Christmas on the Menu

I agree with other reviewers here. The acting in this one was pretty good, especially the leads. However, my daughter had to keep throwing popcorn at me to keep me awake. So, acting aside, it was quite a snooze-worthy.

2020 was very variable to unimpressive when it came to Lifetime's Christmas films, and there was definitely the sense that the films were made in a rush with not a lot of preparation time. Yet enough of them were far from amateur-hour efforts and were still watchable all things considered. Lifetime just have done a lot better in previous years, although their festive output is very hit and miss it should not be dismissed outright as enough have left me pleasantly surprised.

'Christmas on the Menu' was though more or less what was expected, which was a watchable enough film with good moments and better than expected acting. But also one that is nothing extraordinary and does nothing new with pretty familiar plot tropes. Lifetime did a lot better than 'Christmas on the Menu', but also worse than what is a somewhat middling effort for them. Considering the difficult circumstances though, it did make do perhaps.

Am going to start with the good. The best thing about 'Christmas on the Menu' is the acting. Both Kim Shaw, though she overdid it at times early on, and Clayton James are very likeable leads and of the uniformly solid supporting cast Cynthia Gibb is a particular breath of fresh air. The characters are overused stereotypes but don't irritate or bore at least. Actually thought that the chemistry between Shaw and James was quite good and genuine once the relationship found its groove, have seen a lot worse lead chemistries in other Lifetime films.

The film also looks pretty decent all things considered and has some professionalism at least in its look. Especially the scenery. The music didn't sound too intrusive and some of the dialogue is cute, emphasis on some.

However, 'Christmas on the Menu' has its issues. The story never properly grabbed me, as well as being very predictable it is very thin on the ground and drags a lot from too much stretched padding and an uncertain feel most of the time. There isn't enough of an emotional core or charm which made the film come over as bland and lacking in substance too. The direction is competent in some parts but is disorganised and hesitant in others.

Furthermore, the script on the most part is too verbose and the flow is very stilted, had a feeling of it being written in haste and that it had not been proof read. The conflict completely lacks tension and it didn't actually feel like there was much at stake with the indifferent and too hasty way it's written in. A lot of ingredients in the story that are done very little with.

Overall, just about edible but didn't come over as cooked enough. 5/10.

For the person who put their review title as SMH you might want to get your facts straight. You said Cynthia Gibb who plays Kim Shaws mother in this movie is only 11 years older than Kim Shaw, you are 100% wrong, they are 21 years apart in age. Did you even bother to google their ages before you made that incorrect comment? Cynthia Gibb was born in 1963 and Kim Shaw was born in 84. Cynthia just turned 57 on December 14th and Kim is 36. That is not an 11 year difference. Thats 21. You might want to relearn how to do math. So yes. Their age difference is perfectly normal for mother daughter as ALOT of people have children at 21. It just baffles me people that don't take time to actually fact check facts they think are accurate.

This movie didn't hold my interest. It was boring, predictable and the lead actors had zero chemistry.

This movie uses the common trope of a B&B hosting reviewers which will affect their business. Throw in a little of the evil editor who changes the original reviews and add that it's not just the B&B but the owner's daughter's desserts that are getting reviewed. The conflict was created in a slightly unusual way but the surprise was dampened a little bit because you could see it coming from several scenes earlier. There are a lot of technical details about cooking sprinkled through the movie. There aren't that many of the traditional Christmas activities that are so formulaic in other Christmas movies.

I thought most of the actors were consciously "delivering" their lines as opposed to dialogue happening naturally and the dialogue wasn't that great. Kim Shaw overdid Josie's early anger for Tanner. Just watching the story and not inferring from external clues, for a while it was a tossup which guy, Tanner or Nolan, would get the girl. Both were good choices with no apparent flaws. But Jesse Kove had no chemistry with Shaw. Clayton James had some chemistry with Shaw but it wasn't sparkling. So much screen time revolved around the cooking that it diluted James and Shaw's chances to sell the romance.

Shanica Knowles does a song performance with some sultry moves. I wasn't impressed with her voice, but that's just me.

This is a watchable movie despite slightly below average acting . The story has some common elements with a couple of things out of the ordinary for Christmas movies.