Farm to Fork to Love (2021)

(On TV, August 2021) Send help. I’ll do my part by saying that I’ve got a curiously soft spot for Lifetime/Hallmark romantic comedies, as formulaic as they can be — if they can revolve around a compelling hook (a military cruise, a pumpkin-growing contest, a writer’s block, to name three examples), then that’s enough to get me in. I’m not necessarily saying that I watch these films with undivided attention — one of their strengths is that you can leave for a few minutes and it will be right where you expect it by the time you get back — but they make great videogame background viewing or cleaning/cooking accompaniment. But this is getting ridiculous: One of my “this looks interesting” triggers is food, and it seems as if the networks are on to that: the new hotness is chef-centric romance, and Farm to Fork to Love is the third such film in as many months. Never setting foot in a farm, this is a film about a sous-chef re-hooking with an old flame (coincidentally rich, handsome, talented and related to a matchmaking culinary mogul putting together a context). There are rarely any surprises as to where director Sandra L. Martin is going with that script, although part of the intellectual suspense, I suppose, is seeing how the third act will introduce a meaningless complication out of nowhere, and how Farm to Fork to Love will dispense with the protagonist’s existing boyfriend, who seems to be a decent match. (In the end, they alter his personality so that he turns hilariously inflexible and controlling.)  It’s all, well, analogous to comfort food. Romantic comedies are supposed to be like that—but if I take a step back, I have to wonder why they’re not any better. It doesn’t cost much more to write better scripts and feature better actors — although the truth is that the economics of such films probably don’t allow for fine dialogue or actors that cross the dangerous line between good-looking and gorgeous. Viewers won’t stand for a challenging script or people who remind them of their imperfections. I already know all of this, so why am I watching those films? As I said — send help, or at least better movies.