Delayed Reaction: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Pitch: There's always room for another period romance movie and another WWII-adjacent movie.

An author investigates a literary club that formed on a small island while it was occupied by the Germans.

The response people have to The Guernsey Literary and Pot- oh hell, I'm calling it GLPPPS - covers a wide spectrum. It's surprisingly divisive, but everyone seems to agree that it's quaint and perfectly harmless. There are people who love it for the simple romance and period setting. There are people who hate it for how lightweight and 'twee' it is. It's one of those movies that will have reviews saying the exact same thing and will have vastly different ratings. You either have a taste for this kind of movie or you don't.

Any anglophile or hopeless romantic will find a lot to like about the movie. Lily James is a charming lead. The 1940s setting is nicely recreated in the costuming and production design. It's the kind of production design that always looks clean, even when it's supposed to be dirty. No one should be watching this to be surprised or challenged. That isn't the goal of the movie. To rate it that way would be missing the point.

That said, the whole movie is utterly familiar. The big secret of the movie is something you can guess immediately. The movie is a little long for how little story there is. Similarly, there's a whole lot of exposition given in a movie of such simple pleasures. I'm mostly favorable about the movie, but it isn't hard at all to see how someone could find this insufferable.

I've always found Lily James to be a likable screen presence. Her chemistry with Michiel Huisman is a little forced. There's something unsettling about Glen Powell's performance in GLPPPS. The appeal of Powell is that he looks like a guy who I would hate but I like him anyway. There's a sarcastic charm to him. In GLPPPS, he turns out to be the asshole that I first assumed he was. The character isn't challenging me to like him in any way. And he's good at it. I prefer being confused about why I like him, not disliking him and not being surprised by it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend