Près des yeux, près du cœur

source: Right in Front of Me

Favorite scene with Carly Mason (Janel Parrish) - Winning the Very Hot, Hot Hot Wings Challenge and a hat. I want chicken wings now! BTW #1, I'm glad that Carly loved to eat as much as I do! BTW #2, I love Brandi Alexander!

This movie was so boring. I wasn't really sure where any of the story lines were going. Janel Parrish isn't a great actress and it really shows in this movie. She overacts the entire time. This movie was a miss for me.

This was a sleepy little surprise that I absolutely loved! The story is about Carly who had to work her way through college and ended up playing it a little bit safe with her career. Carly has a successful bridal styling business, but with a degree in design should really be designing for her own label. She is quite successful at what she does and is booked for every weekend for the next year, until her latest celebrity wedding ups the date by three days...freeing her up for the weekend to take up her friend on her offer to treat her to a spa weekend at the lodge she manages outside of San Francisco. There Carly meets the events chef Nick, who really wants to have his own restaurant and make some experimental Asian fusion foods. Carly is so natural with Nick that not only do the two really hit it off, but they get to know each other's passions and foibles...including Carly's quirky eat desserts at home thing. She becomes his official taste tester and he becomes her wingman as it turns out there is a wedding of some old college acquaintances and her college crush is there to attend. Nick and Carly have wonderful chemistry and are the exact kind of sweet lovely people that you want to know and root for in a delightful romance. I thought this would be one of the standard Hallmark Rom-Com's, but I ended up being delightfully surprised. It was so much more. I loved the showcasing of some different careers. I loved people being nice to one another...for no other reason than to just be nice and help one another. And I truly loved the tiny fork story, with both the follow through on a thoughtful thank you gift and the naming of the restaurant (although I am really surprised the restaurant wasn't named Lola). This may be the best Hallmark Romantic Comedy that I have seen this year.

Anything positive for me in this movie is Janel Parrish. I loved Holly and Ivy and the character of Melody. Parrish has hints of that same character here although not quite as selfless. The plot revolves around the triangle with Carly and her college crush and Nick. That means a lot of screen time with the crush and Carly, but that felt like a waste to me. With Nick, I was distracted by what seemed like his determination to get fired. He rebels against Chef Edward from the beginning. In short, the story didn't appeal to me.

Another Hallmark flop. Okay story line, a confident woman lead character who has a fashion job, but is awkward with old flame. I don't know any Sous Chefs who have that much time to stand around talking all day. It's time for Hallmark to find new script writers and change their story lines.

I really loved this one! I admit I was in it for Janel Parrish & she was great. The chemistry between her & Marco Grazzini was so strong & they were so cute. The setting is gorgeous and who doesn't love it when food is involved. I also loved the little hints of Filipino food in the dishes Nick makes & I'm so glad the plot had him make those dishes. I love that despite the Hallmark romance tropes, the friendship between Carly & Nick was so fun to watch develop into more.

Carly decides to take some well deserved break from work, so she goes to this lodge up north where her best friend from college works. There she reunites with a group of girls from the same dorm she was in and her crush from that time. She also meets and befriends the sous chef from the lodge, Nick. I'm disappointed to say that this wasn't for me. I was really was looking forward to the movie and I was let down. I liked both actors in their parts and the chemistry was great. I do enjoy Janel Parrish as a lead and I wouldn't mind more movies with her. But... What even was the plot? I finished the whole movie and I still don't know. The first part was awfully boring, nothing happened the first 35 minutes, it was just Carly wandering around the place. So, plotwise? Nothing exciting, it was quite a let down. I did liked, as I mention before, the dynamic between Carly and Nick. They hit it off at the beginning, and they set a nice path for their relationship: from strangers, to confindants, to friends. They really encourage the other to be the best version of themselves, and that was the highlight of the movie for me. Marco and Janel did the best with that snoozefest they had.

I was so excited to watch this at it didn't disappoint!! The chemistry between Nick and Carly was amazing. I'm so glad they didn't have a fight scene like all the other hallmark movies. This is one to watch!!!

I've been watching Hallmark movies for a long time. They really are feel-good films. Sometimes the romance works, and sometimes I just have to give into it. But in this case there was quite a lot of heat coming from the two lead characters! Right from the start. It was like watching a real romance unfold. Nothing was in your face or forced, just very natural and simmering. If they aren't a real couple, then big props to these two marvelous actors!