Eine Prise Portugal

Anna (Heather Hemmens) is the prep cook working in the background on a TV cooking show. While the arrogant host is away, she leads a team including hot Australian cameraman Russ (Luke Mitchell) to Portugal to prepare for an upcoming episode. She is guided by local grocer Lucas (Duarte Gomes).

Normally, Hallmark doesn't do love triangles. They usually go much more simplistic and undramatic. With Portugal as the exotic backdrop, I expected Anna to go off with the exotic man in the European locations. I can honestly say that I wasn't sure about the resolution during the first half of the movie. It does become obvious soon enough. It's not really that much of a triangle after all. Hallmark is still not actually doing dramas.

Another reviewer stole my thunder. It is true, they showed generic shots of Lisbon at the beginning and once in the middle to make you think that they were in Lisbon. As someone who knows Lisbon well, I could tell where they were most of the time-Cascais and Sintra. I was looking forward to something in Lisbon but I was happy to see some other familiar places. The story was typical Hallmark stuff and I thought Lucas' character changed really abruptly. Maybe that was the point. He was always like that and we just discovered it around the midpoint of the movie. I enjoyed it more than anything because it was filmed in Portugal (if not in Lisbon per se) and the nostalgia factor made me give it an 8/10.

40-something Heather Hemmens plays Anna, a prep cook for a noted chef, they have a TV show, the chef believes strongly that only what actually goes on in the kitchen is important and interesting. He seems a bit difficult to work with.

It is contract renewal time and they are all scheduled to take the crew to Portugal for the next shoot. But the chef has not agreed yet and to stay on schedule they go anyway, without him, presuming he will join them in a few days.

What all this does is give Anna and the crew an opportunity to try something different, to take the show to different places, the origins of the food. The market, the fishing boat, etc. When the chef does return this causes friction.

Heather Hemmens has such a good, natural, authentic acting style that it never seems like "acting" and that is what makes this movie rise above the ordinary. My wife and I enjoyed it, streaming on Peacock.

And of course it includes lots of nice scenery of Portugal. Plus I learned of a new drink, Ginja, which is a sweet liqueur made from sour cherries soaked in a distilled spirit called aguardente. The mixture is flavored with sugar and spices like cinnamon.

7.2 stars.

The whole food theme is overdone, however it's not been done exactly like this one yet, so that's the only fresh thing about this film. The setting of Portugal is cool, but the whole scene is too polished, too much Hallmark, not quite enough foreign feeling to it. I didn't get the full zest of Portugal, it's too Western-Canadian-British-Aussie feeling and not enough of the grit and grime of the actual country they are attempting to capture. The man who runs the market is a sleeze, which was actually off-putting, I wanted to root for him. The lead female has been in several Hallmarks. She has charisma, the only saving grace of this movie.

Anna is the prep chef for a famous chef's tv cooking show. They are sent to Portugal to shoot a segment for the show. Unfortunately the problematic head chef is negotiating his new contact and playing hardball. Chef Dean doesn't show up in Lisbon and the crew scrambles to try to fill in with some footage. This puts prep chef Anna in the limelight. The local Portuguese market manager, Lucas, is not only providing help but seems interested in Anna. Anna is doing a bang up job filling in for Chef Dean...in fact the whole crew loves her, especially her best friend and camera man Russ. Years ago Anna made a pass at the handsome Australian Russ, but he put her in the friend zone.

The actress Heather Hemmens, who plays Anna, is wonderful and a lovely woman. Likewise, Russ played by Luke Mitchell is quite the charmer but the end kiss needed a little bit of work. Overall, I think I can recommend this hallmark romance to fellow romantics...and the gorgeous Portugal backdrop is worth seeing. It was lovely.