While loving Christmas (a lifelong love too) and having liked/loved many Christmas films, there are plenty of Christmas films that are too sappy and cheese ridden as well as predictable. Have seen quite a few films in the past few years with this type of story, which has been familiar territory for most holidays (all holidays not just Christmas) for a while now, and they have varied in success, some are very charming, sweet and engaging while others are too simplistic, dull and silly.
This is a very familiar scenario, to the extent that one knows how everything is going to map out a while before it occurs, and there is nothing fresh in how it is executed in 'A Christmas Recipe for Romance'. It is not a complete disaster by all means, it takes a lot for me to deem anything that, but it is like a competent looking but very safe recipe with no flavour. 'A Christmas Recipe for Romance' has its good things, but has a lot of debits that overshadow them.
Shall start off with the good. It is nicely shot and the locations easy on the eye.
Also thought that Sebastian Sacco was quite charming as the film progressed.
Unfortunately that cannot be said for the rest of the acting. All the supporting cast are amateurish with no exception, with everybody either over-compensating or looking under-rehearsed. Madeline Leon comes over as rather bland and the excessive naivety of her character was very hard to take and actually drove me up the wall. That was one of the most annoying things about the film, and 'A Christmas Recipe for Romance' is full of annoying things from the get go and listing them would take all day without trying to be too mean. The main things being exaggerated character flaws (the main one being the female main character's naivety) and abrupt and senseless motivations in particularly the final third.
Regarding the script, it is very cheesy and awkward and tonally it's a mess. Its attempts at humour, the quirky kind, ended up being very forced and borderline stupid. And the more dramatic parts are so overdone on the sentiment that it is enough to make one be put off from having any kind of confectionary for at least a week. The story is dull and predictable as well as contrived, complete with a too tidy ending. Nothing fresh done with over-familiar ground, a common trend with recently seen Christmas films.
Concluding, very weak. 3/10.
