La cucina del cuore

Over the past decade, comedies about chefs and cooks have become more common in the movies and the Hallmark Channel has created a few. In this one, we have another Hallmark romcom about a brittle, driven professional and a casual, inventive, uncertain genius -- but this time, it's the guy who's the brittle, unhappy professional and the gal who's casual and so forth.

Well, hallelujah for that. Danielle Panabaker is awfully cute and able to project her vulnerability very well. Shawn Roberts offers a fine two-toned performance: control freak in the restaurant and barefoot in the country. Apparently no one bothered to talk with the script writer, because the dialogue makes reference to Miss Panabaker as being controlling.

Well, occasionally, some subversion needs to go on to keep things fresh. Ron Oliver has gotten enough shots to make it visually clear that this takes place in San Francisco, the leads are good and the talking about food is intelligent. The result is more than good enough.

Food. and love. and a story about trust, self definition, courage, decisions, self confidence and dreams and the team spirit. sure, romanticism. but in useful manner presented, with few inspired spices and good actors. and, more important, with a simple plot. charming, seductive, real nice. so, a reasonable modern fairy tale version.

'Recipe for Love' (2014)

Opening thoughts: 2014's 'Recipe for Love' did sound very charming even if the plot synopsis was nothing earth shattering. My Hallmark film completest quest (which has gradually overtime included Lifetime and UPTV), that is still ongoing with no intent to stop just yet, has been a very uneven endeavour but an interesting one with some real winners. Have liked Danielle Panabaker, Shawn Roberts and Pascale Hutton in other things as well, Hutton being the most familiar name.

Was a bit mixed personally on the premise. Really liked the setting and Hallmark have done food-related films very well many times, where there is a lot of fun, charm and relatability when done well. Everything with the ghost-writing sounded less appealing, and had potential to be mean spirited. On the most part, 'Recipe for Love' does a nice job with its premise while not entirely escaping the traps and is luckily closer to being one of the better 2014 Hallmark films rather than one of the worst.

Bad things: 'Recipe for Love' isn't perfect. Some of the initial banter was a little over-heated and hostile. For me, it took a while for me to warm to Roberts' character, seeming a little stiff and cold initially and the ghost-writing angle was not always handled very well due to making Roberts' character too cruel and Panabaker's bordering on naive.

Personally did find the ending on the too convenient side and too easily wrapped up, even for a story where it was easy knowing what was going to happen.

Good things: The film is compensated though by the performances. Panabaker is radiant and very charming and perky. Once he relaxed, Roberts is subtly charismatic and easy going, with witty, genuine chemistry with Panabaker. Most of the dialogue between the two was witty and amusing. Hutton is similarly very engaging and has one of the more easier to like characters and Karen Holness has fun without hamming it up too much as a character that could have been easy to overact. The characters are cliched and while some of the flaws are overdone the emotions and traits fitted the situations and much of what happens is light hearted and relatable.

While the direction is not innovative, 'Recipe for Love' is one of those films that doesn't require that. It still shows a nice understanding and control of the material and the character interaction doesn't come over as static.

Production values are well crafted and never look cheap, the scenery is especially nice. Hallmark tend to over-score their films, the music here fits nicely and doesn't come over as constant or too loud. Certainly not to the extent where you can't hear the dialogue. The dialogue here is suitably light-hearted and playful, while also having the right amount of seriousness without being melodramatic. The story makes great use of the setting, which has great nostalgic value, and while unoriginal and formulaic it is also lively and has a light and warm heart.

Closing thoughts: Overall, pretty good.

7/10.

Good acting, writing and production makes this film stand out among the usual formulaic romance movies that plague this time of year. Referring to it as a romcom is somewhat deceiving as it's not particularly funny, just mildly amusing. However, the actors have great chemistry, the plots are believable and if you're an adult viewers you will enjoy that it is devoid of the sophomoric nonsense of most "romance" holiday flicks. the film is deceptively multi-layered as there are great backstories, well done character development and plenty of underlying plots that make the film better than most. I highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this movie. The chemistry between the two leads was amazing. I loved the development of the romance due to a common interest. I find that many of the Hallmark romantic movies have characters back stories and story lines that are too unrealistic and contrived (falling in love in days, not seeing the obvious situations in front of them, the overacting, the unbelievable dialogue, etc.) This movie was not like that at all, which was refreshing. I felt invested with the characters; which kept me rooting for them, not only for their romance but also for their career success (which is what a movie is supposed to do).