Christmas at the Amish Bakery

This is a formulaic Christmas romance. The only thing that stands out is that the story is set in Amish culture.

The characters are stock figures without much depth. The two leads do not have on-screen chemistry. The dialogue is wooden and all too predictable.

It seems the producers thought adding the word 'Amish' to the title would make the movie more popular, or at least draw more interest. It worked with me, but the movie failed to deliver. This movie is a trifle, which I guess it was meant to be.

There are better things to do during this season than watch this movie. This movie is not recommended.

7.1 stars.

This is the story of a city girl in Chicago, who grew up in an Amish family. She is now a writer and assistant, editor of sorts at a magazine, or whatever. She is assigned a task to make an original cookbook something much different. She decides to use her Amish family recipes, at least her boss tells her she should, so she goes home Amish country to see her family and create the cookbook.

There isn't a whole lot more to the story, she realizes that maybe she doesn't want to do the cookbook, her family isn't enthusiastic about it, they aren't privy to her intentions. The rest of the story is about her getting reacquainted with her family and falling in love with a man who has been helping the family. This gentleman also has a daughter named Zoe and she's a nice addition to the film.

There were many ways this could've been better, but they kept it very low-key and relaxed, not much tension, not much drama just a standard holiday spent in a quiet community.

This lovely story combines a few very charming and inviting features. The Amish are always a fascinating culture to learn about, always filled with loving , caring, kind relationships. The scenery is also so refreshing because the movie isn't taking place in a bustling city. And in this film, the many foods they prepared and showed were mouth-watering!

In this story, family relationships take front and center stage. The love between the Amish sister and her city sibling is so real, so beautifully expressed and portrayed that one has no doubt these two young woman truly care about one another. ..despite their very divergent life choices and styles.

That said, it is really difficult to imagine, first of all, what the hero of the story is doing on that farm. If he is there since he's widowed and owes some gratitude to the owner of the farm, we can accept that. Beyond that, one wonders how this actor ever got chosen for such a sensitive and challenging role. His acting is so wooden, so stiff,,that he often looks like a deer in headlights, almost as if he's forgotten his next lines.

The chemistry between him and the leading actress is non-existent. He is stiff, arid, and altogether wrong for the role. Even their Hallmark kiss at the end looks forced and uncomfortable. Where was the acting coach? The director? The story was so warm and so lovely, it was painful to watch this newcomer actor struggle to show any emotion.

Please forgive the sharp tone of this review. The story of this family was so warm and kind and sweet, it was simply distracting to see the lead actor so detached from every scene he was in.

The movie starts out with bad acting and an unlikely conversation. It came off as awful for one of those reasons or both. There was a point soon after where I was seriously considering turning the movie off and it came down to one encounter. Fortunately the father was not the stereotypical harsh Amish father or elder. He actually welcomed his daughter turned English. That doesn't mean he's a pussycat. The way he growls is more like a tiger or a bear. I really like the fact that these Amish are not judgmental about every little thing.

It is a very typical point premise that one of the romantic leads is about to lose her job if she doesn't solve a problem. This movie goes one further and we find out her sister's bakery is in trouble also.

The acting varies from bad to stiff, When Mischa Hutchings as Darla is maybe one of the worst. The dialogue surprised me since most of it is not bad and uses a lot of lighthearted sarcastic humor. However, later in the movie it gets clumsy along with the story.

Other than the financial issues and Sarah's underhanded plan, the movie is lighthearted through the middle with great relationships between family members as well as Zoe. But when the conflict happens, what happens afterwards is clumsy. Some of it makes no sense, like Sarah's and Dean's choices.

There is a good speech by Sarah's dad at the end. Perhaps a bit preachy, but the message was good.

Absolutely loved this movie, it was so nicely done.

Felt so peaceful watching it.

The actors were all perfect in their roles.

It felt calm n had good family moments.

The love between the sisters felt so real.

The dad was kind n loving n gave good insight into relationships n forgiveness.

The sisters were both beautiful n also the main actor Dean was good looking lol, he was quiet n portrayed a grieving man.

I didn't find anything wrong with their clothing or acting, esp complaining about the snow.

The storyline felt real.

Different community's are different for a reason, we don't need to find every little flaw.

By the way main actress was named Sarah n Rachael was the other sister, n Hannah was the baby (named after her grandmother).

Just clarifying for the reviewer who was confused lol There was enough romance n I loved the quiet moments on the swing n their daily interactions.

Movie was different from the ordinary but we enjoyed it.