Christmas on the Menu

2020 was very variable to unimpressive when it came to Lifetime's Christmas films, and there was definitely the sense that the films were made in a rush with not a lot of preparation time. Yet enough of them were far from amateur-hour efforts and were still watchable all things considered. Lifetime just have done a lot better in previous years, although their festive output is very hit and miss it should not be dismissed outright as enough have left me pleasantly surprised.

'Christmas on the Menu' was though more or less what was expected, which was a watchable enough film with good moments and better than expected acting. But also one that is nothing extraordinary and does nothing new with pretty familiar plot tropes. Lifetime did a lot better than 'Christmas on the Menu', but also worse than what is a somewhat middling effort for them. Considering the difficult circumstances though, it did make do perhaps.

Am going to start with the good. The best thing about 'Christmas on the Menu' is the acting. Both Kim Shaw, though she overdid it at times early on, and Clayton James are very likeable leads and of the uniformly solid supporting cast Cynthia Gibb is a particular breath of fresh air. The characters are overused stereotypes but don't irritate or bore at least. Actually thought that the chemistry between Shaw and James was quite good and genuine once the relationship found its groove, have seen a lot worse lead chemistries in other Lifetime films.

The film also looks pretty decent all things considered and has some professionalism at least in its look. Especially the scenery. The music didn't sound too intrusive and some of the dialogue is cute, emphasis on some.

However, 'Christmas on the Menu' has its issues. The story never properly grabbed me, as well as being very predictable it is very thin on the ground and drags a lot from too much stretched padding and an uncertain feel most of the time. There isn't enough of an emotional core or charm which made the film come over as bland and lacking in substance too. The direction is competent in some parts but is disorganised and hesitant in others.

Furthermore, the script on the most part is too verbose and the flow is very stilted, had a feeling of it being written in haste and that it had not been proof read. The conflict completely lacks tension and it didn't actually feel like there was much at stake with the indifferent and too hasty way it's written in. A lot of ingredients in the story that are done very little with.

Overall, just about edible but didn't come over as cooked enough. 5/10.

I liked Kim Shaw's performance in this, but a lot of the movie didn't make sense. First, the ages. Cynthia Gibb, who played Kim's mother, looks way to young to be the mother of a 35 year-old. (Good for Her!) Also, the actor that played Kim's ex- boyfriend is 7 years younger than her. At first, I was confused by his role in this, and why he was working in such close proximity to Kim's mother.

The love-interest/restaurant critic was handsome but kind of a non-entity. And since when does a food-critic agree to only give a good review or no review? His editor, Pepper, was the antagonist who doctored honest reviews to make them more mean and better click-bait. And the food critic just let her do that without a peep. What a wimp. Where is the integrity? Also present at the grand opening were two nationally known reviewers who loved everything. If the little newspaper gave a bad review, it would reflect on them, not the chef (who was also famous and lauded in her own right anyway.) Also she ate a whole big bowl of Kim's special whip cream to sabatage her. And she didn't even deny it! LOLWUT?

Maybe it's just me...or maybe I missed a scene, but it took me over a hour to figure out Josie and Nolan previously dated. I didn't know who this dude was for most of the movie.

Kim Shaw, Cynthia Gibb and Clayton James do a good job with what they were given. The rest of the cast did a good job as well, but do to the writing (or lack of), they just seemed to drift through the story. There are no interesting subplots, and the story is very surfaced and one dimensional, so some characters just seemed to have no reason for being there and it showed. The characters lack of purpose leads to a lot of empty, pretentious dialogue which leaves you searching for the fast forward button.

This movie uses the common trope of a B&B hosting reviewers which will affect their business. Throw in a little of the evil editor who changes the original reviews and add that it's not just the B&B but the owner's daughter's desserts that are getting reviewed. The conflict was created in a slightly unusual way but the surprise was dampened a little bit because you could see it coming from several scenes earlier. There are a lot of technical details about cooking sprinkled through the movie. There aren't that many of the traditional Christmas activities that are so formulaic in other Christmas movies.

I thought most of the actors were consciously "delivering" their lines as opposed to dialogue happening naturally and the dialogue wasn't that great. Kim Shaw overdid Josie's early anger for Tanner. Just watching the story and not inferring from external clues, for a while it was a tossup which guy, Tanner or Nolan, would get the girl. Both were good choices with no apparent flaws. But Jesse Kove had no chemistry with Shaw. Clayton James had some chemistry with Shaw but it wasn't sparkling. So much screen time revolved around the cooking that it diluted James and Shaw's chances to sell the romance.

Shanica Knowles does a song performance with some sultry moves. I wasn't impressed with her voice, but that's just me.

This is a watchable movie despite slightly below average acting . The story has some common elements with a couple of things out of the ordinary for Christmas movies.