Recipe for Love

An attractive, altogether edible food taster is tasked to ghost write for a muscular boorish celebrity chef whose strident alpha demeanor belies a sensitive side. Watching this prototypically telegenic couple fall in love served up a surprisingly digestible romance. Flavourfully garnished with two appealing leads, cutesy chat, touchy feely schmaltz, and the perfect amount of cheese! Zesty, rather than stodgy, this eminently snackable foodie romance won't leave a bad taste in your mouth! Frothier than a cappuccino, sweeter than mom's pumpkin pie, Recipe for love, while undeniably a familiar dish, is, for me, one of the more appetizing Hallmark confections. This 'chalk and cheese couple who inevitably become cheese & cheese lovers won't immediately have you reaching for the pepto bismol!

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).

I hate cookery programs!

But I love programs about food and artists and chefs (who are, after all, artists in their own, er, kitchen).

If you've read any of my other reviews - which you probably haven't - you might wonder how I can score this 7 whereas other more, arguably, 'worthy' and ambitious movies score much lower.

It's by Hallmark so you know what you're getting. It has no pretence. It sets out to do what it says on the tin and it does exactly that. There's no subterfuge. It doesn't try to be clever, misleading or something it's not. It's an enjoyable rom com and if that's what you want to watch, watch this - it won't leave you disappointed.

This movie is about a "Bad Boy" celebrity chef and the woman who is tasked with managing him and ghostwriting his new cookbook.

Slow, but kind of fascinating. Pretty romantic. Worth watching. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas. 1/26/2021

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.