Love's Kitchen (2011)

Powerful

Just perfect...

hyped garbage

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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.

It wasn't until I consulted Wikipedia that I found out how much commercial contempt that LOVE'S KITCHEN received from the British public . In the five cinema's it was shown in it made a grand taking of one hundred and twenty one pounds sterling ( £121 ) which means a grand total of seventeen people paid to watch it . Putting it in to perspective about you're twice as likely to know someone who attended the opening than you have of knowing someone who became a lottery millionaire that week One suspects that this exceptional low grossing opening led to a large amount of bandwagonism by the British newspaper critics . They all without exception put the boot in to the film as if their professional careers depended upon slating the film . As someone who has nothing to lose by stating their opinion online I can only state that it's not a good film but is nowhere as bad as made out The problem lies in that it's maybe trying a bit too hard and does become very predictable . The audience are asked to empathise why the trauma of Rob Haley played by Dougray Scott who losing his wife in a car crash has to now bring up his young daughter while trying to expand a business in a small town populated by nearly famous British character actors . In it's efforts to be sweet it ends up being rather sickly and like so many British movies it has a feel and look of something that gets broadcast on Sunday evenings on ITV . As a romantic comedy it's not much better or worse than other British films within the genre and wonders perhaps if its failure is mainly down to the public appetite for this type of British film had like the gangster film been done to death

LOVE'S KITCHEN is one of those background movies -something to put on the screen while filing, doing a puzzle, or some other task that needs little attention but an occasional distraction. Written and directed James Hacking, it is a predictable story with a predictable script and put together in a casual way that at least doesn't stir any feathers. Nor does it stir much genuine interest. It seems like a paste together story for husband/wife team of Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani.Befuddled Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) was apparently a rising chef in London, put down by food critic Kate Templeton (Claire Forlani), and further distracted by the death of his wife. In response to the need for change he moves to the country where he finds a pub-like spot in which he decides to create a café - a truly gourmet spot in the middle of nowhere. He hires friends to help cook and wait tables. He garners interest from the townsfolk for his delicious cuisine - especially his 'perfect trifle'. His efforts do not go unnoticed - Kate Templeton visits, loves the food, and naturally falls in love with Rob... Etc Etc EtcThere is nothing wrong with this bit of British fluff: it just doesn't register on the scale. There are a few sidebars of some note and some cameos by the likes of Simon Callow. But for the most part this is background entertainment. Not bad, just background. Grady Harp

We watched this on Netflix streaming movies. Filmed in England, Forlani plays an American character of British parents.Dougray Scott (villian in M.I. 2) is chef Rob Haley with a thriving business in London. Very early in the movie his wife, who has a habit of driving too fast while on the cell phone, dies in a crash. Rob loses his will to be an excellent chef, and his restaurant gets a very negative review.Three years after his wife's death he re-looks at a pub for sale in the countryside. Along with his young daughter gets re-vitalized and buys the place, fixes it up to be his new restaurant.Claire Forlani as Kate Templeton happens to be a restaurant critic. In fact Rob eventually finds out it was she who wrote that negative review. But in the grand scheme of things it helped him realize he had to do better.The road towards romance is predictably rocky, and not all situations and dialog make good sense, but overall it is an enjoyable, entertaining movie. But a very light weight one.I never liked the loud, angry Gordon Ramsay on his TV show, but here he makes a small cameo as Himself to provide some comic relief. Most of the comic relief is provided by Simon Callow who is a food critic that has a penchant for drinking way too much before he ever samples the food and the live taped shows suffer for it. Until his producer finds a novel solution in the form of a bodyguard who monitors his intake of liquids!