Love and Chocolate

I'm not sure how you can make a movie about chocolate and have Jesse Hutch star in it, and still miss the mark so much! I love movies about baking, gardening, chocolate - things I personally love. For instance, the Murder She Baked series was so fun to watch because I bake so much myself - from scratch! I tried to unlock this movie, I really did. But it is just boring. There's no chemistry between the leads whatsoever. The premise of the movie falls flat. The main actress just feels like she's dialing it in - there's no genuine feel of relationship between her and anyone she interacts with. She's very cute but she's boring and because she's the lead, that makes a movie boring. Disappointed with this one.

This is such a beautiful and easy flowing movie to sink your teeth into with a swirl of loveable characters. The central character Aria (Rhiannon Fish) has a sweet charm about her that draws your attention whenever she graces the screen. Her love interest Ryan (Jesse Hutch) has that smooth easy laidback feel about him, and the rest of the support characters fit in well like a glove to make the whole experience enjoyable.

Very low on drama and big on affinity.

So, if you enjoy an easy Sunday drive in the countryside or a pleasant walk along the beach, then you will find it easy to indulge in this tasty treat.

I watched this on Prime as I usually really enjoy Jesse Hutch, this time paired with Hallmark newcomer Rhiannon Fish, in the second film I have watched her in was not a good pairing.

The story was incredibly weak and lacked an actual storyline, it plodded on with no continuity and the leads lacked chemistry. Jesse Hutch is suited to more outdoors roles and stronger female leads opposite him, he's charismatic but not the most animated of actors. Although one of my favourites,, he does well with a strong, more mature female lead to bounce off and Fish, unfortunately isn't one of them.

I don't know if it is me but I can't warm to fish yet and the ten year age difference was too much in this film, for me she would be better opposite someone younger for a younger audience, her squeaky, chirpy demeanour doesn't endear her to me I'm afraid. I will look out for older leads in the future.

The whole chocolate premise of this film and them just playing about was really bad and the fact her sister was not even similar didn't seem to be explained, in fact, all in all this was a casting disaster.

I like both Jesse Hutch and Rhiannon Fish, but they don't work as love interests. For one thing, he is 10 years older than her at 44. The very slow story doesn't suit him well, he's better in a more out-doorsy role.

And why have his parents only been married 35 years? Jesse is 44 in real life, and the actors playing his parents in this movie (married in real life) are both in their 70's. So why not give them a believable anniversary? Jesse can't pass for 33, even with shoe polish black hair dye.

Scenes are oddly shot, lots of just standing and delivering poorly written dialog. Of course there is the obligatory "music but no dialogue" scene.

This movie is fine - nothing special/original, but perfectly watchable for all generations. However it mentions the done-to-death 35 years, until that point, the characters were fairly ageless, so more relatable - as soon as ages etc are more specified, it loses the all-age appeal. This genre really needs to make more movies about forty/fifty-somethings, otherwise viewers will grow out of them. On a lighter note, I'm so glad I didn't have any chocolate around, as I would have scoffed the lot viewing this! The produce, photography, lighting and wardrobe make this movie more appetizing. Will watch again, but not as much as others.