A Taste of Romance

I absolutely loved this movie. I had no idea what to expect and just started watching while doing something else. And after like 2 minutes I dropped everything and only had eyes for the movie. If you want to feel good, or maybe you want to see a romantic movie, or it's the holiday season - > watch this. It's great. It made me sad, it made me cry tears of joy, it made me laugh, it made me wanna hug my boyfriend. And then when I looked it up on IMDb I saw it didn't even have a picture, and the score was only 6,1. How is it possible that some people didn't like this movie? And that so little people have seen it? Only 360 people watched it and it's been out there for like a year now. I am going to recommend it to everyone from now on, and I really hope the director gets the credit he deserves.

A Taste of Romance is one of the better made and more enjoyable Hallmark films.

Sarah Westbrook (Teri Polo) and Gill Callahan (Jame Patrick Stuart) are complete opposites who own and run neighboring restaurants with polar-opposite strengths. Both characters initially seem unlikeable as they clash with each other, but we (the audience) start to genuinely like them as they first slowly learn to co-exist, and then become attracted to each other. The catalyst for their budding romance is Gill's young daughter, Hannah -who is beautifully acted by Bailee Madison.

Indeed, a great strength of this movie is that it is well-acted and has characters you can believe in. Teri Polo does a fine job of portraying a complicated woman whose passions and hangups are a significant barrier to new romance. James Patrick Stuart manages to bring warmth and likability to the male romantic lead role. And Bailee Madison delivers one of the best and most believable depictions of a young child that I have seen in a Hallmark TV movie.

I do wish there had been a bit more chemistry between the romantic leads - perhaps, a few more lingering looks, a few more tears when setbacks occur. But the feel-good ending is emotionally satisfying and delivers what the Hallmark audience wants. And the story that brings us to that ending never makes us roll our eyes in disbelief nor does it fail to hold our interest. A well-done movie!

Recommended.

Really this was a romance coinoisseurs delight with just the right amount of sugar and spice (excuse the pun) and dealing with some heavy issues like grief and loss but without getting dark or heavy.

But a special treat was seeing a young Bailee Madison. I can now see clearly why she was selected for an ongoing role in 'Good Witch' and has gone on to be a highly respected young actor.

LOUD music. this TV movie's scenario premise is just too absurd. the guy, a widower with a teenage daughter, leased a space for his junk pizza business, from day 1 when he started the remodeling of his joint, he brought in radio and turned its volume to the extreme, bombarded the neighboring french restaurant. well, here's the first stupid arrangement to have a red-neck pizza joint next to a classy french restaurant. may i ask, what kind business neighborhood is this? how come a guy could be such an arse as a retired fireman when his neighbor complaining the loud and very disturbing music, his answer and response to such complaints would be, so what? this is a free country, i have the right to turn my music volume as loud as i like. no wonder this rude and arrogant bastard's wife would die so early. the causes of her death were obvious: his arrogance and his deafening loud music. the daughter role is very likable and, the french chef, a beautiful female, an American sweetheart, neither needed such arse to be either the father or the next-door neighbor business owner. file a complaint to the landlord and to the city for noise control code. romance? not in a million years!

Any film and television series etc centered around food immediately has me sold. The culinary/restaurant setting has been done to death before and has been a common setting since, but anybody that loves food and loves to cook and always finds themselves salivating at different dishes on cookery competitions may find that that doesn't matter. Whenever Hallmark do this setting, it does vary in quality. Particularly in the storytelling and whether the characters are any good.

2012's 'A Taste of Romance' is one of the food-related Hallmark films to handle both well on the whole. Have seen some food-centered Hallmark and Lifetime films over the past few months, especially the Christmas films, that have really not worked for reasons other than setting, but this felt like a refreshment in comparison to those. It is a treat for anybody that loves food, mixes of food and romance and loves to cook and is not only a romance worth seeing unfold but it is a tasty one.

It is not perfect. The music is too loud and constant for my taste and it occasionally affect dialogue clarity and is better suited for melodramas. It's also not particularly good on its own, with it feeling drab and pedestrian. It also took a while for me to warm to James Patrick Stuart's character, did find him too selfish and lacking in self-awareness.

Personally did find the ending too pat and it is the kind of ending that never comes over realistically in Hallmark films when it goes against everything that came before it. It did have emotion definitely, but it didn't quite work for me.

So much is good however. It is very well acted, with Teri Polo giving a deeply felt but also good natured performance that shows that she does have a lighter side instead of playing it constantly seriously. Stuart does do a good job also, didn't like his character to begin with but he becomes a lot more charming as he softens. Bailee Madison shows why she was one of the best child actresses at that time, she brings a lot of warmth and charm to her role of the daughter. Mostly the characters are written well, Polo's being written the most consistently, and she and Stuart have a sweet, genuine chemistry that was just about right.

The production values are pleasing, never cheap while not overblown. The script is good natured and heartfelt, with the two leads' back and forth being entertaining. Any hostility did not come over as too overdone and nothing felt juvenile or over-sentimental. The story is not an original one, but it has a nice energy even when quite gentle in pace, doesn't take itself too seriously while not treating it as a joke and is cute.

Overall, nicely done and tasty. 7/10.