Yes, Chef! Christmas

Another Christmas movie lined up to be watched. And of course I Had never heard about the movie prior to sitting down and watching it.

The storyline in the movie was not particularly Christmassy. It was a storyline about cooking, essentially, and that didn't really feel like something you would associate with a traditional Christmas movie. Sure, there was a love storyline as well, and some family drama, but it was overshadowed by the cooking part of the narrative, and it made it not a particularly enjoyable movie. And the family drama felt a bit cluttered and crammed into the narrative. So writer Carley Smale didn't really conjure up any grand Christmas magic here.

Of all the cast ensemble, I was only familiar with leading actress Tia Mowry. The acting performances in the movie were fair, despite the fact that the storyline fell short of entertaining me.

While I did manage to sit through all 88 minutes of the movie, I was only slightly entertained. But I am never returning to watch "Yes, Chef! Christmas" a second time, as it was a bit of a struggle to get through it the first time already.

If you enjoy sappy Christmas movies, then your time is better spent elsewhere, because there are far, far better Christmas movies out there in an abundance.

My rating of director Max McGuire's 2023 movie "Yes, Chef! Christmas" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Normally I don't like Lifetime Christmas movies. They somehow always miss the mark. So I watch other network offerings first then circle back around to them.

Of course, I wasn't going to miss this one. Give me a Mowry twin in a Christmas movie and I'm there. Tia and Tamera always give solid performances. And Tia was good here.

The storyline was pretty unique, combining two of my favorite viewing pastimes: cooking and genealogy. The former being a nod to her twin's real-life recent appearance on Finding Your Roots earlier this year. They even related her to Caribbean roots in the surprise twist.

I liked the hero as well. I've never seen him before but he's a solid actor, and I felt chemistry between the pair.

The unwritten rom/com rule that the first meeting has to be antagonistic is at work in full force in this movie. Alicia bears the brunt of the blame and is unnecessarily uncompromising. Logan is a tiny bit arrogant but mostly attempting to be diplomatic. Alicia has a chip on her shoulder. I really wish the writers hadn't made her so difficult. It did not set me up to like this movie. Follow that up quickly with the arrogant pair of competitors dropping names and accomplishments, but this is a minor blip in the story.

This is a Christmas movie, ho, ho, ho. This shouldn't be Hell's Kitchen. (Even Alicia says that.) Logan doesn't need to be Gordan Ramsey. The tense, high pressure atmosphere lasts a little too long. So will he "get off the high horse and make things right"? Will Alicia lose the 20 ton chip? Fortunately the answer is yes for Logan. Alicia softens, a little, but it seems like the chip is still there but maybe down to a few pounds, not tons and then eventually gone.

I loved the "punishment" for losing the bet. Perfect choice. Yes punishment, but in a fun way. Then we have some cooperative Christmas activities while they prepare for the contest.

Alicia has a sad backstory and Logan tries to encourage her past it. As is so often the case in these movies, his personality has become completely different. And Buddy the Cake Boss plays Bobby who also helps and encourages her. Buddy shows up a few times.

There is a somewhat mysterious subplot that turns the story slightly in a new direction even though I think something like that result was predictable. It led to an interesting sequence that nicely fills in what could have been the story just coasting through to the end.

Ultimately this is a movie about a contest. A cooking contest. That has its own set of expectations as far as storyline. But will something come along to make it more interesting than usual?

It's odd because another obvious question as a result of everything isn't addressed at all.

OK Christmas movie, but has an implausible storyline. I can't say much without spoiling the movie, but the movie goes kind of south after the plot twist is discovered.

Tia Mowry gives her typical performance which is normally just passable. I really am a fan of Luke Humphrey. I first saw him in the Frankie Drake television show. He was an interesting addition to the movie but not enough to elevate it above ok.

I enjoyed the Christmas scenes with the two leads and the cooking scenes were good. But again not enough to distract me from my iPhone. So, I started my review before the movie was over.

For a Lifetime Christmas movie, I think this was really good. Not nearly as cheesy as most are and the acting was better than I typically expect of a movie like this! I think the Cake Boss guy was the worst actor in the film 😂

The story actually even made me tear up just a tiny bit, which doesn't happen often.

I thought the storyline was pretty good. There were a couple of twists I didn't see coming and it was nice to have a plot beyond just the two main characters falling in love and ending up happily ever after, like most of these movies do.

Overall, worth a watch if you're looking for a fun holiday movie!