Amour à la carte

This is just me, so nobody needs to tell me I am wrong kay ... Well, I watch Hallmark shows for sweetness and to restore the soul (again, that is just me).

So imagine my shock with this show. The quarrelling is alarming and too much like unpleasant real life to be enjoyable to watch. The hostility levels are so high, it made me cringe.

I think the 2 leads may actually dislike each other in real life!

The lead female role is so unpleasant, she is not watchable.

"Oh actually it's Mina" and she is SO rude and arrogant with her ex schoolmates. She is really unlikable.

Andrew Walker, along with Hallmark completest sake, was my main reason for seeing 'Appetite for Love'. He is one of the Hallmark regulars for good reason and is one of not many consistently good ones, even with characters that are not always likeable and even in the misfires (luckily he has actually been in more winners than misfires in my view). Taylor Cole has been a lot more variable, when her material is good she is charming but when the material isn't she is too much of an ice queen.

2016's 'Appetite for Love' succeeded more than it failed, though it did have potential to be better considering Walker's talent and how cute the premise was. As far as the hit and miss 2016 Countdown to Valentine's Day Hallmark batch goes, 'Appetite for Love' is closer to the quite good 'All Things Valentine', while not being quite on that level, than the lacklustre and often weak 'Dater's Handbook'. Definitely worth a look in spite of its few though quite big flaws.

Which are going to be mentioned first. It is too heavy on the hostility in the first act particularly, which was not always easy to watch, and the film did go overboard on Cole's character's uncalled for rudeness which made her difficult to warm to.

Not to mention it made a crucial decision, which was pretty much a complete and too neat 180, hard to believe and made the character in question look rather naive. It is predictable, with the outcome never in doubt.

This all sounds that 'Appetite for Love' is bad. It isn't, and that has already been made clear by me. Walker is immensely likeable and charming, never overplaying while not phoning in. Despite starting off too clinical for my liking early on, Cole as she warms into the role and the character relaxes matches Walker's charm rather than being an ice queen. The supporting characters are solid and the characters aren't too much like stereotypical ciphers.

It is well filmed with lovely scenery, while the music isn't too constant or over-scored. Most of the writing is fine and balances playful and witty comedic moments with not too schmaltzy or sugary dramatic ones. The story is predictable with things happening too neatly, but it is also crisply paced and light hearted, not taking itself too seriously while not relying on forced jokiness.

Overall, decent if uneven. 6/10.

Formula movie. Wish Hallmark used local film locations. Question: what was that refrigerator in her aunt's home??? Loved it!

A predictable comedy because we have the classic elements: a woman has to go back to her home town that she left 15 years ago, she left also a boyfriend. On the other side this woman is in relationship with colleague.

On the road Mina must stop her car because there are cows and immediately she meets Clay, her ex-boyfriend. Later she goes to the restaurant and learns that Clay is the manager of the restaurant.

Then come the classical moments of tension between them about the management of the restaurant and at the same Mina begins to remember herlife in Sycamore Springs (eating an apple, climbing on a roof): also the typical moments of doubts and confusion after the arrival of Reed at the town.

A pleasant comedy with good poerformances of Taylor Cole, Andrew W. Walker, Alleys Mills, Marcus Rosner, Robert Moloney, Fiona Vroom, Jenn Griffin, Morgan Taylor Campbell and Michael Kopsa.

7.3 stars.

I love both leads, they are in my top five female and male acting powerhouses for Hallmark movies. The story could have been better, but it's so cookie cutter it would be a tall order to make it original or special in any way. This same formula has been beaten to death, the woman leaves her hometown and her boyfriend behind to go to the big city, now she's back in town 15 years later, boy and girl meet again etc... This one is no different than the rest of the worn out plots, same blueprint and now it's just boring. The chemistry between Cole and Walker is palpable, that's the only positive in this film.