El ingrediente secreto

A close copy of Just Add Romance (2019) with a few different plot details and different lead actors. Overall the story is a cute premise and not terribly angsty which is a nice change for Hallmark.

This is simply a sweet Hallmark movie! Brendan Penny with his crinkly-eyed smile is getting better with each movie and age. Erin Cahill is lovely and these two had good on-screen chemistry. The formula was refreshingly different which is why I liked it. I think it would have helped to up the humor which would result in a higher rating. Worth a watch for Hallmark fans!

What is "the secret ingredient"? Well it always has to be love, doesn't it?

A boy and girl grew up as friends in a smaller N. Carolina community, both enjoyed cooking and especially baking, and naturally they grew up to become engaged to be married. But she wanted to stay home, he had greater ambitions and went to Paris to train. Now some years later the two 40-ish former lovers meet again and, as luck would have it (or a setup by a sister) both of them compete for the $100,000 prize on a syndicated TV show in NYC.

This movie pretty well follows the established and successful Hallmark formula. It is just a sweet movie with attractive people, no violence, sex, or foul language. That's just what we need sometimes to escape the strangeness of the world for 90 minutes.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

7.4 stars.

If you like reality baking shows you might find this movie familiar, although this is a strange sort of reality baking show. Kelly stays home in a small town and builds a bakery from the ground up, while Andrew leaves her behind and moves to Paris to become a chef. Several years later he comes back to visit and both of them seem to be over the breakup. They quickly rekindle the friendship.

The rest of the film is about a reality baking show in New York City that Kelly is a contestant on. Meanwhile Andrew is also in NYC for business. They happen to run into each other and grow a little closer. Will they have another chance at love?

I sense that people really enjoy this movie for the energy and fun of it. It does not lack for liveliness and activity in the big city. For any foodies out there, "The Secret Ingredient" might have some appeal.

The end was wrapped up very nicely, you could say it's the icing on the cake, however it wasn't enough to elevate the movie beyond average. For me this is just another attempt at a reality show themed Hallmark. It's not terrible, bad, good, or great. It's just okay.

I've never heard of a contest cooking show where the contestants were unknown to each other (and my wife watches dozens of them). But of course we can figure out why fairly early in the game and it's not a mystery for long. There are some twists and turns, but most of them are predictable.

These are two veteran Romance movie stars and they mesh well together. The two of them are more appealing than the story. This was a good role for Cahill. Without them, or actors of the same caliber, this would be more like 5 stars.

I'd like to see Chelsea Rankin again, but her resume is short and spread out.