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Highly Overrated But Still Good

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I enjoyed a good deal of this film as there were so many nice little touches - like Rob driving along at a snail's pace along a country road as his wife had been killed in a road accident. I also liked how by the end of the film the two old, male customers had been educated to appreciate good food.My main criticism is that the plot is too predictable but then that criticism could apply to almost all romantic comedies. Anyway, thought I'd write a review because this film has nice values when so many romantic comedies of late don't. And it's not sexist which is another plus.

What saves Love's Kitchen from being an unsalvageable mess is Simon Callow. He positively relishes his role and is just delightful to watch. The film's also competently photographed and has charming locations. Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani perform earnestly, and are a warm, cute couple with some real genial spark.The rest of the cast do not come over very naturally, with emotions both overcooked and underplayed. This is especially true with the cameo of Gordon Ramsay, a cameo that felt like a forced gimmick above all else that takes one completely out of the film. It's not completely the cast's fault though, because of the characters only Callow's has any real juice(a large part as to why he was the one that registered most strongly, as well as that he's a talented actor) and there are too many secondary roles that have so little depth to them. The script is pretty disastrous, much of the dialogue is stilted and hollow with some very awkward tone changes, and of the romance, comedy and drama elements it only does just okay with the romantic elements, which are quite cute. The comedy however is very forced, with again only Callow being properly at ease, and the drama is caked in maudlin sentiment that it'll make one nauseous.Another major problem with Love's Kitchen is the story. A lot of romantic comedies get criticised for being predictable, but very few romantic comedies are this predictable, one where it's clear how the entire film was going to end even before it started. There is absolutely nothing fresh here and the material is treated with very little flavour or substance, everything feeling bland and shallow instead. The soundtrack is fitting but with not much memorable about it, the pacing was constantly askew being often on the dull side and Jack Hacking's direction is all over the place, pace-wise and especially tonally, only showing competence technically.In conclusion, one flavourless confection salvageable only by three performances and the production values. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I wanted to and expected to enjoy this but its basically Britain's equivalent to a Lifetime movie with an absolutely unimaginative story, flat romance, bland characters and filled with every romantic comedy movie cliché going.I was actually surprised by how, well not bad exactly -because the acting and production is fine but just unoriginal this was. I did enjoy the leads (Dougray Scott & Claire Forlani) but their romance was still pretty uninspiring. Scott plays a successful chef and restaurateur in London who loses his zest for cooking after his wife dies in a car accident. With encouragement from friends (including a cameo from Gordon Ramsey) he buys a country pub and turns it into a gourmet restaurant. Forlani is a food critique and his mousse catches her eye. 6/28/14

As I have learnt from the multitude of reality TV cooking shows which make regular appearances in the Malone household, the secret to a good dish is carefully selecting fresh ingredients and balancing the different flavors together in order for them to all work in harmony on the plate. However in Love's Kitchen they do things in a different way. Essentially chucking a bunch of old, out of date and re-heated ideas into the mixing bowl, bunging it in the oven and after 90 mins they have produced an under-cooked, half-baked idea of film, devoid of any real flavour or substance.Love's Kitchen tells the lukewarm tale of successful chef and restaurateur Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) who looses all passion for food after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident. A scathing review of his restaurant leads to a cringe worthy intervention by Gordon Ramsey, before our Rob heads off to the countryside and buys The Boot, an old country pub which his late wife fell in love with before her untimely demise and is now frequented by an American food critic (Claire Forlani). Here Rob proceeds to try and recapture his love for food and turn around both the culinary and fiscal fortunes of The Boot. So it appears as if Love's Kitchen is essentially a 90 minute episode of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, which just in case you were wondering, that's not a good thing.Most rom-coms are predictable, so much so that you can sketch out the plot within the first 5 mins or so of meeting the characters. Why some work and others don't is how much the audience grows to like and invest in the two leads. I am big rom-com fan and a huge admirer of a happy ending. I don't mind it being telegraphed, but I want to enjoy the journey. I need to want the couple to be together at the end of the film. Within 5 mins of watching Love's Kitchen I wanted to take a spatula and start slapping people around the face.Everything about the film felt forced. It felt as if they had studied what had worked in Four Weddings or Notting Hill and tried to recreate it piece by piece. Bringing together a British chap and an American lass has always worked well in the past, but this time the main leads are simply unconvincing with precious little chemistry together. They didn't seem suited to each other at all, so you just didn't care what happens to them.The supporting cast fared little better and appeared to be the dregs of out of work British soap opera actors. Eastenders was well represented and I almost fell of my chair when Nigel from Brookside turned up. I am sure if I had looked hard enough I probably would have found an extra from Crossroads somewhere in the background. There were moments when I couldn't believe what I was watching and hearing. The script sounded like it had come from a Carry On film and some of the characters felt like a cross between caricatures of English country folk and characters from Viz (get ooorffff my land!!) . At times I felt embarrassed for the cast, but mostly I just wanted it to stop.First time writer/director James Hacking did learn one good thing from Four Weddings though and that was Simon Callow. He is star of this film and simply delightful as a boozed up food critic, quite reminiscent of Keith Floyd. I could have happily have watched a film just about him.Apparently when then film opened to a small select 5 screens, it only took 121 GBP in its opening weekend, making it one of the lowest UK openings of all time. You can see why.