“Summerland” Goes For Your Emotions

hollywoodnews.com:

Making a tearjerker that still has a sense of fun to it is a fairly difficult proposition. After all, you want the emotions to seem real, so the playfulness can’t overwhelm it, or frankly, vice-versa.

While the back half of Summerland goes for emotions and tears more than the first part, which is lighter and almost comic, the film manages to work on its own merits.

To be sure, a main reason why the movie works is Gemma Arterton, who gets to shine in a juicy lead role. Now playing, it’s an option that adults longing for some solid drama can really sink their teeth into.

The film is a drama, set during World War II. Alice (Arterton) is a reclusive writer, living a rather solitary life in a small town on the seaside cliffs of Southern