There were three big reasons to see 'Love, Romance and Chocolate'. One is that it was part of my Hallmark film completest quest started with their Christmas output in 2019, which expanded with their other seasonal films just recently. Two is the city of Bruges, which is absolutely beautiful as a place and more films should be filmed there. Three is that Lacey Chabert has always been watchable, even if she tends to be typecast she does it very charmingly more often than not. She is a Hallmark regular for good reason.
'Love, Romance and Chocolate' is not my definition of a great film, but after being underwhelmed by the previous Countdown to Valentine's Day film 'The Story of Us' this was an improvement. New territory it is not and one knows exactly what to expect, but it is fun, cute and charming and Bruges and Chabert don't disappoint. While not great, 'Love, Romance and Chocolate' is worth watching and is one of the better faring 2019 Countdown to Valentine's Day films.
Sure it is a long way from perfect. The story is full of familiar Hallmark tropes which makes it lacking in freshness, so to me momentum was lost towards the end and the conflict is forced. Will agree that the transitions were not always smooth, tending to be jumpy, and that the ending was too unrealistically neat.
Also thought that Will Kemp had times where he was too reserved and his and Chabert's chemistry took time to get off the ground.
Chabert however is a bubbly charmer and luckily her chemistry with Kemp does grow and is genuine and sweet. He also gets better and more animated when his character relaxes. Do agree that Brittany Bristow's accent is not good at all to put it lightly, but she does bring a lot of energy and vim to the film. The whole cast do well. Bruges is absolutely stunning and is like its own character, it is filmed in a picturesque way too. Wouldn't have said no though to more exploration of the culture and having less of a travelogue feel.
Furthermore, the script flows quite well and is light-hearted and smile-worthy, its sweetness too not being too saccharine. The story has a very warm heart and the romantic element when it grows is charming. It's all enough to make me book a trip to Bruges and also to crave chocolate, as somebody who's on a diet at the moment that was not the best thing to crave about.
In summary, likeable enough even if it didn't wow me. 6/10.
