If the only vacation you get to take this year is watching Netflix, you could do worse than the sweet and forgettable Harry Connick Jr romantic comedy Find Me Falling. This is a standard but grown-up rom-com confection that takes place entirely on the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus in one of those quaint little villages with colorful locals who hand out lots of love advice. The seaside location is delicious and makes this 92-minute soufflé go down easy. You may not find yourself falling hard for this, but it is worth the time, especially for Connick connoisseurs. No doubt it will be good for the Cyprus tourist bureau.
Connick plays a fading rock star, John Allman, who has moved to the island to escape his life and his past celebrity, but instead runs smack into it when he reconnects with an old flame, the love of his life whom he met many years earlier on this very piece of paradise but let her slip away. She didn’t slip too far as he discovers when a chance meeting and introduction at a dinner turns out to be that very person, Sia (Agni Scott), who knew him before fame interrupted. Instead of meeting cute, this is meeting very awkward, but the attraction is clearly still there and, as if time never passed, they have hopped in the sack — a one-nighter not a re-igniter, she assures her disapproving friend.
There are other activities for the newly returned rocker including what he thought was a little skinny dip in a private beach that turns out not to be too private. John is really looking for some kind of serenity and appears a bit of a mess when he is befriended by a local girl who has him as a customer. Melina (Ali Fumiko Whitney) is full of spark and, as it turns out, musical talent, which she displays at the local pub. She gets encouragement, even a song, from John as the two have music in common. Meanwhile he is trying to extend his rebooted relationship with Sia by inviting her to dinner, one that will be prepared for him by none other than Melina who is a jack of all trades. Complications arise though when Melina doesn’t get out of there fast enough as Sia arrives only to discover, much to John’s shock, that she knows Melina who happens to be her daughter. None of this goes down well with Sia who is shocked to see her ex-flame there — 100% innocently — with her little girl.
Will it all work out? Can the mix-ups be explained? Will John find love again? Can he revive his career? Will Harry Connick sing? It is not all sweetness and light; the house situated all by itself near the edge of the ocean that John acquired is a bit of a local landmark. It is where several people over the years have come to commit suicide. Tonally this is a dicey plot ingredient as suicide isn’t really ripe for comedy, but it remains just a minor part of the overall story. One of those attempts is a pregnant young woman who wants to end it all. How is that for laughs? But it also brings the film’s most poignant scene when John subtly acts to save her from the jump and show her life is worth living.
Writer-director Stelana Kliris seems to have made Find Me Falling as a perfect vehicle for Connick, who has always proven to be a capable leading man and here finds a role that fits like a glove at this point in his career. He also supplied the splendid title song, which really is as good as any movie song nominated for Oscars these days. It is given a rich showcase here, as is a more traditional Greek anthem Connick delivers under the window of Sia in order to win her back. The lovely Scott is matched ideally with Connick and you root for these sometime lovers to find each other permanently. However, the film is stolen lock, stock and barrel by the lively and talented Whitney, who also had to learn Greek for this and delivers it flawlessly. She’s terrific. The supporting cast is fun, if stereotyped, including the Zorba-like Captain Monoli (Tony Demetriou), the matriarch Marikou (Aggeliki Filippidou) and others including Jimmy (Clarence Smith), John’s music producer back in New York.
Producers are Steven Shapiro, Keith Arnold and Kliris.
Title: Find Me Falling
Distributor: Netflix
Release Date: July 19, 2024 (streaming)
Director-screenwriter: Stelana Kliris
Cast: Harry Connick Jr, Agni Scott, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Tony Demetriou, Aggeliki Filippidou, Lea Maleni, Althina Roditou, Clarence Smith
Running time: 1 hr 32 min