Love's Sweet Recipe

I tried to sit through all of this without starting to read Daily Telegraph article comments but it was impossible.

It was as slow as molasses with absolutely no chemistry between the two lead actors and a really boring script. Neither actor was very good but worse together.

The story of Courtney running the family business was absurd since she was never there cooking or serving or anything to do with it other than trying out some fiddley new fusion dishes. She just kept reading old recipes to remind her why she fell in love with the cooking we never see her do other than in her own little kitchen. I suppose she has a staff to deal with the restaurant since we see nothing of the hectic brutal schedule of running a restaurant i'd havd expected. In addition she's trying to impress the judges of an upcoming competition.

She's also reading her father's old book "of love".

Jake, an old beau athlete, comes back to town after an injury and surprises her that he can bake. They start to work together as he saves to own his own bakery one day.

There is absolutely no energy in this production. It feels completely flat and if there is supposed to be any romance brewing I think they forgot to put the kettle on.

6.2 stars.

The first 35 minutes, we are inundated by an obnoxious woman who runs a restaurant with her mother. She cooks her father's recipes, he was the previous owner of the restaurant. A washed out major league baseball player comes back to town and he knew her when they were younger, but she doesn't initially recognize him. He asks her if she will accept his help in her restaurant, he wants to create baked desserts for her restaurant, and to help get his baked goods to be recognized. When he begins working for her, what we witness is an extremely difficult, and arrogant female chef. What I appreciate about her performance is that she is significantly convincing at being difficult to work for. Unfortunately, what detracts from the enjoyment is her significantly convincing performance. It's a catch-22. This is a perfect lesson in how to embellish refinement. She irons out her wrinkles fairly quickly, and they work together to enter a restaurant competition.

The restaurant is too quaint and disorganized. The decor is atrocious, the tables and chairs are out of style and the arrangement is unappealing. I personally avoid restaurants that look so disorganized.

Her character is inconsistent and conflicted. Sometimes she is driven and difficult, and at other times lacking direction or purpose. These opposing traits are confusing and exactly why her polarizing behavior leaves the audience cold. Once again she levels out, but I'm left feeling unfulfilled.

He performs his role perfectly. If the male lead had lacked in any way, this film would be an utter disappointment.

Generally I much prefer these smaller scale pandemic-filmed TV movies to the pre-2020 ones, they seem more down to earth for a small-village-dweller like me. Whilst I'm defo not a chef, I can relate to both lead characters who are having to change to more realistic goals after unexpected setbacks / (family) heath issues etc. These shows inspire hope, especially important in the times we're going through. I'd like to see a sequel or even a spin off series where customers are uplifted by this story and go on to create their own happiness, despite other tragedies etc. Longterm disability and how people still live beautiful lives should feature more in this genre.

I'm not sure why they didn't go for the title to be the Rulebook of Love which was the running device throughout the movie.

The premise has echoes of some common themes. Courtney is spending time helping her family restaurant before she goes back to her life in New York. Jake is a washed up professional baseball player come home. They agree to work together to win a contest. Courtney struggles throughout to make something that will stand out.

The hook for me was the chemistry between Megan Hutchings and Damon Runyan. The chemistry came through in both banter and body language. At times it was subtle but it came through strong. And they had plenty of screentime to work that.

There weren't a lot of highs or lows or surprises in the story and the only tension besides the contest was Courtney's determination to return to New York. There's some smoke and mirrors in how she expected to have her family restaurant go from solely her and her mom as staff to having her leave. She mentioned hiring staff if she could make it successful, but if Courtney was the one who made it successful, then how would a different staff keep it going?

The next to last scene was a little underwhelming as the ending. The very last scene with the Rulebook of Love was more of a quick epilogue.

Sometimes the background piano music was distracting.

Watched it for an hour and turned it off, another dumb script and so-so actors. Feel sorry for the actors who had to recite stupid lines. "Dad's cooking book" didn't work. Too soapy and it really was an insult to intelligent viewers. Get a decent script ! I gave it two stars but I was being generous it deserved zero.