In the Hallmark Channel’s new movie A Greek Recipe For Romance, an American woman heads to Greece after losing her job and finds a reason to stay when she meets a local chef. The film is part of Hallmark’s “Passport To Love” series, and while it’s perfectly nice, it lacks some spice.
A GREEK RECIPE FOR ROMANCE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Establishing shot: New York City! Abby (Danielle C. Ryan), an assistant hotel manager, walks into the lobby where she works and immediately starts putting out fires and handling problems like a boss. She may be the assistant manager, but she sure is handling things like a MANAGER manager, and she’s pretty sure she’s about to get promoted.
The Gist: Abby didn’t get promoted. In fact, she got laid off. This is a woman whose default setting is “work” but since she’s out of a job at the moment, she packs up and heads to Greece, where her mother has been living and dating a guy named Yannis.
When Abby arrives, she immediately gets into an argument with a local named Theo (Rafael Kariotakis), who has parked his scooter in front of her mother’s car. She will, obviously, be falling in love with Theo soon. On her second day in Greece, her mom and Yannis hold a celebratory welcome dinner for Abby, and the chef is, obviously, Theo, the man she will be falling in love with soon. They flirtatiously joke about their scooter meet-cute, but Abby is also seriously impressed by how good of a chef Theo is.
Here comes the businessy part of the movie: Theo has a dream, to reopen his (dead) mother’s restaurant. Theo’s father, Nick Pappas, is a wealthy, well-known shipping magnate who expects his son to come work for him, however. And Abby, who is supposed to be on vacation, learns that a new job is opening up at her hotel, one that would require her to understand the restaurant business. So she and Theo partner up to open the restaurant Theo’s mom left him (because she has a brain for business but needs to add “Restaurant Stuff” to her resume) during the two weeks she’s there. One big hitch: Theo is doing all of this against his dad’s wishes. Here’s the other big hitch: Abby has no idea that Theo’s dad is rich and somewhat famous. He’s trying to become a successful chef without using his well-known family name, but keeping secrets from Abby obviously blows up in everyone’s face, causing tension (but only for about one commercial break’s worth of time).
As they continue to work together to open the restaurant, Theo’s only hope is that his father comes and tastes his food so he can prove to him that cooking is what he should be doing with his life. Spoiler alert: His dad, obviously, comes and falls in love with the food. Just as Theo and Abby obviously fall in love with each other by the end.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A Greek Recipe for Romance is essentially the same movie as the recent Hallmark premiere Savoring Paris – American woman visits Europe after a career setback in order to find herself, and ends up helping a local man open a restaurant and falling for him – with different scenery. Both films are part of Hallmark’s “Passport To Love” film series running all month long, but it seems like they could have run the films past someone to make sure they weren’t just swapping in brie for spanakopita.
Our Take: A Greek Recipe For Romance is sweet, and perhaps I’d like it a little more if I hadn’t just watched Savoring Paris, which has a very similar plot. Both films feature likeable leads and beautiful scenery (all shot on location, which is actually a huge bonus, maybe even the biggest selling point of the films).
While Rafael Kariotakis is great as Theo, his chemistry with Danielle Ryan as Abby lacks some believablility, and Abby isn’t given much to do, aside from stick to her “business-savvy New Yorker” shtick. Similarly, most of the supporting cast is just fine, but that’s simply a reflection on the fact that no one feels multi-dimensional. But, look, this film serves its purpose as a nice-to-look-at, easy to swallow romance: if all you want in a film like this is the happy ending (not just between Theo and Abby but Theo and his dad), they you’re in luck.
Parting Shot: Abby tells Theo she’s decided to stay in Greece, and the two kiss.
Performance Worth Watching: Rafael Kariotakis is a handsome and charming leading man, and believable too, in a role that asks a lot more of him than just romantic lead. (Daddy issues! Culinary dreams! Dead mom! He got more layers than a baklava.) His Hallmark bio tells me he got his start on TikTok, but I can see him blowing up outside of social media, he’s actually a solid dramatic actor.
Memorable Dialogue: “Nicholas Pappas? He’s like a Greek Kennedy, minus the politics,” Abby’s mother tells Abby once she learns who Theo’s famous father is. But…isn’t a Greek Kennedy minus the politics just an Onassis?
Our Call: SKIP IT! While A Greek Recipe For Romance is nice little snack of a movie, it’s missing a few key ingredients that would elevate it to fine cuisine.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Greek Recipe For Romance’ on The Hallmark Channel Is Just An Okay Recipe For A Movie appeared first on Decider.
