The Sauce of Love

This movie was going at a nice pace and then the ending was rushed, and unbelievable. Barely any romance occurred. Good for only watching once. I did enjoy Stephen Huszar as the lead actor. And once again, IMDB is insisting we make our reviews at least 150 characters. Sometimes a movie is not good enough to deserve that much. We are not all great writers but simply want to get our point across.

Bad acting. There's NO chemistry between the lead actors. The female lead is annoyingly 'chirpy' and talks fast about everything. The words "BBQ sauce" are said more than words of love - and for no reason. Talking in a girly chirpy voice doesn't = romantic or cute.

It features illogical plot twists. For Example, the food truck has been sitting at the filming location for days, but suddenly the romantic female lead "chef" is a mechanic fixing the engine because it's "running hot". Then predictably, the male romantic lead (suit wearing big city CEO of a food company driven around in limos) is also a mechanic who knows how to fix engines?

Blegh it just goes on and on and did I mention BBQ sauce?

There are echoes of several common plot threads. A woman. Zoey, gets fired and changes careers. Food truck in a competition. Zoey's love interest starts out as her nemesis. The outcome is predictable.

I said echoes because this movie is also a little different and I think that's mostly how the common themes are done. There was a slight surprise before the end, but I aslo expected it. The dialogue is decent.

Rachel Bles is upbeat and appealing, despite what appears to be a short resume with no previous rom/com leads. She has definite chemistry with Stephen Huszar. There is just enough relationship development combined with the story elements of the contest and her former boss's shenanigans to keep my interest. Supporting actors also do a decent job.

It's too bad Livia, the truck, seemed to get more love than the dog.

Several reviewers presumed this to be Hallmark. It premiered on UpTV. There is a line in this movie which steals the title of a Hallmark movie, and Hallmark doesn't usually do that.

In the past few months UP movies are showing a 'growing up' if that is the correct term. Actors are better, stories are stronger and they are not only believable (well some of the time lol) but are enjoyable. This one was no different BUT just one thing that grated on me was the test tasting of the sauce using the spoon that was stirring the sauce. You may be able to do that in your own home but no cook or chef on TV would do that. You must always have other spoons available and once used are not used again, always a new one. I really enjoyed it and recommend.

5.9 stars.

I'm not in the mood for a substandard movie right now. I read some reviews and figured I'd probably enjoy 'Cooking Up Love' a.k.a. 'The Sauce of Love', because some of the criticisms seemed trite.

At first it's inviting and I feel the lead female has potential, but looking beyond her attractiveness, I see an obnoxious and harsh exterior that is difficult to overlook. Is this her ego emerging and creeping into her performance, or does she simply misinterpret the character? You can only disguise a beast behind a cute and infectious smile for so long.

As I continue watching and imagining the way this film could be improved, I see the flaws are too many to cover. The directing is ill-timed, the acting is subpar, the writing is just bad. Sorry, I can't see any way of lifting this movie out of the deep gulf where it resides. Usually I stick around to finish something, but this is a tad too poor for my standards, and like I said, I'm not currently in the mood. I watched the first hour, then skipped to the last 12 minutes. I just had to witness the supposed washout at the end...Ok, so I watched the ending and it's not realistic, but I've seen crazier. And the kiss at the end is average.