A Pinch of Portugal

For the first time, to my knowledge, Hallmark takes the viewers to Portugal, purportedly Lisboa, for one of their romantic adventures. Anna, an aspiring chef has the opportunity to replace a celebrity in a cooking show, with a friendly crew, including a charming cameraman from Down Under, Russ. What follows is a fairly generic series of events at a local groceries market, in Cascais, and food stores, among tastings of local offerings, and common meals, that highlight Anna's warm people's skills and enthusiasm for good cuisine. Through these activities and minor dramas, she avails of Russ's constant, kind support. There are a few cute or original moments and a little sightseeing, while the story evolves to its predictable ending. Most is done with reasonable subtlety and in credible tones . Arguably, the personalities of Chef Dean and Lucas could have been played with more finesse. Yet, the overall result is less disjointed or offensive than many other recent Hallmark productions.

My personal peeve is that the production has lost the unique chance to provide a meaningful glimpse of the location's rich heritage and remarcable attractions. Most of the sequences could have, or have, been filmed in Mexico, Latin America, California, or else and no one would know the difference. There is absolutely nothing of Lisboa, one of the most attractive cities in Europe, very limited views of beautiful Cascais and a couple of shots of Sintra's Pena Palace. Neither it is explained how Anna And Ross could visit places so far away in their only free day. And the music? Shouldn't the soundtrack have included a little "fado", the very soul of Portugal, instead of the rather generic stuff that was selected?

Despite my personal regrets, the movie is fairly entertaining and family friendly, hence worth a look.

At first i was curious to see what they would show from Portugal, being an American production. We all know americans are not that good in Geography.

As the movie progressed it became more and more apparent that the producers did a very poor research job.

The first image shown of Portugal is in Porto not Lisbon, or even Cascais or Sintra where the whole movie is staged.

Also, why did they producers choose Brazilian music for the generic scenes? There are so many talented singers in Portugal.

Utterly disrespectful for the Portuguese musical heritage.

The plot is ok, in line with movies of this genre.

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.

This movie is all about Heather Hemmens and her character Anna. I was impressed that Hemmens had incredible chemistry with both the rivals opposite her, Luke Mitchell and Duarte Gomes. And I think that most of what chemistry there was came from Hemmens. Eventually it is cut short with one of them, but the movie was made more interesting by the fact that it wasn't obvious which it would be until shortly before the one was eliminated. And then, the conflict wasn't about the romance. How that developed surprised me. It's true that it was obvious that the shoe was going to drop on Anna somehow, but I didn't see it coming from that direction. The climax and ending are interesting and I found it to be nice.

I love underdog stories and that's what this is with Anna at the center. I loved that she wasn't arrogant and that her personality was all about enjoying life and welcoming other people in. Something along the lines of a crowded table is the best.

We see some good scenery from Portugal which is a common Hallmark fixture. The acting is good and so is the dialogue. I will definitely watch this again.

The usual Hallmark stuff. Boring characters in an uninspired story. At least this one has nice scenery.

Middle-aged woman who works as a "prep cook" on the TV cooking show whines and whimpers when she gets a chance to take the spotlight when the show's star "quits."

I've never seen a prep cook or food stylist actually get air time on a cooking show other than IRON CHEF.

Anyway, she's "pursued" by two overly-groomed young men (enough with the 2-day beards already) while she dithers. We also get to see some shots of cheeses and breads in a fake market place.

Supporting cast is uniformly bad and all attempts at humor flop. That doesn't leave much. The dead fish wins the acting honors.