5/10
Excessive stock footage
8 October 2023
Another really low budget Reel One Entertainment TV movie. Movie is technically almost without any glaring issue except one - it's was probably shot in Kelowna, Canada pretending to be Chicago which is not an issue this time as there are barely any scenes shot outside. The real issue like in so many new ROE TV movies is the overusage of stock footage, this time abovementioned Chicago, they even showed two different stock videos in the row several times. It's tied for the worst one with "The Love Issue". The music score is great as they used Latino tracks mixed with signature ROE tracks from several years ago which are vastly superior to the new one. Few scenes suffer from a bit of loud background music, but only in the first 30 min.

The cast is mostly fine. The only minor issue for me is that Jonathan Wilde (Luis) is borderline passable as William Martinez (Seb) brother.

Synopsis posted here is copy/pasted from ROE site like so many times is wrong. Alison works for "Chicago Today" newspaper, and yes, she trashed new Puerto Rican restauraunt where Seb is a chef, and his brother manager because of the poor tasted jibarito. Her online review went viral but in the negative way. For some strange reason, her editor suggested that she should cool down / leave for a while to see if readers want her back. It makes no sense. If newspaper worked like that they would be quickly out of staff. She should write about something else in cooldown period. Alison was sorry about negative reactions so she decided to go undercover at Seb's restaurant as a sous-chef. When she came to Seb's restaurant to apply for job, she weared high heels (what?!). Even Seb noticed her highly polished nails so she can't be sous-chef.

Basically after a bit of ridiculous Act I and the beginning of Act II, the movie is much better. I mostly liked relatively realistic relations between cast, especially between Alison and two other cooks at Seb's kitchen. Also scenes with Bob at "Chicago Today" office are pretty good and nice touch. Kudos to writer and director for these scenes.

If only the first ~15 min were written like the rest of the movie, and without the usage of excessive stock footage, I would rate is easily as above average (7*).

And obligatory don't watch trailer as it's the ROE one and for some unknown reason(s) it shows whole movie compressed.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed