Always Amore

This was another restaurant movie. It had potential, but lacked energy. Autumn Resser and Tyler Hynes are usually good bets for Hallmark. They do not set me aflutter, but are reliable in their assorted offerings. Not so this time. Ms. Reeser was more whiny than usual and dull. Her stubborn fixation with her dead husband was over done and Mr. Hynes seemed basically phoning in his part. There were some pleasant inner actions between the main characters, but not enough to carry this entry. Several new Hallmark Movies for 2022 have been less than stellar, this is definitely one of the outstanding ones.

This film was filled with family and grief over the loss of a loved one. Autumn Reeser's character is forced to work with a restaurant consultant who is brought in to help her rescue her deceased Italian chef husband's restaurant.

Initially she had difficulty trusting the consultant and their relationship is strained...but as she puts it a lot of people have put their trust in her and it took her a while to see that she could put her trust in the consultant.

The consultant who is a bit of a vagabond and also still grieving over the death of his fiancé...enjoys the "family" of this restaurant, where all the employees get Monday off and they all have a family style sit down dinner to which he gets invited.

I understand Giada de Laurentiis was used as a consultant on the film...and I will say the food was drool-worthy.

It was supposed to be set on Bainbridge Island, Washington...where I am from and I can definitively say that it was not filmed in Bainbridge, nor did they make any attempt to make it appear that it was to my disappointment.

I think there is a statistic that something like 70% of restaurants fail...that gave real melancholy to this movie in which a restaurant is on the cusp and really trying to keep the memory of the late chef alive.

This was a worthwhile watched...I loved the Nona and her heart and being ok to grieve, love and celebrate the family that we make.

(I am still wondering why hallmark is running so many movies in which one parent has been killed? There has been a lot of death and single parents lately.)

This movie stars two actors, Autumn Reeser and Tyler Hynes, plus a longtime actress that I adore, Patty McCormack ("The Bad Seed").

Patty was a welcome sight, just from the standpoint of adding a well-established person to the cast. Autumn is gaining her experience every day with Hallmark, and she is also a joy to watch. Tyler is a standard, and therefore common Hallmark choice.

I don't know what this movie lacked for me. Maybe it was the very thin romance that didn't seem to do much for me, but I think a lot of it was the disingenuous accent use (Marrrrco) and also: check out Autumn's scene at the beginning when she has a chocolate to eat from her friend. She holds it for God-knows-how-long, then takes a literal micro-nibble, then it disappears. I understand the pressure on actresses to stay thin, but it would have been awesome to see her just eat the chocolate (even if she was eating a freaking chocolate marshmallow with no caloric value). I understand all the complexities of wanting to be cautious about weight; maybe it is possible there was no intention for her to avoid eating it, but everyone else in the scene did. For some people recovering from eating issues, it's so great to see people set a decent example on film.

I didn't love the food setting; this might be a reason the film is either hot or cold for reviewers. The food was boring to me as a plot device; I could easily watch a chef show, but this type of story line is just so tired. I wish they could have focused more on the grief/ loss, for example, as there are a million ways that people deal with it. Food and contests and restaurants are so linear to me.

Another aspect was the daughter, who was beautifully talented and did a fantastic job. Even more scenes with her or her school woes could have been more deep or interesting.

When they brought in the guest chef, who I'm sure is popular outside of this movie, I was thinking this is just a long version of a chef contest show.

I think AR is a great actress, but there is something that strikes me as artificial about her; Lacey Chabert is an amazing role model, someone that I've watched since she was a little one on Party of Five, and her depth has always been there. I don't want to hurt anyone reading these reviews, but I would like to see AR in a movie that isn't depicting her as a beautifully perfect woman. Her entire demeanor is glamorous, but she lacks the grit that makes her more believable. I don't think she needs to do anything drastic, but tone down the perfection a bit (perfect nails, perfect lipstick, perfect outfits, blah blah blah).

Tyler does not seem different in this movie than in most of his movies, but admittedly, I don't study his progress much.

The truffle scene was so funny to me. I kept thinking "I didn't know you could just walk around and find truffles." - glad I'm not insane.

This was ok. Not great but not terrible either. Autumn and Tyler have decent chemistry-neither is a favorite of mine but they work well together here. The story isn't very innovative and there are plot holes that you just learn to ignore such as the daughter's age. This type of movie seems typical for Wonya's Hallmark-take the existing RomCom formula that works really well for the network and add more unnecessary drama and angst.

Giada DeLaurentiis is an Executive Producer on this and aside from a cookbook cameo and her clear involvement in the food being served, she is nowhere to be seen. You'd think she would have showed up as one of the competition judges at least. Missed opportunity for Hallmark.

I loved this movie so much!!!

The chemistry between the 2 leads was incredible. I think that Tyler found his best match with Reeser and vice versa.... The story was touching, the acting was good in an overall good movie. Yes the storyline could have given more lines to Patty McKormack and also Erica Tremblay to dramatize more the scenario but i still loved it... Enjoy watching....