Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

jqdoe Many, many problems with this movie. The lead actress was visibly quite a bit too old for the character she was playing. As someone who worked in the kitchen of an elite country club with a Cordon Bleu trained chef, I can promise you that the portrayal of that environment in this movie was laughable. And the whole ice sculpturing angle was never fleshed out and seemed to be nothing more than a gimmick.But the biggest problem was that there was ZERO chemistry between the two love interests. None. For the first three quarters of the movie I kept waiting and thinking they were going to introduce another man to be her love interest, because she did not seem to have the slightest interest in the guy one way of the other. He seemed to just bore her and frankly I still have no idea how all of a sudden with about 25 minutes left, with nothing leading up to it and for no apparent reason other than the impending end of the movie demanding it, she suddenly decided that she loved him. And when it happened . . . it was totally unconvincing.There are soooooooooo many better Hallmark Christmas movies. In fact . . . every single one that I have ever seen (at least a dozen) are much better than this one. Give this one a pass and try another instead.

phd_travel This Christmas movie is about a chef who starts a dishwasher (Rachel Boston). She runs into a rich guy (David Alpay) she met a long time ago as a kid. They enter a competition for best ice sculpture and the ice sculpting is quite interesting to watch if you ever wondered how they are made or who makes them. They're a cute couple with their big eyes looking at each other with attraction.There are some annoying parts of the story. When she gets angry with him for little it's a bit annoying. And referring to him as Princeton gets old fast. The way they enter the competition is kind of too fake. The back stabbing chef rival is quite a realistic thing though.This is one of those Hallmark movies that is a little annoying but not the worst of the lot.

Amy Adler Callie (Rachel Boston) has always longed to be a successful chef, since childhood. Her father was the main handyman at a posh country club near their home and, each year, he would take his family to view their ice sculpting contest. One year, Callie was even given an extra block of ice to carve and was admired by a little boy, David. Now grown up, Callie has finished culinary school and recently landed a job as a dishwasher in the country club kitchen. It's a start. In fact, the job is a stepping stone to food preparation and each underling gets to view the top chef in action. The holiday season is starting and the sculpting contest is still going on. As luck would have it, Callie literally runs into a grown up David (David Alpay), now a very thriving businessman. His family has always been wealthy, Callie's middle class. Yet, David is charmed by this brief encounter and wants to get to know her better. In secret, he signs Callie up for the ice contest, something she was reluctant to do since her boss has won the last three events. But, its a go. With David helping as her partner and her boss gaining admiration for her underling who pitches in on the cooking line when needed, will Callie win a prize and become a sous chef? Not if the current and very mean sous chef can wreck the prospects! This is quite an usual film for Hallmark, as ice sculpting is not a well known skill. Who knew it went hand in hand with cooking, as chefs are often required to carve a figure as part of food presentation? Its not a likely subject for ten future films but this one is quite nice. The two leads do their jobs well and the supporting cast, plus fine scenery, costumes, direction and a sweet script move the flick along nicely. As still another offering in the growing repertoire of dear Hallmark holiday movies, fans of the genre should seek it out.

utgard14 Having not seen each other since they were kids, aspiring chef Callie (Rachel Boston) and rich man's son David (David Alpay) are reunited and fall in love while working together to win an ice sculpture competition. Enjoyable Hallmark movie that benefits from very likable leads and a pleasant tone without some of the more irksome parts of the Hallmark formula. Don't get me wrong, this is a routine Hallmark movie in many ways. But having seen so many of these things I really appreciate the ones that try to mix it up even a little. For example, the guy in this one does not have a witch of a fiancée and the girl does not have a fiancé that focuses too much on work. Those are two of the more common Hallmark tropes and I was happy to see neither present here. In fact, there is no love triangle in this, save for a brief point where Callie is given the wrong impression about David's relationship with a friend of the opposite sex. That alone is a refreshing change in the made-for-TV romcom landscape. But there are some elements you will have undoubtedly seen in other movies like this. For example, David's subplot about not wanting to take over his father's business is pretty trite and the ambitious and jealous coworker of Callie's is a walking cliché. But the movie needed a villain, I suppose.I actually think one of the reasons it works so well is that there isn't much of the usual romcom cartoon villainy, outside of that one character (and maybe David's dad in one or two scenes). The plot provides some bumps in the road for the couple but never any major roadblocks. To some, that might sound boring, but to me it's one of the reasons I like Hallmark movies. This is feel-good entertainment that's easy to digest. Rachel Boston is a delight and David Alpay has an easygoing, gentle quality about him. Their chemistry is believable, which is half the battle. It's a good way to pass the time for a couple of hours. If you're a fan of Hallmark's usual output, you'll likely enjoy this.