A Pinch of Portugal

Honestly, the only reason I chose to watch A Pinch of Portugal among the multitude of generic Hallmark Channel romantic movies is because I lived in Portugal for a couple years. And the truth is that this is just a generic Hallmark Channel romantic movie, it's just set in Portugal. There's not anything particularly amazing or terrible about it. It's what you'd expect it to be. Heather Hemmens does fine in the lead role, but most of the other characters are one-dimensional or half-baked. I also expected to get hungrier during a movie about cooking shows. Este é um bom filme para passar o tempo.

Anna is the prep chef for a famous chef's tv cooking show. They are sent to Portugal to shoot a segment for the show. Unfortunately the problematic head chef is negotiating his new contact and playing hardball. Chef Dean doesn't show up in Lisbon and the crew scrambles to try to fill in with some footage. This puts prep chef Anna in the limelight. The local Portuguese market manager, Lucas, is not only providing help but seems interested in Anna. Anna is doing a bang up job filling in for Chef Dean...in fact the whole crew loves her, especially her best friend and camera man Russ. Years ago Anna made a pass at the handsome Australian Russ, but he put her in the friend zone.

The actress Heather Hemmens, who plays Anna, is wonderful and a lovely woman. Likewise, Russ played by Luke Mitchell is quite the charmer but the end kiss needed a little bit of work. Overall, I think I can recommend this hallmark romance to fellow romantics...and the gorgeous Portugal backdrop is worth seeing. It was lovely.

40-something Heather Hemmens plays Anna, a prep cook for a noted chef, they have a TV show, the chef believes strongly that only what actually goes on in the kitchen is important and interesting. He seems a bit difficult to work with.

It is contract renewal time and they are all scheduled to take the crew to Portugal for the next shoot. But the chef has not agreed yet and to stay on schedule they go anyway, without him, presuming he will join them in a few days.

What all this does is give Anna and the crew an opportunity to try something different, to take the show to different places, the origins of the food. The market, the fishing boat, etc. When the chef does return this causes friction.

Heather Hemmens has such a good, natural, authentic acting style that it never seems like "acting" and that is what makes this movie rise above the ordinary. My wife and I enjoyed it, streaming on Peacock.

And of course it includes lots of nice scenery of Portugal. Plus I learned of a new drink, Ginja, which is a sweet liqueur made from sour cherries soaked in a distilled spirit called aguardente. The mixture is flavored with sugar and spices like cinnamon.

This movie is all about Heather Hemmens and her character Anna. I was impressed that Hemmens had incredible chemistry with both the rivals opposite her, Luke Mitchell and Duarte Gomes. And I think that most of what chemistry there was came from Hemmens. Eventually it is cut short with one of them, but the movie was made more interesting by the fact that it wasn't obvious which it would be until shortly before the one was eliminated. And then, the conflict wasn't about the romance. How that developed surprised me. It's true that it was obvious that the shoe was going to drop on Anna somehow, but I didn't see it coming from that direction. The climax and ending are interesting and I found it to be nice.

I love underdog stories and that's what this is with Anna at the center. I loved that she wasn't arrogant and that her personality was all about enjoying life and welcoming other people in. Something along the lines of a crowded table is the best.

We see some good scenery from Portugal which is a common Hallmark fixture. The acting is good and so is the dialogue. I will definitely watch this again.

The usual Hallmark stuff. Boring characters in an uninspired story. At least this one has nice scenery.

Middle-aged woman who works as a "prep cook" on the TV cooking show whines and whimpers when she gets a chance to take the spotlight when the show's star "quits."

I've never seen a prep cook or food stylist actually get air time on a cooking show other than IRON CHEF.

Anyway, she's "pursued" by two overly-groomed young men (enough with the 2-day beards already) while she dithers. We also get to see some shots of cheeses and breads in a fake market place.

Supporting cast is uniformly bad and all attempts at humor flop. That doesn't leave much. The dead fish wins the acting honors.