Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie is The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. A very long title for a cute little movie.

This was such a sweet little movie about one of my favorite things, a quirky little small town that is full of community. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as “With an ample serving of Huge Grant’s trademark charm, a quirky Welsh town comes together to put their town on the map in this feel-good folksy tale.”

And that is a very simplistic way of looking at this film, since there was a much deeper story under it all, but I will get to that later.

On the surface, this movie is about well, a man (and his boss) who arrive in the small town of Ffynnon Garw, Wales. WWI is still raging, and most of the younger men, sons, brothers, fathers, are off serving in trenches in France. It’s a rough time for people, wartime, full of worry and hardship. But one source of pride the townspeople have is their claim to fame -their mountain.

The rug is pulled out from under them however when two English surveyors (Hugh Grant as Anson and Ian Macniece as Garrad) come to town, and remeasure the mountain – and find out it is a hill. It’s almost like the town visibly deflates. And the Reverend and his nemesis, Morgan the Goat, decide that the English are not going to steal this from them (lots of English vs. Wales banter in this movie). Morale is low, and they need every bit they can to keep a stiff upper lip and all that.

And from there the shenanigans begin. The town works together not only to build up the hill an extra twenty feet to put it over the measurement required to make it a mountain on the map, but to delay the departure of Anson and Garrad. Anson is sheepish, adorable, and affable, while Garrad is a bit of a dandy curmudgeon. His outfits and poses cracked me up. The scene where they were going up the mountain and Garrad was just sprawled out on the ground made me laugh and almost wake my child up. He always looked fabulous though despite his attitude.

The other supporting characters and actors in this were fantastic as well. Colm Meany as Morgan the Goat, was a bit of a slimy character who I didn’t really care for. But Betty played by Tara Fitzgerald was my favorite, besides Hugh Grant, of course. I am sure they are everyone’s favorite characters though. (also adding I love her in I Capture the Castle) She was drawn into the plan to stall the two surveyors by Morgan the Goat, who wanted her to charm and seduce Anson, whose head was turned but he “was a gentleman” which melted Betty’s heart in turn. She made me laugh as well, with some of her comments, like when Anson and Betty were talking about the beauty of some flowers and Anson said they were pretty, and Betty replied with “Not as pretty as me… YOU’RE supposed to say that.” It was just a cute little moment.

There were some serious issues however tackled, regarding the war, especially the PTSD, or shellshocked as they referred to it back then, that the returning men suffered. Johnny Shellshock just about broke my heart, and doubly so knowing that this is such a real thing, then and now.

This whole movie is based on a folktale, and I legit thought it was true because of the ending of the movie, but after reading about it this morning, I learned it is not. Which I am sort of sad that it is not, although I was a little weirded out by one part and was glad that it didn’t really happen.

And now, just some gratuitous images of Hugh Grant because he is adorable.

Overall, this movie is a fun, charming, sweet movie. One for a night when you need a bit of cozy and happy to fill your soul.

You can find Lisa’s post here!

Next week is our last movie this time around, and we are watching The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!