I love Christmas romance movies. I love cooking movies. This one had the premise to have it all but was just okay-ish. Of course, no-one expects an excellent and original plot, but a bit more work would make it much better. Everything seemed "too soon": all the problems got solved the next minute, the tention didn't last long and the leads didn't even have time to get the chemistry going. Nevertheles it's not a bad movie, it's quite nice and the main actors were really cute. I would recommend watching this movie after a few glasses of wine, so all the details would become insignificant.
13 Reviews
Fast moving and fun
Pete-Claus23 December 2019
The plot moves quickly from one conundrum to the next as the characters develop and as they come to grips with life lessons, but the movie keeps a light, humorous touch in between the more serious moments. Overall a pleasure to watch, with a clever plot resolution, and a good feeling at the end.
Cute, little innocent movie
sherrikorn28 July 2021
I enjoyed the movie once I got past the male lead was suppose to be from New York but, he had a British accent. It's not trying to win an Academy Award!! It just a sweet movie with a crisis and ends with a happy ending. It's not meant to be a deep, emotional experience.
Very attractive lead character, but a very mediocre movie.
TxMike24 December 2020
Abby's parents are deceased, she runs her grandmother's inn, she is always cheery and smiling, but she soon learns the truth. The inn is on the verge of failure, they are out of money, the grandmother hasn't paid the property taxes for several years, it would take almost $50,000 (Canadian, I presume) to get back in the clear.
As luck would have it a famous producer is planning a cooking contest with a prize of $50,000 and they want a local included. Of course Abby is the natural selection, but her nickname locally is "Five Alarm Abby" because she more often burns food she tries to cook.
As more luck would have it a young chef has just arrived, he is taking some time off, he agrees to teach her how to be a professional quality chef in a week. Of course all of us who are avid cooks know this cannot be done, but we go with it because the movie is light entertainment.
My wife and I frequently watch Hallmark movies and this one seems to want to follow that formula, but in all areas, script, cinematography, acting, this movie falls short. While the two lead actors are pretty good most of the others are amateurish.
Was it an appropriate expenditure of 90 minutes? Yes, I suppose so, as it was a free DVD rental from our public library. But in total it isn't really a very good movie.
As luck would have it a famous producer is planning a cooking contest with a prize of $50,000 and they want a local included. Of course Abby is the natural selection, but her nickname locally is "Five Alarm Abby" because she more often burns food she tries to cook.
As more luck would have it a young chef has just arrived, he is taking some time off, he agrees to teach her how to be a professional quality chef in a week. Of course all of us who are avid cooks know this cannot be done, but we go with it because the movie is light entertainment.
My wife and I frequently watch Hallmark movies and this one seems to want to follow that formula, but in all areas, script, cinematography, acting, this movie falls short. While the two lead actors are pretty good most of the others are amateurish.
Was it an appropriate expenditure of 90 minutes? Yes, I suppose so, as it was a free DVD rental from our public library. But in total it isn't really a very good movie.
A flavourless recipe
TheLittleSongbird20 July 2021
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.
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.
A Turkey
mariedonaldson30 November 2020
Horrible start
Jackbv1235 January 2020
I couldn't watch this movie through. The acting was horrible like a bunch of first time actors trying to find their way while they act AT one another. I couldn't stand the blatant naivete of Abby towards managing the inn and it's finances and especially cooking. Grandma was even worse. Much of it was supposed to be funny, but it struck me as just stupid.
It's another we-have-to-save-the-family-inn premise combined with total-amateur-wants-to-win-a-contest to save it.
It's another we-have-to-save-the-family-inn premise combined with total-amateur-wants-to-win-a-contest to save it.
The RIGHT recipe
dnbaeb1 December 2020
This movie had all the right ingredients for a terrific Christmas movie recipe. I loved that it wasn't "routine" in its story. With these s one you really didn't know what was coming next and it was interesting and not dull.
Like leaving sugar out of a cake
Christmasmoviewatcher19 December 2021
A recipe for yawning
adamjohns-4257516 January 2021
This film just didn't get started. I mean it did, but I turned it off after about 15 minutes, because the plot was blatantly obvious, she wasn't appealing and even he wasn't cute enough to keep me watching.
The supporting cast were terrible actors too, with terrible hair for some reason? The storyline just wasn't going to be good and I just don't have time for films that don't grab me.
I can't score it, because I didn't finish it.
The supporting cast were terrible actors too, with terrible hair for some reason? The storyline just wasn't going to be good and I just don't have time for films that don't grab me.
I can't score it, because I didn't finish it.
Harlequin Adaptation
pollyebeel29 January 2021
TV cooking contest + personal issues + family values!
jagough497 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Other reviews of this film present opinions - of course - but with little explanation to support these views, mainly negative and dismissive. At the risk of minor plot-spoiling, I think it is essential for a good review to explain what the movie is about, the characters and their interactions, and then base some opinions on this evidence in the narrative. (If a film is good enough, the plot spoilers won't harm the viewing, especially predictable romances, Christmas movies, and Hallmark films.)
The owner of an historic rural small town inn decides to enter a prestigious TV cooking contest to win funds for renovations and get free publicity, but she is a horrible cook. She recruits a renowned chef to help but the kitchen isn't the only thing heating up.
This is based on the novel, "Recipe for Redemption", by Anna J. Stewart.
We meet the heroine, Abbie Denning (Madeline Leon), when she sets the smoke alarm off because, yet again, she is burning something in the kitchen. (She is known as "Five Alarm Denning" for good reason.) She is young, and single, and a sparkling personality who can bring out the best in anyone, but she can't cook - neither could her parents, who had been running the inn. Abbie's grandmother owns the small-town hundred-year-old inn (hotel) in a small rural town. The inn's usual cook has gone away, perhaps for a while, and Abbie, who is running the inn for her grandmother, is struggling to find a replacement cook. On the other hand, the only thing she can cook is the Christmas pudding that is her family's secret recipe. She learned to cook it - perfectly! - beside her grandmother, Alice, who can cook.
Sadly, Alice is in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease, and her future is not good. Sadly, we learn that Alice has been drawing on her own savings to supplement what the inn fails to earn, across several years, and now her money has run out and the bank is threatening to take over the inn, or force Alice to sell to a national hotel chain.
The serious young man who discovers Abbie in the smoke-filled kitchen is Jason Corwin, a celebrity TV chef from New York. His lawyer-agent has booked accommodation at the inn to help Jason break free from the grief he feels over the recent death of his brother and celebrity-chef partner, David; and from the feeling of betrayal by a former colleague, Roger, who has exploited David's death and Jason's grief to win his own celebrity TV chef position. And it gets worse. Jason was also involved in an apparent episode of cheating in a TV cooking competition when another colleague, Marcus, helped him during the competition (against the rules), but later denied giving the help. Jason has become notorious! And sad.
Then Abbie finds out that Jason's former TV cooking channel is going to hold a Christmas cooking contest in her town, and a local cook can possibly be one of the competitors, and, better still, the prize of $50,000 would cover the debt to the bank and save the inn - the only home that grandmother Alice has ever known, and now more than ever essential to Alice's physical and mental health! Exerting all her charm, Abbie succeeds in persuading Jason to be her crash-course cooking teacher, so that, in a few weeks of teaching, she can become a contender for the position of the local cook in the contest.
Not only is Jason sad, but he is very serious about cooking, describing it as a privilege, preparing the best food for other people to enjoy. And he repeatedly tells Abbie that cooking is dangerous - sharp knives, just to start with. He is also a snob, and used to top-class city restaurants in New York. He tells Abbie he has never eaten in a diner - even though New York is full of diners that feed people well and keep them happy - whereas Abbie thinks her local diner serves a BLT (bacon and lettuce sandwich) that is "to die for". Jason would rather die than even go into the diner, any diner, let alone eat any BLT!
By now we are about a quarter into the film, and the two main personalities, and their predicaments, are clear. Abbie is trying hard to learn to cook, and making mistakes, and Jason is warming to her, and the town, and softening in his intolerances. Abbie and Jason are beginning to succeed with Abbie's lessons, and beginning to know one another better - and finding out more about one another's issues. They are sympathetic characters, nicely cast, and well acted.
The tension drastically increases when treacherous Roger appears in the town, organising the cooking contest, and generally threatening anyone who gets in his way. In particular, he threatens to destroy everything Abbie values if she does not let his favoured contestant win the contest.
How Roger is thwarted, and what Marcus confesses about his betrayal of Jason, and why, and how everything turns out very well - this is a happy romantic Christmas movie, after all - is genuinely surprising, and plausible, and Roger gets some of what he deserves!
The fact that Abbie, all on her own, is an expert maker of her family's secret recipe pudding is her personal ace in the pack!
This is not a great Christmas movie, but it is a nice one.
Good movie
westwoodco-220149 November 2021
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