A Very Venice Romance

7.4 stars. In the first act I was thinking the producers were testing to see how dumb the audience would be, released upon the masses just to watch our collective response. First of all, there are so many inconsistencies and outrageous liberties taken with the details of this story that I just shook my head. Do they expect this to be based on anything remotely possible? I thought to myself. Where do I begin? Hallmark takes a potentially interesting premise and flattens it into a potpourri of discordant gibberish and unrelatable sentiments. What is with the company she works with - Blossom? There is no way in this day and age that a corporate entity such as this would be anywhere near an Italian chef's approval - ever. And that's the sentiment expressed here, however...there is so much more I could say. That was my initial gut feeling. But things improved... In the first 30-45 minutes of the film, the lead female doesn't fit this role. She is too opinionated and difficult to get along with, not her character per se, but the actress does not translate to the performance whatever sensibilities we are supposed to see within her. But as we get to know her, I see a spark of potential. She happens to coincidentally run into the one person she came to see as she is disembarking from the boat in Venice? What are the odds? I'll tell you the odds: chances are one in 261,000 (population of Venice) that he is the one person at that very moment. Ok, so it's fate? Fine, I'll let it slide just in case the story gets better. This chef's class in Venice has four, let me count that again...yes only four students, and three of them are American? And this is an advanced Italian cooking class? She is not an experienced chef at all, so she would be a fish out of water, totally lost. So far fetched I almost stopped the movie in its tracks right then and there. But I've nothing better to do than binge watch Hallmark films through Christmas, so why not finish up the fall films? So I'll stay the course for now. I thought I'd have nothing left to say about this film. It's got all the Hallmark usual stuff, including some entertainment value in the fluff and the scenery and the city of Venice. I did not like the first 45 minutes, but something strange happened. The lead female becomes softer, more attractive, more interesting and lively. The male lead has the exact same transformation. Dare I presume this was deliberate? Risky move, because I almost shut this off at minute 30... This eventually morphs into a very nice venice romance. The two mesh very nicely and their personalities come to the surface. By the end they become very likeable characters. Whew. I was a bit concerned this would be one of the worst of the year.

Lousy script, and Stephanie Leonidas is not believable at all. She seems cold, aloof. Maybe she thinks she's not overplaying it. Brits are usually better than this. I did not notice she was a Brit playing an American. But there is zero chemistry between these two. And that mostly comes down to Stephanie. I watch a lot of Hallmark romance movies, and this should be skipped. Other than showing Venice, there's little to take from this. I noticed all of the user reviews here are heralding Venice, not the actors or script or plot, and I concur. Don't waste your time with this. It doesn't feel romantic or authentic.

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I've been to Venice so, I was really keen on watching this movie. As luck would have it, the show aired tonight. The scenery of Venice is stunning and I enjoyed the cooking romantic angle. It was fun to see the Bridge of Sighs and St. Mark's Square, and the Murano glass blowing, though I wish they would have shown the inside of the Doge's palace as the great hall is stunning yet intimidating with it's wall-size paintings by Titian. So I was really wanting this to be a great movie. Just like one of my other favorities: A Christmas in Rome with Lacey Chabert and Samuel Paige. But somehow I found the two leads Amy (Stephanie Leonidas) and Marcello (Raniero Monaco Di Lapio) lacking the chemistry. Their interaction seemed stiff and any conversation seemed scripted. I have to say though, I hope to see Raniero in more movies, as he is a top grade "A" hunk. Like I said, the story angle is all about cooking, and it was nice to see that whole cooking school top chef sort of thing, but Italian style. And - we even get to see the culinary creations after each lesson. I liked the effort that the production crew put in to making this part believable, though they really need to tone down the background music, which at times was a tad cheesy with its obvious nod to all things Italy, but also very loud, often drowning out the dialogue. Good music is essential but not when it becomes the "star" of the show. Of course there is always a bit of drama and the big misunderstanding (or in this case a career-driven Amy chooses her job in NY over Amore in Italia). Overall it was a nice trip down memory lane and everyone will enjoy the magic of Venice as the backdrop. I recommend it as a pretty good romantic escape.