You just can't watch anything any than these good for the whole family movies. Great family watching no Foul language no Sex scenes no Nudity just don't get any better than this. Yes I Highly recommend this Family friendly show. James Welch Henderson Arkansas. 4/11/2022.

Hallmark cooks up a confection but this one has a soggy bottom.

Marco Poloni (Costas Mandylor) enters a baking competition called 'The Golden Whisk' hoping the prize money will help his Italian family owned bakery. His Uncle Fab is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Marco wants to team up talented pastry maker Grace Carpenter (Lauren Holly) who also likes to start her own business. The relationship between the two is frosty to begin with but Uncle Fab senses a spark of romance with the pair.

The competition is far from easy. They may be a talented and volatile pair but there are hazards along the way with shady contestants and judges with past issues.

There are some good actors in the mix such as Brenda Vaccaro and David Proval.

However this is a tepid film where the side characters are more interesting than the formulaic story.

Here are two of your three leading males, at least in Grace's world: Jacques is a thief, a fake, dishonest - plants contraband on the competition, and betrays his partners. Marco loses his temper at the drop of a hat which leads to violence (mild violence, but violence),deliberately antagonizes people he should at least be polite to, gets falling down drunk and spills secrets, and horns in on the girl he was supposed to be helping another guy propose to.

I not a fan of romance stories where the lead male openly goes after a woman who is committed, or practically so with a lot of romantic history, to another man. The field should be clear before you act. (It's another thinf if both men have equal history.) I already didn't care much for Marco due to his arrogance and quick temper. As a result, I may have wanted them to win, but not get the girl. My advice is "Run, Grace, run." She was mighty quick to forgive him. She didn't question for a second when he said nothing happened. That leads me to Grace.

I didn't think Lauren Holly did a good job with Grace, but then I've never been overly impressed with her acting. She's supposed to be a top pastry chef and the movie starts out where she acts like you need references even to talk to her. Then she seriously considers quitting because no one will finance her business plans. For one thing, where's Jim? Sell a plane, Jim. In movies, I don't think I can remember a woman use the excuse that it's a man's world to actually quit. Those women always try harder. Holly couldn't decide whether Grace was strong or indecisive. (Maybe that was the director, in which case I apologize to LH.)

The story itself was loaded with the same old plot devices. Many of them were old even back in 2004. Win a contest to start a business. Team up with the guy you hate. Secret ingredient wins the contest. Something witnessed afar by one lead creates misunderstanding which leads to conflict. And many more.

I did love the last thing Candy did before she walked away at the end. Classic childish physical comedy, but it made me laugh.