Cert PG
115 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild violence and threat
Mrs W nudged me as we departed screen 10 at Lee Valley Odeon.
"Look at that girl", she whispered. "She is in tears."
I sighed inwardly. Ask Sana Benzer will surely be one of the soppiest movies of 2015 and yet it had still charmed at least one of the audience.
We had guessed the genre of A Taner Elhan's film when the auditorium gradually filled up with young women.
I could sense them melting when the swarthy Burak Ozcivit swaggered on to the screen.
Ozcivit plays Ali, a restaurant owner in a picture-postcard seaside Turkish village. He falls for Deniz, a beautiful stranger (Fahriye Evcen).
The film then charts the long-winded courtship which involves, flirting, dancing, eating, swimming, flirting, dancing, eating and more swimming...
Ali becomes besotted and allows Deniz into his heart but, while he reveals all of his past, she is still keeping a dangerous secret which she, without any explanation, keeps to herself,
Ask Sana Benzer made us want to go to Turkey for our holidays. The weather looks amazing, the people are very friendly and the scenery is beautiful.
The pace of life is never more than sedate.
Ask Sana Benzer's problem is that it is equally slow. Hardly anything happens and when it does it is very laboured and cliched.
Ozcivit is clearly popular among the ladies, although I am glad to report in real life he doesn't wear a pirate-thick moustache.
Both Mrs W and I sniggered at its ridiculousness while remembering the awful ginger one which invaded my face for 20 years.
Anyway, Ozcivit and Evcen boats a degree of chemistry which would have been sparkier if the script hadn't been so clunky.
However, in our view, Ask Sana Benzer was so wet it was dripping.
Reasons to watch: Its scenery makes the audience yearn for summer days by a lapping sea.
Reasons to avoid: It is one of the soppiest films in recent years.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 3.5/10