review by Will Malone Patron
Love's Kitchen 2011
Watched May 06, 2012
Will Malone’s review:
If I had been served this in a restaurant I would have sent it back. Inedible.
Read the rest of the review at Malone on Movies
Watched May 06, 2012
If I had been served this in a restaurant I would have sent it back. Inedible.
Read the rest of the review at Malone on Movies
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 favours 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 Essentially chucking old and out of date ideas into the mixing bowl, bunging it in the oven and after 90 mins they have produced an under-cooked, half-baked idea of film, devoid of any real flavour or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 restauranteur 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 internvention 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 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 fiscial fortunes of The Boot. So it appears as if Love's Kitchen is essentially a 90 minute episdoe of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. 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…