare-bones -- and the film so clumsily made -- that it just makes what could have been a predictable but still enjoyable film into a nonsensical farce.

The characters are all archetypes, saying lines and acting in ways that don't seem believable, much less human. The threadbare script seems to blame; perhaps the actors were left to (badly) improv large chunks of their scenes. And many scenes are confusingly in slow motion, contributing to the feeling that there wasn't a lot of story present and the film needed to be padded out in order to reach a feature-length runtime. Overall, A Week in Paradise might be good for a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style watch party, where you laugh at the film's unintentional errors. But that's the only way you'll receive enjoyment from this clunky "feel good" movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how A Week in Paradise depicts romantic relationships. Are they realistic? How do they compare to those in other romcoms you've seen?

  • Why does Fiona believe the island is helping Maggie? How does Maggie use the island's beauty to help her recover? How do the people in her life help her through her relationship trauma?

  • Are the interactions between characters realistic/believable? What could be done differently?

  • What messages did you take away from the film?

Movie Details

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