Food or Drink-based

Catch of the Day

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: catch.webp

Doesn’t Flounder

**Spoilers Ahoy**

My reaction to this one is similar to last week’s premiere. That is, nothing to write home about, but likable and an easy watch. It managed to avoid the most irritating tropes including the last minute “misunderstanding due to miscommunication”. It hit enough of the usual Hallmark beats to give off that nostalgic comfortable feel. And it lacked anything super annoying, barring Evelyn, the truly awful and mean boss of our heroine, that is. But those over the top meanies can be a good thing if dealt with correctly by the end. I spent half the movie in suspense hoping for a massive telling off/”serves you right!” scenario. I was thinking this movie will rise or fall on what happens with Evelyn. It wasn’t quite the bolt of lightning moment I was hoping for, but it was good enough and at least the big showdown was face to face.

Sophie is a talented chef working at an elite fine dining restaurant in New York City. She is promoted to head sous chef and is one step closer to her dream of being an executive chef. Inconveniently, she receives a call from her sister who is struggling to run the family seafood restaurant in Montauk Long Island. She needs her help to get ready for the make or break July 4th celebration. The restaurant is dying a not-so-slow death, and to make things worse, it just got a bad review from a local influencer who bemoans how far this former Montauk institution has fallen since the death of their father. If Sophie can’t help, they will have to sell, which would make her mother very unhappy. Evelyn reluctantly gives Sophie 10 days off instead of the 3 weeks she asked for on the condition that Sophie prepares an impressive meal for some investors she will be entertaining there in her mansion on Montauk. Evelyn is the typical Hallmark Bad Boss: harsh, unappreciative, entitled, and unreasonable. In case we missed her role in the movie, when Sophie makes a command appearance at her vacation home but with her two nieces in tow and asks for some water for the little girls, Evelyn reacts like they are asking for pints of blood. Her own blood.

Sophie is scandalized when she gets to her family’s restaurant. She rarely visits since she doesn’t get any time off. The decor is tired, there are no customers, and horrors, they are using frozen fish instead of fresh when they are in one of the salt water fishing capitals of the world. Her sister, who doesn’t even like to cook, is financially and emotionally stressed, and even though Sophie is right in her criticisms, you can’t help but feel for both of them. I liked that there were no villains or idiots here. When the sisters said something hurtful to each other or had a disagreement, it was not silly but understandable and they both acted like adults and apologized in a timely manner. And that also goes for Sophie and Cam, the love interest. Sophie decides to shut the place down temporarily and have a grand re-opening on July 4. Whether they sell up or keep on going will depend on that crucial day.

When Sophie goes down to the docks to score some fresh fish, she runs into an old beau who gave her the cold shoulder in highschool, who runs his Dad’s fishing business. They re-fall in love over dinners, field trips, and walks on the beach which serve to showcase the beauty and appeal of Montauk. They seem to have plenty of time on their hands to re-kindle the romance even though she only has less than a week and a half to whip the old restaurant back into shape including a new menu, hiring a manager, establishing a social media presence, and re-decorating. Not to mention planning and preparing a stellar Michelin star level feast for Evelyn’s investors. This is standard operating procedure for Hallmark heroes and heroines when faced with a life altering impossible-to-meet deadline. Thankfully, I no longer get stressed out over the main couple’s poor time management skills and lack of urgency. I just go with it, trusting in Hallmark magic to avoid failure and disaster. At least Sophie comments on how much she has to do and looks stressed from time to time. Needless to say, as we see how wonderful her life could be at home in Montauk it becomes obvious to everyone but Sophie where her happy and fulfilling future lies. Especially contrasted with Evelyn’s unpleasantness and abuse. 

Like last week’s movie, this one was filmed partially in the United States (what’s going on?), but it ups the ante by being filmed right there in Montauk and environs. The show runners took full advantage, and I wish I could go there. Michael Rady, who played Fisherman Cam, and Emilie Ullerup, who played Sophie were a good match. The relationship was built realistically.  Sophie’s overhaul of her family restaurant wasn’t entirely smooth sailing (providing some humor), and the romance with Cam wasn’t either.  It took a while for Sophie to see how happy her future could be running her family restaurant compared with what her life would be continuing to work for Evelyn. Thanks to her heroics planning the meal for Evelyn’s investors, including overcoming disasters not of her making, Evelyn finally realizes Sophie’s worth and offers her the executive chef position at her new restaurant…in Las Vegas. In case it wasn’t obvious what Sophie would ultimately do, that revelation pretty much sealed the deal. Sophie herself doesn’t get it until on the helipad with Evelyn on the way out of Montauk. The confrontation scene was OK even though there was no screaming involved and they both acted like mature adults. Sophie even got back in time to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks with her family and her man.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Double Scoop

/ Rebekahrox / 8 Comments

Déjà Moo

The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: doublescoop2.jpg

Man, I can’t be too hard on this one. This was a very innocuous old fashioned Hallmark story which didn’t try to be anything other than what it was. Since it succeeded in reaching that unambitious bar, and did nothing to get on my bad side, I’m hovering between a 6 and a 7 out of 10 on my special Hallmark Scale. Someday, I’ll have to define exactly what that is. Stay tuned. Also it had a few saving graces in addition to the nostalgic vibe.

Nora (Taylor Cole) and James (Ryan McPartlin) are two successful Advertising Executives who are vying for the business of the same ice cream company. They used to work for the same top NYC agency until  Nora followed Alexandra, one of their vice presidents who quit to go off on her own. The culture of her new company is more humanistic, emphasizes a strong work/life balance (a favorite Hallmark ethos lately) and less cutthroat than the agency she left which James still works for. Needless to say, he is up for a big promotion if he lands this account, which will make or break their rival, the small still struggling start-up. So there you have it. The duo are not initially too friendly as James once got credit for Nora’s work, and apparently he did nothing to rectify that, and Alexandra chose Nora over James to bring with her to her new firm. Nora is a better person than James, obvs. (Later we get a sob story from James which explains his character failings which he apologizes for.) James and Nora agree on a set of rules while they compete for the dairy farm’s business which boils down to “no funny stuff.” 

The duo bond over cute little baby cows, delicious ice cream, farm chores, and a festival. Also there is the granddaughter of the elderly dairy farm couple/ice cream makers, whose hobby is udderly lame cow puns. I love stupid puns, but these were not even remotely a-moo-sing.  Of course at the end, James’ boss does engage in unethical business practices which sets up the big ending conflict. At least it is a legit one. It really looks as if James stabbed Nora in the back to win the account. Which he does (win the account). At first. Until he makes it right. 

If you are aiming to spend 2 hours engaging in a low risk, low expectation Hallmark experience, this one will fit the bill. It stars two Hallmark mainstays, Taylor Cole being more main than Ryan McPartlin. 41 year old Taylor and 50 year old Ryan have both been around a while in the Hallmark universe. Taylor Cole is one of the more classically beautiful Hallstars. Both look great although Ryan’s teeth are a little unsettling and sometimes Taylor’s hairstyle looks better in some scenes than others. Sorry! They were good together, and funny trying to ingratiate their New York selves with the down home farm people while hiding their ill feelings. The plot line fit their ages, which was unusual enough and a definite positive. Also, although set in Wisconsin, it was not filmed in Canada, but Alabama, U.S.A! You can never go wrong with ice cream, and the gimmick for the little company is sweet and savory inventive flavors which sounded…interesting: Blue Cheese and Honey Roasted Pear, Mascarpone and Balsamic Strawberry, Vanilla Bean and Smoked Maple, Apple Ginger Snap. Cowabunga! I particularly liked Chondra Pierce who played the grandmother. Great Voice! The actors who played the two bosses were familiar and good-to-see faces as well. Popular and always busy actor Patrick Muldoon played bad guy Everett. The actress who played Alexandra, the nice boss, looked very familiar to me and at first I thought it was another second tier Hallmark regular, but it turned out to be Elisa Donovan, who hilariously played Amber, Cher’s nemesis, in Clueless! Even the cows looked familiar but I was thinking of the Chick-Fil-A ads and bill boards. I think this is one of those ones which might improve upon re-watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Unwrapping Christmas: Mia’s Prince

/ Rebekahrox / 6 Comments
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: unwrapping-mia.jpg

Furoshiki

This is the second one in the gift wrapping series and the business is still burbling along quite nicely. Of course it is, we are still rehashing the week before Christmas from the first movie with the 4 women preparing for the Christmas Gala.  I still don’t have any faith in the long term viability of their gift wrapping shop when it’s not gift-giving season. We will never get to see how the women fare during the barren retail desert of January and February. But thankfully in this one we don’t get even a hint of any of Tina’s stupid woes securing The Alford House as the venue. This is all about Mia who is in charge of the decorating and the catering among other things. I liked this one a lot better than the first one for several reasons. For one, I actually liked Mia and Kathryn Davis did a nice job with the character. She had challenges with getting the decorations right (the idiot vender sent her “Marlins” instead of “Garlands”) and the caterer will cancel at the last minute to provide a crisis and some suspense. But her problems were not self-inflicted and did not suck all of the air out of the movie. They stayed in the background with Mia yelling over the phone and sighing occasionally, but by and large she just handled it with no muss or fuss. The main story was how gentle, romantic, and too sweet for her own good, Mia, learns to stand up for herself and not let people take advantage of her good nature.

Mia is a dreamer and a hopeless romantic who loves to read. Her favorite book is an early 19th century novel called Christmas at Derbyshire. Think Jane Austen but more romantic and cliché. She has been saving for over a year working her little gift-wrapping fingers to the bone to buy a first edition from her local book shop. So right from the start, I liked and empathized with Mia. In the midst of competently preparing for the gala, two things happen. Her sister, who has always overshadowed and dominated her, shows up unexpectedly and steamrolls her into letting her crash at her apartment for several days as she just lost her Chef job. Along with her cat to which which Mia is allergic. This forces Mia to spend the night at the shop on the couch. She is awakened by a handsome guy knocking on the window because of a gift-wrapping emergency. He thinks the store is open because Mia fell asleep reading (awh) with the lights on. It is the prince of … : Mia’s Prince! Or a reasonable facsimile.

Beau Cavanaugh (Nathan Witte) is from a wealthy and socially prominent family. He is very nice with kind soft eyes and is immediately smitten with sweetie-pie Mia. It’s mutual, once Mia realizes the next morning that she didn’t just dream him up and he is a real guy. His mother Claire, however, is a stone-cold (w)itch. And therein lies the drama. Besides Mia not being good enough society-wise for her son, it turns out that she has engineered a forced engagement between Beau and Penelope, the daughter of a prominent white family who has her own secret romance going with another guy. (Very 19th Century!) Beau and Penelope are good friends, but, as Beau explains to Mia, he is really not engaged. Except he is, because Backboneless Beau is too much of a wuss to stand up to his terrifying mother, even when she books the wedding venue and sets the date for the wedding without consulting him or Penelope! Mia, bless her, puts her foot down, tells him off, very eloquently I might add (twice!), and breaks up with him. And guess what? When Beau finally stands up to Claire about Mia, Mom basically tells him, “what took you so long to stop being a wimp?” Lanette Ware, who plays the mother, steals every scene she is in.

As for the Gala, despite Mia’s challenges with the decorations and the caterer, we already know it goes off without a hitch because of the movie last week. The main focus is how Mia irons out her problems with her overbearing sister, and what happens when she finds out that the beloved first edition she has been faithfully saving for gets sold out from under her. I won’t spoil it for you (Hahaha) but it was neatly wrapped up with a pretty bow on top. And a kiss under the Mistletoe. Taking 1/2 a star off for Beau being such a weakling.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

To Barcelona, Forever

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: barcelona2.jpg

Part II. Just Add Saffron.

Ok so now it’s Anna’s turn to find her soulmate in Barcelona (or vicinity). In the first movie of this two-parter an author (Anna) and the translator of her book (Erica) met in Barcelona and became best friends. Erica found true love with her best friend (No, not Anna-another one-a guy) and Anna found her true calling, which was not a novelist but a food writer. Erica is the true novelist. Or is she? A publisher has given her a book deal without her even having to submit a proposal or even a vague idea for a novel, and she has not written a word. Yes, it’s the dreaded Hallmark Writer’s Block. But we’ll put a pin in that one because this movie is about Anna who has spent the last 5 months traveling around Europe blogging about food. She has attracted the interest of a food magazine who is willing to give her a real job if she can blow off their socks with a groundbreaking article on something to do with food.

Anna visits a gourmet shop and the shop owner suggests a teeny tiny jar of the world famous saffron that he is the exclusive purveyor of. When she finds out the price, she laughs in his face “Does it come with its own private chef?” and makes another sarcastic remark or two. Unfortunately, the owner of the saffron farm, Javier Estrella, is standing right behind her. Meet Cute Alert!  He is very offended and she is very abashed. She wants to write about his saffron and his family who for generations have been producing the world’s finest example of the venerated spice. That’s a big nope. Besides the disdain he feels for Anna, his family takes privacy to an almost pathological level. Even the village they live in is so secret, no one can find it, “unless they want you to. And they don’t.” We’ll put a pin in that one too. Well, one thing leads to another, the disdain does not last long, and the sparks just fly off these two. They have a magical evening which ends with a kiss. On her way to Portugal the next morning, Anna’s car breaks down right outside Javier’s secret village (What are the odds?-It must be fate). Javier is horrified to find her lugging her luggage down the street, thinking she followed him. As it turns out, Javier was in Barcelona to meet a matchmaker his mother set him up with. He promised her he would get married before the next harvest in a couple of weeks and start having babies to continue the family legacy. His family will think Anna is his fiancée (they work fast in this neck of the woods). Instead of telling his mother the truth they decide to compound the problem and have Anna pose as his fiancée so his mother will have her heart broken later rather than sooner, and broken worse by getting her hopes up and of course she will grow to love the super charming Anna. In turn, Javier will let Anna publish her article about the family business, on the condition he approves of it once it’s written. Orphan Anna grows to feel a part of the warm tradition-loving family and romance, conflict, misunderstandings, hurt feelings, drama, comedy, and a festival ensue. And Erica and Nico from the first movie show up adding to both the fun and the tribulations which follow.

Thanks to the performances of Ashley Williams and Miguel Bracco, who played Javier, this movie won me over pretty quickly with their first scene together. Their chemistry (hate that word, but what can you do?) between the two really made the romance work. Their banter was funny, thanks to both their delivery and the writer (Julie Sherman Wolfe). Ashley brought her Golden Retriever puppy dog personality somewhat to heel, and nailed her character’s vulnerable introspective side. The easy rapport between Ashley Williams and Alison Sweeney was a natural. What took them so long?  The saffron aspect was interesting and educational.

It was not problem free, of course. Few Hallmarks are. There were the usual cliches, nonsensical decisions, and other questionable occurrences only for the sake of plot and drama. And the casting was a little off the wall. This included the actor playing Javier’s father being the same age as Ashley Williams, his future daughter-in-law (presumably). The Mom was also very youthful and hip looking for such an old-fashioned character. And other things we won’t dwell on. It will be a banner day when Hallmark embraces the real ages of their talented and popular lead actresses and gives them roles which acknowledge that yes, even women in their 40s and 50s can find romance and adventure. Which I would guess is their target market, by the way. Insert “shrug” emoji.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

To Barcelona, With Love

/ Rebekahrox / 6 Comments
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: barcelonalove.jpg

The Ashley and Alison Show

This was almost really good. The plot was a fairly fresh take on the iconic Cyrano de Bergerac love triangle. Roxanne with Steve Martin was mentioned. Anna, played by Ashley Williams, is a romance writer whose latest book is a big flop. That is because she is not a good writer. Case in point. She sets the book in Barcelona, Spain and she has never even been to Barcelona. But that’s OK because “she walked the streets” courtesy of Google Maps Street View. Her first book was successful only because she had a wonderful editor who fixed it. Her publisher does not want to have anything more to do with her. Until the soaring sales figures from Barcelona come in. Shockingly, instead of being exposed there as being phony and inauthentic to the native Catalans, it is a big hit. That’s because of…Erica. Erica, played by Alison Sweeney, is an expat American who has lived and worked in Barcelona for 10 years. She is a literary translator who is the one who translated Anna’s book into Spanish. Except she didn’t just translate it she rewrote it completely. “I didn’t mean to!” Her knowledge and love for the city shown through and she put in a lot of symbolism and other stuff, making it an almost instant modern classic in Catalonia. She is best friends with a very handsome bookseller, Nico, with whom she is secretly in love. He absolutely loves the book and invites the “author”, Anna, to Barcelona to promote it at his bookstore. Anna is thrilled, especially when she gets to Spain and gets a load of handsome and sexy Nico. They start crushing on each other.  Erica and Anna become friends and it isn’t long before Anna realizes, humorously, that the Spanish version of the book is nothing like the English version that she wrote. “Dolphins? I don’t remember writing anything about Dolphins?!”. The whole truth comes out and Anna and Erica decide to keep the secret so as not to ruin the bookstore event. And all of this is with the full blessing of the publisher, as long as Erica keeps to her non-disclosure agreement. I was relieved not to have to deal with a lot of faffing around with zero communication, lies, or threats of exposure. Well OK, Nico was out of the loop, but that was necessary to the romance, and the women’s efforts to keep up the deception were amusing. And although not realistic, Anna did not get cranky about Erica taking over her book. It only made her realize that she was not that kind of writer. Besides, she still got credit for it.

As Anna, Erica, and Nico tour around Barcelona, it becomes more and more clear to everyone that Erica is the one who should be with Nico, not Anna, with whom he has nothing in common. It was a slow burn romance and nicely done. What makes this movie, beside the beautiful setting, is the character of Anna and the performance of Ashley Williams. While her super-smiley perky sparkles personality and acting style can wear thin very quickly, she was perfectly cast as the exuberant extrovert Anna to whom no one is a stranger. Williams really leans into her signature acting style in what is almost a self-parody. She attacks people she sees reading her book, introduces herself as the author, holds up her photo on the book jacket to prove it, and insists on signing it for them. It was funny. She is more interested in food and eating than sight-seeing. It isn’t long before she knows more about where to eat in Barcelona than the natives do. As it turns out, Anna may not be able to write romantic fiction, but she’s a genius at writing about food. How will Anna and Erica, who is the true novelist, get their careers and love lives on the right paths? 

This movie was fun because the veteran Hallmark writer, Julie Sherman Wolfe,  kept it light-hearted and romantic, avoiding stupid misunderstandings, festering secrets, and hostile threats from bullying bosses that this type of plot could very well have fallen into. A case could be made that the two talented actresses were too old for their parts. At one point Erica hints that she is still looking to start a family. And Ashley’s part as a budding writer who still hasn’t found her niche is more suitable for someone in their 20s or early 30s. But these were minor points and easily pushed to the side. And, we are in good hands with the two talented Hallmark veterans. Plus Alison Sweeney and Alejandro Tous were a good match. The only thing that brought the movie down was Erica taking way too long to claim what she deserved in her career and personal life. She made hiding and denying practically an art form. Not my favorite.

As it turns out this was the first part of a movie duo. Next week it’s Anna’s turn to get the guy in Barcelona. I’m looking forward to it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Hearts Around the Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient.

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments
The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: kiki.jpg

I Didn’t know Whether to Add Stars or Subtract Them.

**Spoilers**

Jenna and Andrew are getting married in 4 days. Will Kiki, the last foster child on the docket, be able to meet, get to know, and fall in love with some man, have a big conflict, and then make up with him all the while preparing to cater her sister’s 100 guest wedding out of a food truck? It won’t be easy, but it’s Saturday night on the Hallmark Channel, so the answer is “yes.”  We see the road forward when we are introduced to Andrew’s best man who just happens to be the executive chef and owner of one of the most well-established restaurants in town. He is played by Torrance Coombs, who has been in a Hallmark and similar movie a time or two. There was one I didn’t like, but one I really did. And it turns out that he was the best thing about this one. He brought a suave and sophisticated mature older-man vibe to the proceedings that I really liked. Even though he was supposed to be the same age as Andrew. Kiki is supposed to be somewhat younger, so it was OK. I bought it.

Kiki is rather prickly with Clay when they first meet and she finds out his status in the local restaurant scene. She understandably feels a lot of pressure to make things perfect for her sister and now feels that she and her food truck will be judged and found wanting. And unexpected problems and glitches do seem to be mounting up. And no wonder, because she seems to be doing everything as if she didn’t know she was going to be the caterer until yesterday. Clay is very nice and makes it clear he has nothing but respect for her talent, admires her spirit and creativity, and even envies her freedom to create and serve what she wants.  Mainly, he points out that she is so preoccupied by prepping for the reception that she is missing out on her sister’s wedding and her bridesmaid duties. Kiki conquers her “I-can-do-it-all-by-myself-itis” and she lets him advise and help her. Only one day to the wedding, and they even have time to help out a local food bank.

All proceeds as expected on the romance and professional front until the night of the rehearsal dinner, when all things go to hell in a handbasket. Clay warmly introduces his female friend and colleague, another prominent chef, to the group and praises her skills and her restaurant. He praises Kiki and introduces her especially, and the lady makes some subtle digs at Kiki and her food truck.  Kiki goes on high alert, insecurity rears its ugly head again, and she gets huffy and sneaks out of the dinner. At first I thought she was being overly sensitive and overreacted. But looking at the exchange again, I didn’t really blame her for getting her panties in a twist. But she shouldn’t have walked out of her sister’s rehearsal dinner. She missed all of the drama.

While the Clay and Kiki saga was going on, Angie, the foster mother, tracked down Jenna’s long lost father behind her back as a special treat for Jenna. In the middle of the dinner, in he walks, still in his work clothes. What was the normally wise and caring Angie thinking? Not surprisingly Jenna was not pleased that the father who abandoned her and her mother (It wasn’t my idea!) shockingly intrudes uninvited by her on her happy (except for Kiki) rehearsal dinner. He didn’t even know her mother had died 20 years ago, and that Jenna had been raised in foster care (And why not, may I ask, you Jerk? That $64,000 question never gets answered.) She even turns on Andrew, the fiancé, in her anger and disgust. Uh Oh, SpaghettiOs.

And things go downhill from there! It got very awkward. As awkward as I’ve ever seen in a Hallmark movie. In fact, it was such a trainwreck, I almost gave it extra stars for the entertainment value. I’ll try not to give a play by play, but it mainly involves Kiki chopping vegetables like a maniac in her food truck the morning of the wedding after firing all of her temps instead of being a help and support to her traumatized sister. Also, Jenna refuses to walk down the aisle without the stranger she met the night before at her side (Don’t ask about the change of heart, because I have no idea). She keeps her Groom and his Groomsmen standing awkwardly in front of all of the guests in the pews waiting for her to appear while dear old “Dad” is rounded up.  They stand there quietly panicking and being stared at in silence without even any organ music for at least 20 minutes. They have no idea what is going on! And don’t get me started on Josh’s honey walking down the aisle like a hotdog in the middle of it all to straighten his tie. And the baptismal font in the middle of the aisle which Jenna, Deadbeat Dad, and Angie have to dodge on the trip to the altar.

Anyway, just to wrap up, the wedding happens in spite of itself and Kiki and Clay declare their undying love after knowing each other for 4 actually 3, days during which a good chunk of that time she was mad at him. What was the fourth ingredient? Another question goes unanswered. Stars for Mr. Coombs and all the craziness.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

The Magic of Lemon Drops

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

The Roads Not Taken

**Spoilers**

Seems like there has been a lot of fantasy stories on Hallmark lately and this was another one. I was a little suspicious and the title did not set me at ease. But I really enjoyed it. It was well constructed with likable characters and sharp dialogue.  Lyndsy Fonseca and Ian Harding, the female and male leads were wonderful. In fact the whole cast and the characters they played were top-notch.  When Lyndsy does a Hallmark odds are (so far) that it will probably have a fantasy element. She has been nothing but appealing and likable. Stephanie Sly as The Best Friend, and Mariam Bernstein as The Eccentric Aunt were stand-outs. Ian Harding brought a real Paul Campbell vibe to his role which is about the highest compliment I can give him.  Honestly this role could have been written for Paul Campbell, one of my and many others’ favorite Hallmark regulars. Ian Harding played the love interest in Ghosts of Christmas Always. Enough said.

Lolly works with her father at their little restaurant, The Eatery. She is tired, sad, and frustrated. Her dreams of having her own fun and elegant restaurant in New York complete with love and her own family have almost faded away. John B. Lowe plays her father who  embodies my most disliked Hallmark type: A business owner who will sacrifice everything to save the business except take advice and make the changes needed to give his business a chance to survive. Not an auspicious start. To add to Lolly’s discontent, her ex-boyfriend is back in town. He is a successful doctor because he left her and their small town to pursue his own dream. He is a happily divorced and professionally satisfied single father now, and Lolly is full of regrets over their bad break-up which was her fault. When she voices her frustrations and doubts about how she can get her life back on track to her Aunt Gert, Aunt Gert, who is a truly wonderful character, ends up giving her 4 magic lemon drops.  If she eats one before she goes to sleep, her dream that night will be one whole day living a life she yearns for. When she wakes the next morning, she will remember the “dream,” which will help her choose the best path.  She gets 3 chances. The 4th drop, if she takes it, will allow her to pick one of the 3 lives she dreamed of, and her memories going forward will only be of that one life.

The first life she wants to experience is her professional and creative dream of her own restaurant in NYC. When she wakes up the next morning she reflects on the fact that despite having her Michelin-starred fantasy restaurant, her life was still full of creative frustration and financial troubles. She still had no love life, and in addition she was on the outs with her sister and her father. She is more confused and frustrated than ever, so the next night she wishes her wise and loving mother was still alive to support and advise her. That happens and it is wonderful but it also comes with unlooked for and unwelcome consequences. The last lemon drop is to peek into what her life would be like if she and Rory had not broken up, but are happily married with their own family. And it was lovely. But….

In between the nightly dreams of the alternate lives, We spend the days with Lolly as she starts a little side-hustle business of gourmet frozen fruit and herb pops (‘Lolly-Pops”) which gets off to a promising start. She mends her relationship with Rory and starts to see her Aunt Gert, her sister, her father, and even her late mother with new eyes. All these multi-layered stories weaving in and out of each other and each playing out in logical conflicting consequences yet with recurring themes in common could have been a hot mess. Just like that sentence. But it was done seamlessly. And I was not confused.  I was impressed with the detail incorporated into each dream life and its setting along with her “real” life interspersed in the daytime. Everything kept moving forward at a perfect pace and was tied together beautifully to the littlest detail. They even managed to incorporate a cute dog.

There was drama and surprises. Lessons are learned. And they are good ones. Life is a series of trade-offs both sweet and sour. Find your joy and happiness in what you chose. Best of all, the romance was compelling, fully developed, and mature without the usual silly Hallmark tropes. Gosh, I think I’ll have to give this one an almost 10.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

A Very Vermont Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

Hoppy Christmas!

As is often the case when a Hallmark has no one in the cast I am a big fan of, and the plot seems the usual standard fare, I did not hold out much hope for this one. But I sucked it up and devoted 2 hours to it last night. Although it did not not exceed my expectations, it had a few aspects that rescued it from utter mediocrity. First, I liked the craft beer angle. Wine has been overdone (in the movies) as has confections. They leaned into the process pretty well, and it added some interest.  Second, the main antagonist provided some tension and suspense. He was a curious and layered character. Ultimately he was a bad guy who behaved atrociously, but who was, at times, rather sad and pitiable. It also managed to avoid some bad behaviors that plague Hallmark couples. Specifically, conducting the romance under a cloud of lies and obfuscation. Of course, one of them is accused of lying, but it he wasn’t. Lies and romance are hard to separate in any fiction, not just Hallmark.

Katie Leclerc plays Joy, a former champion skier, who is trying to keep her family’s small craft brewery and bar from being absorbed by the corporate meanies trying to buy them out. Her main competitor, Frosty’s, I think, is owned by her former ex-boyfriend. He is all about the bottom line and only sells mass market national brands. So a clear definition between Good and Evil according to Hallmark. The ex seems to be working against Joy constantly while trying to get back together with her. It’s confusing. Our Hero, Zac, is a lover and connoisseur of craft beers but is a representative of one of these national brands and is there in Vermont on some kind of business related to Frosty’s. He is also meeting his formerly estranged father there later to cement their new found bond by going skiing. Zac is a terrible skier and he gets Joy to give him lessons. So between the Craft Beer and the skiing, the romance happens. Also a contest happens for the best craft beer, the winner of which will receive a national distribution deal from Zac’s beer company.  When Joy’s recipe for the beer she is entering in the contest is stolen, she blows up her romance with Zac by accusing him of the espionage, completely forgetting that she left her weasel of an ex and long-time adversary who has a history of bad behavior alone with the recipe. Needless, and I do mean needless, to say, Joy prevails with Zac’s help, and skip skip skip, her brewery/pub is saved and Zac decides to stay in Vermont.

I like Katie LeClerc all right. She gets the job done and looks younger than her years. And, bonus, her forehead wrinkles when called for.  John Forrest,  who played her ex-boyfriend really brought the creep factor, which was compounded by the fact that he was supposed to be her same age, but looked a lot older than even the 6 years that separate the two actors. Funnily enough, Ryan McPartlin, who looked very age appropriate for Katie, is actually 5 years older than John Forrest. Somehow, it all worked. This is one of those Hallmarks which telegraphs everything that happens well in advance but that chugs along to the end without anything to really love or hate.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Two Scoops of Italy

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

Italy and Ice Cream. What Could Go Wrong?

We meet Danielle, our heroine, in Chef’s garb, constructing some fussy, fiddly, fancy Jenga towers of multicolored food that personally, I would be hesitant to eat, although they photograph well. Her restaurant, which is an expensive “special occasion only” type of place has temporarily closed its doors due to lack of customers. She is trying to construct a new menu in order to retain the investment of her rich friend, whose Dad is urging him to stop putting money into Danielle’s restaurant and invest in something safer. But Richie Rich is going to give her one last chance. She has a month to convince him that she can make a success out of her restaurant. Yes, the dreaded Hallmark Deadline. When she gets home to her sister, she flops down on the couch and scarfs down a take out pizza with gusto and decides she must go to Inspirational Italy to get inspired.

**Spoiler Alert**

The first 5 minutes is a metaphor for the whole movie. To wit, to be a successful chef, she must learn she should cook what she loves to eat: down home Italian food in a setting in which people feel comfortable, at ease, and want to gather. Of course she doesn’t get this until the movie’s 1 hour and 45 minute mark including commercials and promos for Hallmark’s “Merry Movie Week” marathon. And first she has to meet a handsome gelato-obsessed cafe owner, travel around the Italian countryside with him on a Vespa, and hobnob with the local townspeople.

**End Spoiler**

Just to fill in some details. It is Smokin’ McDamn-inetti’s father’s cafe and the old stick-in the-mud refuses to let his son offer unusual exciting flavors of gelato to his clientele. Despite the fact that this is what his beloved dead wife did every summer, he won’t budge an inch and let his son honor his mother and indulge his adventurous side. He was just awful seemingly just for the sake of being awful because I really didn’t get it. I mean, what is the big deal? One of the townspeople is Danielle’s pretty landlord who becomes her wise friend and gives her a memoir of an American tourist who visited their small picturesque town many years ago.  Danielle’s activities start to mirror the activities of the lady in the book. One gets the feeling that this book will have something to do with Danielle’s epiphany and the happy ending! The pretty landlord is the one who gets the requisite secondary romance.

**Another Spoiler**

It turns out the lady who wrote the book is the mother of one of the cafe’s regulars, the archetypal wise old sage,  who gives Danielle some wise advice and sparks her breakthrough regarding the kind of food and atmosphere the new version of her restaurant should have. She wins over Richie Rich via a zoom call, but what about her relationship with the hot lovelorn Gelato-making frustrated world-traveller? One of them is going to have to move. Guess who?

Despite my  world and Hallmark-weary tone, I did like this one, as I’ve liked 2 of the other the #PassportToRomance offerings. (But I am ready to move on to the next theme.) The story was well constructed and Danielle and Giancarlo’s  romantic and career journeys made sense. The Italian small town and countryside settings were fine and the side characters were engaging, except for the awful father. Special mention to the kid who played the 9 year-old “I prefer Strawberry” food critic, Nico. I particularly liked Michele Rosiello who played Giancarlo. He really made me believe his sizzling attraction and love for Danielle despite getting little to no reciprocal help from his leading lady, Hunter King, in my view. God knows why, he was very attractive, and I’ve had no problem with the actress in the past. The character was likable, but I just didn’t feel the romance on her end.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

A Greek Recipe for Romance

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

She Can Pronounce “Spanakopita” but not “Gyro?”

 This was a very well done movie! It combined what is often so good about the travelogue-type Hallmarks with a good story and likable characters. The travelogue part and local culture part was smoothly incorporated into the story. It didn’t take place on one of the touristy islands so we are spared the usual famous ruins. It had affecting family conflict, a fair amount of tension and suspense, and a believable love story. Best of all, the characters not only did not act like idiots, but were sensible, capable, and smart. The two leads were attractive with the added bonus of being fresh faces.

Abby is fired from her job in New York as an Assistant Manager of a prestigious hotel. Not sure why, since she is demonstrably very capable at it. She goes up in the elevator expecting to be deservedly promoted and comes down fired. Weird. She takes the opportunity to visit her mother who moved to Greece a few years prior. Her mother is a real estate agent with a pink office building which just doesn’t fly in Greece where everything is white and blue. She is also dating a handsome Greek man. Abby, being the good manager she is, soon puts a stop to the pink, revises her mom’s website, and her real estate business starts to take off. Thanks to her Mom’s Greek assistant, she also partners up with Theo, who is a wonderful Cordon Bleu trained chef who wants to open his own restaurant but knows nothing about business or customer service.  Helping Theo will give her resume a much needed dose of restaurant experience and Abby is nothing if not a go-getter.

Theo at first comes off like an entitled jerk but as the movie goes on his character softens and he comes across as rather sweet and shy.  The two work together to outfit the restaurant, work on a menu, tackle zoning problems, and get the place up to snuff so it will pass inspection. They butt heads over some things, but refreshingly, they compromise and keep moving forward. To keep things interesting, unbeknownst to Abby, Theo is a billionaire scion of a powerful shipping family who wants to make it on his own. He goes by his down-to-earth late mother’s name and it’s a big secret. The ongoing conflict is with his powerful father who, of course, like all powerful Hallmark fathers, wants his son to join the family firm. Definitely not follow his own different drummer by opening some rinky-dink cafe.

While we tour around Greece, make olive oil, and eat delicious Greek food there is a specter of vague menace and disaster lurking around the corner. His Dad has sent his minion (or maybe it’s his other son) Dmitri,  to get Theo back to Athens. Although not stated, there is a distinct threat of “Or Else”. Dmitri is as scary as he is attractive. We suspect that he might be responsible for the chain of difficulties Theo and Abby have to contend with business-wise. Whether that is actually the case is left up in the air. Also adding to the suspense is how the big secret of his true identity will go over with Abby. When she inevitably finds out, she does not freak out but is level headed about it. In fact, she uses  his renowned name on her resume to snag an even better job than the one she didn’t get a promotion to!

What I liked about this one was that the roadblocks to Abby and Theo’s relationship and the challenges they run into opening the restaurant are resolved with common sense, hard work, and effective communication. I thought “Well good for her!” or “Good for him!” more than once. That is more unusual than it should be in a Hallmark movie. The end is predictable, of course. But when Theo’s powerful father shows up at the restaurant and concedes his formerly intractable position on Theo’s future, I almost choked up a bit. Nice closure at the end as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10.