Romance à la Carte

A typical Hallmark movie but even more cheesy than normal and with lots and lots of plot holes. As another reviewer said "Busby is awful, she plays the same character in all of her films". There is absolutely zero chemistry between the leads (and it feels like we missed something because all of the sudden there's love when just moments ago the characters hated each other). The plot is obviously predictable from the first minutes. The argument is lousy and the "final conflict" part is just too rushed and just strange. The cooking, ocean and the Australians are nice though. Really liked the girl playing Beth.

I normally like Hallmark romances but this one was too boring and weird (like, all was too unbelievable). Would not recommend nor watch again.

Just a nice and easy simple tale of love and caring. Magnificently set in Redcliffe, Brisbane and New York City. A little corny in parts but that's life.

Hearts Down Under or Romance on the menu, either way this was a formulaic Hallmark Romantic film...light and breezy with a Happy Ending.

Stubborn control freak New York Laboratoire restaurant owner and chef Caroline inherits a quaint Australian restaurant named The Seagull from her deceased aunt Doreen. Caroline goes to Australia to sell the restaurant quickly and get back to New York for an important critic review. While in Australia she stays in a cottage owned by Simon Cook, who turns out to be the cook at The Seagull. As the staff rally together to convince Caroline not to sell, Simon and Caroline spar and one up each other over their differences in cooking. Desperate to make repairs quickly in order to sell the restaurant Caroline strikes up a deal to cook for Simon while he does the needed repairs on the restaurant for the building inspector which is required for her quick sale.

Caroline gets to know the staff and loosens up a bit in the process. There is a ridiculous looking dog named Spatch (short for spatula) and sunny beach scenes...but the best part is really the actor who plays Simon Cook. He looks a bit like an Australian version of Ben Affleck and he really wins you over with his smile.

...please note this was a Netflix film. Hallmark just bought and retooled it a year later to fill out the schedule.

This follows a well worn plotline. Woman takes hiatus from her regular job (owner of a restaurant) to deal with a sentimental inheritance, this time in Australia. The guy she has to work with becomes more than a employee/co-worker. The last part of the movie is predictable.

I don't think Cincy Busby is effective as an arrogant, critical boss. It didn't seem like she really meant it. The arrogance comes out a few times but seems softened by a lack of conviction. I didn't think she and Tim Ross had much chemistry.

The movie has a hard time making it clear exactly what Nathanial is although he is clearly a rival in the sense of an existing something (?? - boyfriend, fiance). The final confrontation scene between Nathanial and Caroline is quick and pointless except to precipitate the conflict between the leads. It was pointless, because another event would have been quite enough to accomplish that plot point.

Actually, I thought the story had several clumsy moments.