Welcome to Mama's

The commercials didn't seem very exciting and that should have warned me not to bother watching it. No chemistry, boring story, a lot of blah blah blah that went on and on and on. It didn't have a clear storyline. It's over saturated with flash backs and the main characters just didn't capture my attention. There wasn't much cooking, not that much food, a lot of very short overly dramatic problems that were resolved before you even understood the problem! Fine to play in the background while doing other things but not worth watching with your full attention.

I really enjoyed the story line. This film truly had great potential!

But, I felt that Melanie Scrofano (Amy) held back the quality of this film.

It had great potential, but she did not appear to be "into" this film, which is too bad, since it had potential to get a 9 rating from me. Her acting did not appear to be genuine. She seemed to simply make statements. Her body language including facial expressions did not match her statements.

The transitioning back and forth from the origins of Mama's to now, could have been done so that it was easier to follow ... perhaps not as many transitions with longer sessions so that the original mama and papa could be clearly seen and understood. Eg: When did papa disappear? What happened to him? When did Amy leave Mama's? Etc.

Unlike what some reviewers had stated about Daniel di Tomasso (Frank Rossi), I felt that he played his part well. More details about the transition and blending of both he and Melanie (Amy) should have been included to better display how they bettered the new Mama's and how their romantic relationship grew.

The movie has its quirks and inconsistencies, as pointed out in previous reviews. As almost always, premises and elements of the plot are not original. Yet, they get a different, fresh spin and the story acquires a dignity of its own. The psychology of the lead characters, Amy and Frank, is more sound than it appears at first look. Here, we have two young people that, confronted with career disillusions and big life choices, react with stubborn attitudes and rush decisions. I do not believe this makes them unlikable or that they "have no chemistry". They are just human, hiding their insecurities, in need to learn from their mistakes.

I find it credible that their initial reciprocal attraction helps them, through necessary skirmishes, find how much they have in common and to like each other. Actually, this makes the story sweet.

The acting is simple, no hamming, no frills. The frequent flash-backs to Mama and Papa life, are, perhaps overused, but do add to understanding the theme of the story and to the content of the movie, rich in values of hard work, tenacity, family and friendship.

One special tribute is owed to the producers for a diligent effort to maintain authenticity. After myriads of movies where the actors totally butcher the pronunciation of the Italian language or substitute it with "Italican"or Spanish, here, finally they have cast actors, Scrofano, Di Tomasso, Babis, and Montesi, who speak the language naturally and correctly.

Overall, a charming movie and a better production than many Hallmark films of late.

6.4 stars.

This film fails to capture the ambience of a rustic Italian restaurant, is slow moving and not engaging. The chemistry between Amy and Frank is somewhat non-existent, whereas their friendship is more believable and practical. I feel she is straining her performance and not interested in playing the part. His personality seems lifeless and dull. It's as if they both delved too deep into their characters and forgot to import some enthusiasm.

The back story of Mama and Papa was interesting although not realistic because their personalities do not transfer from past to present. Mama's past self being a robust, petit, cute and gentle person; changed into a frustrated, sour, voluptuous, matriarch with no spark. Papa simply disappears into the background. Their accents don't jive from past to present, hers being non-existent after a while. There is no convincing the audience of such drastic shifts in character and how things are.

The Mama and Papa history doesn't mesh, the leads don't fit together, there is nothing to root for, not even the hope of a triumphant romantic ending either past or present.

This is a sweet heartwarming story about the origin of an Italian American restaurant in New Jersey. The restaurant is called Mama's and as you can imagine the story starts with Mama and Papa. The contemporary story is about Frank and Amy...Amy who Mama thought of as a granddaughter inherits the restaurant when Mama dies and that is when she meets Frank the current chef at Mama's.

The story is a bit about taking in strays, creating a family, about trust, compromise and taking a chance on someone as a way to spread the love.

My favorite nugget is about writing a letter to someone and how precious that can really be.

This was a little different for a hallmark film, less emphasis on the wooing and more emphasis an the living, just being...and on friendship.