The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

This film’s title is a mouthful, no question, yet its plot is spoon-fed simplicity. Never for a moment did I fear that our lead heroine wasn’t destined for the happy ending telegraphed throughout the first act. Sure, stakes are raised on occasion, but never high enough to block the picturesque scenery. As soon as an elderly man vomited on the shoe of a Nazi in German-occupied Guernsey during the film’s opening moments—without consequence, mind you—all sense of palpable danger evaporated from my mind. These aren’t real-life Nazis like the ones who marched through Charlottesville, but rather, the ones who forced the Von Trapps to sing “Edelweiss” in concert, only to let them escape unhindered.