This is a sweet movie, with better actors from the pool of Hallmark regulars than most. Kavan Smith and Autumn Reeser are both believable, charming, and comfortable in the roles they play (these being no exception). Their chemistry wasn't exactly off the charts, but they still worked well together and their romance was slowly built up (another reviewer mentioned that the use of montages and the passing of time made their budding relationship seem much more organic) rather than pushed too fast. Including the male lead's teenage daughter in the bonding felt natural too, unlike some of the young children in Hallmark movies whose purpose is essentially just to play matchmaker. The movie hits snags with only a few things:
Overall, though, this movie is cute and the setting is fun. It was also enjoyable to watch a movie where the frozen food business isn't seen as a massive bad guy (Hallmark's "Appetite for Love" comes to mind). It just could have used a few tweaks.
- The ending felt much too short on time. A lot of loose ends were left hanging in regards to the food critic and the future of the restaurant, which was unsatisfying. The movie also could've saved time in a variety of other scenes (or even cut a few) to make time for a bit of a longer ending.
- There were are a few plotlines that seemed to be picked up and dropped again with the lead's daughter that added nothing to her character or the story in the end. One such part comes to mind in which the daughter is suspended from school for hacking into school computers to change her friends' grades after they've been tampered with. This almost seems like the start of a B-story or even a mystery, but this is completely useless to the movie as a whole and is never expanded upon.
- Barbara Niven's character, the boss of the female lead, was one line short of being a cartoon villain. She had no sympathy, no charm, and never even pretended to care about ANYTHING but frozen foods, which seems odd at best and just over-the-top evil at worst.
- A lot of the movie is spent on helping Kavan Smith's character loosen up and allow change to infiltrate his life and his restaurant. By the end, he's accomplished this with the help of his love interest, but Autumn Reeser's character, who is shown at the beginning to be neurotic and almost clinical in her habits of order and cleanliness at home, never gets to benefit from the same character development (aside from one scene where she eventually is coaxed into making dough with her hands). It would have been nice to see them both impact each other's lives equally, rather than focusing so much on just one half of the coin.
Overall, though, this movie is cute and the setting is fun. It was also enjoyable to watch a movie where the frozen food business isn't seen as a massive bad guy (Hallmark's "Appetite for Love" comes to mind). It just could have used a few tweaks.