Amour, Duel et Pâtisserie

This was an enjoyable, easy to watch movie. Smokey Robinson's "Really Got A Hold On Me" was a great touch! Does anyone else think Brendan Penny very much favors a young Paul Newman!

I happened to watch The Secret Ingredient, Just Add Romance and A Dash of Love very close together but actually they are quite different. Defo watch JAD before this movie if you can, as TSI has the more developed plot. I wouldn't say Hallmark were exactly romcoms, but TSI was a bit amusing at times. There are quite a lot of characters in this show so they don't get bogged down with too much detail, but they are all integrated well. A great film for all-ages.

It is difficult to use Erin Cahill, Brendan Penny , a small town, option for Paris, a patisery contest and to make mistakes . It is a sweet Hallmark, nice crafted, not high ambitions, seductive for humor and roots of romance, for honey cake and for the confession of Andrew after the contest. Short, just comfortable, the smile of Brendan Penny being, in some measure, enough for seduce.

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.

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.