Penelope

I'm a girl who is true to her celebrity crushes. A movie can be a giant pile of craptastic rubbish and I'll still sit through the entire thing because I want to see my celebrity crush in action. James McAvoy is one of those crushes, but Penelope is not a giant pile of craptastic rubbish. I was pleasantly surprised by this cute little movie that was, well, all right I'll say it, delightful.

What's Penelope about, you ask? Penelope Wilhern is the target of a horrible family curse that can only be broken by finding true love with one of her own kind (a fellow blue blood). So her mother spends years tracking down rich bachelors and trying to get them to marry Penelope in order break the horrible curse (which seems to bother her more than her daughter). Unfortunately, Penelope's suitors all run away screaming the second they lay eyes on her. All but one--the hot Scot, James McAvoy.

I've never been a huge Christina Ricci fan, but she was actually pretty cute in this movie. It definitely could have benefited from more James McAvoy (duh), but overall it was fun with a unique look and feel. And, in the grand tradition of Muriel's Wedding, it has a nice message of acceptance and living life to its fullest in spite of the obstacles that get put in your way. But unlike Muriel, Penelope rocks a PG rating, so you can watch it with your mom without shifting uncomfortably in your seat.

So I encourage you to add Penelope to your Netflix queue and give it a watch. At only about 85-95 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. And did I mention it co-stars James McAvoy?