La Recette secrète des cookies de Noël

Rachel Boston brings her trademark effervescence - seriously, is she the brightest and happiest Hallmark actress going around? - to this charming story about Annie, a CEO on the the hunt for a cookie recipe that has been the backbone of a small town's cookie company for decades. Annie has to play amateur detective to figure out who stole the recipe during a Christmas party, and must also work with a baker in the same town (Victor Webster, who is a Hallmark regular these days, and for good reason) to try and recreate the recipe. Webster and Boston are good together, believable as semi-rivals and then, of course, love interests, and the film has a very nice ending.

If nothing else, ninety-odd minutes focused on cookies leaves you pretty hungry! A fun film!

Hallmark is definitely trying new things this year. They won't all work, but after so many years of running basically a one-play offense, any attempts at branching out are appreciated.

This film is a comedy whodunnit, starring Rachel Boston and Victor Webster. Both are familiar Hallmark faces, and both have done the lighter side before.

Boston is hit or miss for me. Sometimes she's too sugary, other times she's tolerable. Here she's in between somewhere.

Webster is always pretty much the same, but he can deliver a punchline when the situation calls for it.

I'm delighted to see Stephanie Sy in a role beyond Caroler #1, or Receptionist. She was great as the quirky assistant, and even when not speaking all the little faces she makes are hilarious.

The daughter was great too.

I can see watching this again next year.

Seven.

I loved this movie and not just because of Rachel Boston and Victor Webster. I found it super cute and refreshing among all my other Christmas movie watching. Yes there was a romance but it was truly secondary to the story. It really didn't hit until the last quarter of the movie. Also while a character deaths were mentioned it didn't harp of them in a sad way. The mystery of who stole Grandma's recipe was fun and had me guessing. It also had me laughing at some points. The cast was phenomenal from the stars to the minor rolls. Yea it's Hallmark so it was a little corny at times but corny in a good way. This is one I will definitely watch again and again.

This film follows the familiar Hallmark formula: city dweller returns to their small hometown, encounters the town's most eligible bachelor, and navigates a meddling child who seems determined to play matchmaker.

While the holiday setting and the focus on baking provide some festive charm, the plot feels incredibly predictable. The "meet-cute" is contrived, the romantic tension builds slowly and predictably, and the resolution feels overly convenient.

The child character, while well-intentioned, comes across as overly precocious and manipulative, often forcing interactions between the leads that feel unnatural.

A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe (2022) -

Was it a lame comedy or a poor romance with too many jokes and stupid actors, because it was really daft for the usual style.

These films are always obvious as to what will happen, but this one was ridiculously obvious and a bit pushy with it, like it was trying to force me to appreciate their romance, whether I wanted to or not.

There was none of the usual nuance or even an attempt to hide how things were going to turn out.

It was interesting to see Rachel Boston in the different role of executive high flyer instead of the Miss Nice she had played before, but you could at least see that her character, Anne, wanted things to work out for everyone. She wasn't the dogged financial wiz that only goes by the numbers that I've seen so many times before.

Victor Webster as Sam, was a roguish nice, but maybe a tad old for her and for his daughter, but he was a nice character after a while, when he mellowed.

However, the idiot twins that sprung up every now and then, were not needed and should have been the first to be let go in the cost cutting lay offs at the cookie factory. There was no way that their productivity would have met the company standard.

The basic plot was that Anne needed to work out her Granny's famous recipe, after it was stolen, but instead of going to the police or the people that work in the factory, she went to Sam's nearby bakery and together they tried to work out the correct balance of ingredients and preparation methods.

Honestly, they must all have the most refined palates of anyone ever? The concept was a little far fetched to say the least. Even comedies have to be based in some sort of reality.

It definitely wasn't one of Rachel or Victor's best films and I'd probably struggle to sit all the way through it again, but by the end I did like the connection that they had made.

5/10.