Love's Kitchen (2011) User Reviews (36)

A pleasant, family-friendly romantic comedy

[moirabroon · 6/10 · 23 July 2015]

I enjoyed a good deal of this film as there were so many nice little touches - like Rob driving along at a snail's pace along a country road as his wife had been killed in a road accident. I also liked how by the end of the film the two old, male customers had been educated to appreciate good food.

My main criticism is that the plot is too predictable but then that criticism could apply to almost all romantic comedies.

Anyway, thought I'd write a review because this film has nice values when so many romantic comedies of late don't. And it's not sexist which is another plus.

Britain's equivalent to a "Lifetime" movie

[juneebuggy · 4/10 · 30 September 2014]

I wanted to and expected to enjoy this but its basically Britain's equivalent to a Lifetime movie with an absolutely unimaginative story, flat romance, bland characters and filled with every romantic comedy movie cliché going.

I was actually surprised by how, well not bad exactly -because the acting and production is fine but just unoriginal this was. I did enjoy the leads (Dougray Scott & Claire Forlani) but their romance was still pretty uninspiring. Scott plays a successful chef and restaurateur in London who loses his zest for cooking after his wife dies in a car accident. With encouragement from friends (including a cameo from Gordon Ramsey) he buys a country pub and turns it into a gourmet restaurant. Forlani is a food critique and his mousse catches her eye. 6/28/14

I love food porn but there is a lack of money shoots of food making

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 22 June 2014]

Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) is a successful chef in London left heartbroken when his wife is killed in a car accident. His restaurant 'The World's End' suffers a deadly review and business dries up. His friend Gordon Ramsay is horrified at his state. Rob visits the sleepy country pub that his wife was going to buy and meets American food critic Kate Templeton (Claire Forlani). She's moved back in with her English father estrange since she was 12 after the failure of her relationship. He rediscovers the love of food, gathers up a couple of his old kitchen crew, and buys the rundown pub. It's a horribly slow start. Then Kate tries his food. Food critic Guy Witherspoon (Simon Callow) comes by.

I really hate the Gordon Ramsay cameo. It takes me completely out of the movie. This is a simple predictable rom-com. I'm not railing against rom-com clichés. They're clichés for a reason. For a foodie rom-com, this needs much more food porn. Personally I love the visual delights of food porn. That's the one element missing here. The leads are perfectly lovely. The evil people are perfectly douche like. The little girl should be younger and cuter. It's not aiming for much and that's what it does.

Undercooked and half-baked idea of a film

[Will_Malone · 2/10 · 9 May 2012]

As I have learnt from the multitude of reality TV cooking shows which make regular appearances in the Malone household, the secret to a good dish is carefully selecting fresh ingredients and balancing the different flavors together in order for them to all work in harmony on the plate. However in Love's Kitchen they do things in a different way. Essentially chucking a bunch of old, out of date and re-heated ideas into the mixing bowl, bunging it in the oven and after 90 mins they have produced an under-cooked, half-baked idea of film, devoid of any real flavour or substance.

Love's Kitchen tells the lukewarm tale of successful chef and restaurateur Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) who looses all passion for food after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident. A scathing review of his restaurant leads to a cringe worthy intervention by Gordon Ramsey, before our Rob heads off to the countryside and buys The Boot, an old country pub which his late wife fell in love with before her untimely demise and is now frequented by an American food critic (Claire Forlani). Here Rob proceeds to try and recapture his love for food and turn around both the culinary and fiscal fortunes of The Boot. So it appears as if Love's Kitchen is essentially a 90 minute episode of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, which just in case you were wondering, that's not a good thing.

Most rom-coms are predictable, so much so that you can sketch out the plot within the first 5 mins or so of meeting the characters. Why some work and others don't is how much the audience grows to like and invest in the two leads. I am big rom-com fan and a huge admirer of a happy ending. I don't mind it being telegraphed, but I want to enjoy the journey. I need to want the couple to be together at the end of the film. Within 5 mins of watching Love's Kitchen I wanted to take a spatula and start slapping people around the face.

Everything about the film felt forced. It felt as if they had studied what had worked in Four Weddings or Notting Hill and tried to recreate it piece by piece. Bringing together a British chap and an American lass has always worked well in the past, but this time the main leads are simply unconvincing with precious little chemistry together. They didn't seem suited to each other at all, so you just didn't care what happens to them.

The supporting cast fared little better and appeared to be the dregs of out of work British soap opera actors. Eastenders was well represented and I almost fell of my chair when Nigel from Brookside turned up. I am sure if I had looked hard enough I probably would have found an extra from Crossroads somewhere in the background. There were moments when I couldn't believe what I was watching and hearing. The script sounded like it had come from a Carry On film and some of the characters felt like a cross between caricatures of English country folk and characters from Viz (get ooorffff my land!!) . At times I felt embarrassed for the cast, but mostly I just wanted it to stop.

First time writer/director James Hacking did learn one good thing from Four Weddings though and that was Simon Callow. He is star of this film and simply delightful as a boozed up food critic, quite reminiscent of Keith Floyd. I could have happily have watched a film just about him.

Apparently when then film opened to a small select 5 screens, it only took 121 GBP in its opening weekend, making it one of the lowest UK openings of all time. You can see why.

Another nice film for the ever-thirsty romance fans everywhere

[inkblot11 · 7/10 · 24 May 2012]

Rob (Dougray Scott) is a London chef who is definitely haute cuisine. One of his motivations to do superior work is a bad review he got from a restaurant critic. One day, his lovely wife dies in a traffic accident leaving him a widower with a young daughter. Needing to change his life, he decides to move to the country, where a rundown old inn has housing for his family and a large pub. Not everyone is happy to have him in the neighborhood, some folks like their bucolic setting as peaceful as possible. Since the pub business begins very slowly, this isn't a great problem. Also, there is a beautiful woman named Kate (Claire Forlani) who lives with her parents nearby. This lady has been unlucky in love herself and, although she is the object of affection for a snooty gentleman resident, she shies away from attachments. Yet, Rob and Kate begin to like the looks of each other, especially when Kate's efforts to drum up business for Rob turns out well. There are a few secrets afoot, however, which may damage the future of their romance. Will it be so? This is a nice film for the ever-thirsty romance fans, like me. Scott and Forlani are fan favorites and the rest of the cast, which includes Simon Callow, are delightful as well. The sets, costumes, script, photography and surefooted direction combine to make a flick that is most enjoyable. Therefore, romance fans, get out of the kitchen, get some nice takeout and watch this in total bliss.

A Bit of British Trifle

[gradyharp · 3/10 · 4 February 2012]

LOVE'S KITCHEN is one of those background movies -something to put on the screen while filing, doing a puzzle, or some other task that needs little attention but an occasional distraction. Written and directed James Hacking, it is a predictable story with a predictable script and put together in a casual way that at least doesn't stir any feathers. Nor does it stir much genuine interest. It seems like a paste together story for husband/wife team of Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani.

Befuddled Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) was apparently a rising chef in London, put down by food critic Kate Templeton (Claire Forlani), and further distracted by the death of his wife. In response to the need for change he moves to the country where he finds a pub-like spot in which he decides to create a café - a truly gourmet spot in the middle of nowhere. He hires friends to help cook and wait tables. He garners interest from the townsfolk for his delicious cuisine - especially his 'perfect trifle'. His efforts do not go unnoticed - Kate Templeton visits, loves the food, and naturally falls in love with Rob... Etc Etc Etc

There is nothing wrong with this bit of British fluff: it just doesn't register on the scale. There are a few sidebars of some note and some cameos by the likes of Simon Callow. But for the most part this is background entertainment. Not bad, just background.

Grady Harp

Charming Little Movie

[helenahandbag-1 · 7/10 · 20 June 2011]

No it's not perfect, but something Love's Kitchen has that so many movies don't have these days is heart... and a superb performance on the part of Simon Callow, who alone is worth seeing the film for. I was thinking about his character for days afterward, chuckling.

When you consider all the things Love's Kitchen (formerly -- and I believe, superiorly titled No Ordinary Trifle), had working against it (namely the budget -- 'twas A LOT to accomplish for a mere $1M), naysayers should really cut first time writer/director Mr. Hacking some slack. It's a sweet little movie which epicureans in particular will find themselves salivating over on occasion. I will say it's odd to me that there wasn't more chemistry between the leads (they're married I believe), but individually I liked each of them fine (Dougray Scott more than Claire Forlani, but admittedly, I am a heterosexual female) and had no trouble swallowing that these two beautiful people might fall for each other -- though I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of that process so that it felt more organic/less contrived (which is not a unique problem in the genre).

In any case, anyone who has a soft spot for feel good romantic comedies will certainly enjoy Love's Kitchen. For my money, it's a FAR CRY above the 27 Dresses type schlock that Hollywood turns out in this arena time and time again. For that alone, I give everyone involved a lot of credit!

And lastly -- why does everyone hate on Gordon Ramsay? It's a cameo part perfect for a famous chef at the top of his game which any new director would be a fool not to seize upon!

AWFUL!!!!

[darius_sutherland · 1/10 · 31 December 2019]

I watched this years ago and I can still remember cancelling my total film subscription after they gave this 4 stars.

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL

Indeed not ordinary

[roman8 · 7/10 · 2 June 2011]

This a treat of a movie about... well, treats, actually. A straightforward script flows lightly and easily through a lovely British country-side, with leads who are having a ball and congenial supporting actors.

Dougray Scott is perfect as a romantic leading man, his Scottish brawl adding a lot to his appeal. Claire Forlani is stunningly beautiful and warm, which is a rare combination. And Simon Callow is Simon Callow.

What more can one ask for? Some weight possibly, more drama, more poignant villains? Yes, this could be a requirement. There is not much of this here, no suspense or action or tension in this movie.

Then again: life flowing like a nice, quiet river can be lovely to watch every once in a while.

With the exception of Callow, the production values and the leads, this was a confection lacking in flavour

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 19 May 2015]

What saves Love's Kitchen from being an unsalvageable mess is Simon Callow. He positively relishes his role and is just delightful to watch. The film's also competently photographed and has charming locations. Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani perform earnestly, and are a warm, cute couple with some real genial spark.

The rest of the cast do not come over very naturally, with emotions both overcooked and underplayed. This is especially true with the cameo of Gordon Ramsay, a cameo that felt like a forced gimmick above all else that takes one completely out of the film. It's not completely the cast's fault though, because of the characters only Callow's has any real juice(a large part as to why he was the one that registered most strongly, as well as that he's a talented actor) and there are too many secondary roles that have so little depth to them. The script is pretty disastrous, much of the dialogue is stilted and hollow with some very awkward tone changes, and of the romance, comedy and drama elements it only does just okay with the romantic elements, which are quite cute. The comedy however is very forced, with again only Callow being properly at ease, and the drama is caked in maudlin sentiment that it'll make one nauseous.

Another major problem with Love's Kitchen is the story. A lot of romantic comedies get criticised for being predictable, but very few romantic comedies are this predictable, one where it's clear how the entire film was going to end even before it started. There is absolutely nothing fresh here and the material is treated with very little flavour or substance, everything feeling bland and shallow instead. The soundtrack is fitting but with not much memorable about it, the pacing was constantly askew being often on the dull side and Jack Hacking's direction is all over the place, pace-wise and especially tonally, only showing competence technically.

In conclusion, one flavourless confection salvageable only by three performances and the production values. 3/10 Bethany Cox

A film that grows on you.

[robinson-david1 · 8/10 · 19 March 2012]

When I first saw this film I was decidedly unimpressed but when I had seen it 4 times I realised what a charming gem of a film it is though rather amateurish Story is a failed chef (Scott) buys an old English pub that looks out on a village green complete with pond and ducks and falls in love with a food critic Forlani. The chemistry between Forlani and Scott is really good seeing as how in real life the two just got married Sometimes I thought Forlani was going to eat Scott rather than the lovely trifle. This film could never be a financial success because no blood everywhere or dead or nude bodies. It should be watched in the atmosphere of the home not the cinema and was well worth making.

Better than 3 stars out of 5

[DylanJ · 7/10 · 5 May 2011]

As a foodie rom-com, it checks all the boxes. The chemistry between the leads is unsurprisingly good, the secondary romance isn't a major storyline but does help develop those characters, there are some real laugh-out-loud scenes.

That said, rom-coms are often much of a muchness, and this isn't quite good enough (to me) to be best in class.

The American title for this film isn't an improvement on 'No Ordinary Trifle', which is the signature dish of the male lead. The reactions of everybody who eats the eponymous dish are varied, but all the actors made me hungry, which is more than I can say for most non-fictional food television.

Light weight romance, watchable but not great at all

[rightwingisevil · 17 June 2011]

The screenplay is a lukewarm work just like all the actors in this movie, very loose, not quite convincing. The female food critic looked pretty forced and not convincing at all. The editing of this movie was also not quite good since there are several transit scenes just felt incomplete and abrupt.

The major problem of this movie is that the main character who played the role as an ingenious chef, again, very unconvincing, showing shortage of any superior cooking technique and basic sanitary alertness. Arranging and putting the final touch of the decoration for the food presentation, he combed his hairs, wiped his neck with the same hand that touched the food, yuck! Ever heard of cross-contamination? I was worried that he might pick his nose and scratch his crotch or his behind, then touch the food again. This is the major reason that I don't like any food that obviously was handled and touched by hands, especially if there were some obvious arrangement of the food on the plate, some greens or flowers? Nowadays, it seems every food, especially the food at outrageous prices, would be arranged by hands, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese...lot of so-called "cuisine" are using hands to touch, arrange, re-arrange the looks on the plates. Yack! And this chef, touched food and combed his hairs and wiped his neck at the same time. His greatness in food never showed clearly only showed that he could do some magical "Trifle", in other words, a pastry chef? Lot of scenes in this lukewarm romance comedy are just pretentious and stupid. Highly unlikely realistic.

Watchable, but not great at all.

Too boring

[ursuladuke · 3/10 · 24 July 2022]

A cute couple, a touch of celebrity chef to spice things up, but with this boring script, it can't be saved. Too boring even for a background movie. I only watched it for the cast, but I was disappointed.

So disappointing

[nicholasandholli · 4/10 · 12 February 2019]

:( Why wasn't this better? Geez! I just kept waiting for this to get good and it never did.

Lightweight rom-com to feature Dougray Scott and Claire Forlani.

[TxMike · 22 December 2011]

We watched this on Netflix streaming movies. Filmed in England, Forlani plays an American character of British parents.

Dougray Scott (villian in M.I. 2) is chef Rob Haley with a thriving business in London. Very early in the movie his wife, who has a habit of driving too fast while on the cell phone, dies in a crash. Rob loses his will to be an excellent chef, and his restaurant gets a very negative review.

Three years after his wife's death he re-looks at a pub for sale in the countryside. Along with his young daughter gets re-vitalized and buys the place, fixes it up to be his new restaurant.

Claire Forlani as Kate Templeton happens to be a restaurant critic. In fact Rob eventually finds out it was she who wrote that negative review. But in the grand scheme of things it helped him realize he had to do better.

The road towards romance is predictably rocky, and not all situations and dialog make good sense, but overall it is an enjoyable, entertaining movie. But a very light weight one.

I never liked the loud, angry Gordon Ramsay on his TV show, but here he makes a small cameo as Himself to provide some comic relief. Most of the comic relief is provided by Simon Callow who is a food critic that has a penchant for drinking way too much before he ever samples the food and the live taped shows suffer for it. Until his producer finds a novel solution in the form of a bodyguard who monitors his intake of liquids!

Definitely a 7/10 film

[uksnapey · 7/10 · 25 September 2020]

Obviously filmed on a low budget, I almost turned it off within the first minute thinking 'what is this cr@p' but suddenly found myself getting drawn in chuckling and laughing out loud. It's far from perfect and not exactly polished to Hollywood standards but a very enjoyable and likeable film. And if you're British and over 40 you'll see so many famous faces that you'll be straight on IMDB remembering the old days :-D

Not Bad Just Very Predictable

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 30 June 2013]

It wasn't until I consulted Wikipedia that I found out how much commercial contempt that LOVE'S KITCHEN received from the British public . In the five cinema's it was shown in it made a grand taking of one hundred and twenty one pounds sterling ( £121 ) which means a grand total of seventeen people paid to watch it . Putting it in to perspective about you're twice as likely to know someone who attended the opening than you have of knowing someone who became a lottery millionaire that week

One suspects that this exceptional low grossing opening led to a large amount of bandwagonism by the British newspaper critics . They all without exception put the boot in to the film as if their professional careers depended upon slating the film . As someone who has nothing to lose by stating their opinion online I can only state that it's not a good film but is nowhere as bad as made out

The problem lies in that it's maybe trying a bit too hard and does become very predictable . The audience are asked to empathise why the trauma of Rob Haley played by Dougray Scott who losing his wife in a car crash has to now bring up his young daughter while trying to expand a business in a small town populated by nearly famous British character actors . In it's efforts to be sweet it ends up being rather sickly and like so many British movies it has a feel and look of something that gets broadcast on Sunday evenings on ITV . As a romantic comedy it's not much better or worse than other British films within the genre and wonders perhaps if its failure is mainly down to the public appetite for this type of British film had like the gangster film been done to death

Perfectly harmless, somewhat charming little British trifle

[mikemdp · 6/10 · 27 October 2019]

If you thought the United States cornered the market on syrupy, Hallmarky romcoms, check out this British trifle about a chef who falls in love with a restaurant critic.

Dougray Scott, the Scottish actor with the distinction of having lost the roles of both Wolverine and James Bond, stars here as Chef Rob Haley, who loses his cooking mojo after his annoying pill of a wife dies crashing her car into a truck while speeding and dialing her cellphone.

His restaurant becomes terrible as a result, leading American food critic Kate Templeton (played by Scott's real-life wife Claire Forlani) to savage the place in an anonymous review.

When Haley buys the quaint English pub he and his late wife had their eye on before her death, he finds a new purpose, his cooking skills return, and Kate, for no other reason than it services the plot, becomes his advisor of sorts, falls in love with him and connects with his tween daughter.

Complications arise when Kate's stuffy British father tries to sabotage the place because he's miffed at the traffic the popular restaurant has created.

That's it. That's pretty much the whole story. It's a traffic issue. Told you it was a trifle.

Oh, yeah. Famous hot-headed TV chef Gordon Ramsay shows up in a cameo as an empathetic sweetheart of a guy who just wants everything to work out for this lovely couple. It has to be seen to be believed, and is worth your time with this otherwise twaddle alone.

If you go for this kind of thing, like I do, you'll find "Love's Kitchen" a perfectly harmless, somewhat charming little date movie.

If you don't, you'll be reaching for some rat poison to sprinkle on your gourmet supper.

when to cook

[sandcrab277 · 2/10 · 30 January 2022]

I can always tell real great chefs from run of the mill when the first thing they do is dice onions and mince garlic in a saute pan .. strictly run of the mill and totally lacking imagination... even the alleged great sou chef gordon ramsey does it ...part of showing off knife skills but does nothing to demonstrate cooking skills or mastering tastes.

Cheap but not bad at all

[Leon-106 · 6/10 · 4 May 2022]

I know that cheap has a negative connotation. This film indeed suffers from a low (cheap) budget but this movie isn't as bad as many people try to claim on IMDb. Perhaps, it'll get a more fancy remake someday. Then this original will be positively reevaluated. Until that date, you might want to form your own opinion.

WHAT? NO ZERO?!

[coonoocoo · 1/10 · 8 November 2020]

The stench to this movie is still in my nostrils, and that was TWO DAYS AGO! FIRST OF ALL, GORDON RAMSAY CANNOT ACT!

Peaceful indeed

[kewlot · 10/10 · 1 August 2011]

A very peaceful film that anyone can relate. Good natural acting performance and chemistry. The characters are falling in love, falling out of love. I didn't believe that this film is awful to the extent of criticism, but it's a spice of life, let go of life's holding us not to pursue our skills. People loves to cook to met the their expectations. So if i were you, I would learn to love this film, sit back and watch every character that plays on their roles quite guessing but enjoyable.... Don't care if there are some cameo appearance, it's just their roles to gave spice and heat up the fire... and I love this like eating trifle....

Actors, scenery, story all make it a must watch!

[lara_carr · 7/10 · 26 January 2019]

I love the actors in this. They truly make the movie. The story is great. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is because when you are watching, it feels like a lot of scenes were deleted. All of the sudden a character is sleeping on the sofa when she's only been an unwanted stranger. All of the sudden a character knows about something that happened previously but when/how did she find out? Things like that. Not a very well put together movie.

waste of time alert

[diegotarabilla · 1/10 · 15 June 2019]

I could not finish watching it, not even with Claire Forlani on the screen. A genre film can use clichés; clichés are good, Greek comedies and tragedies had many of them. However, you still need a good story, script, something to help the viewer do the proverbial suspension of disbelief. There´s nothing here, it´s just a bad movie. I´m sure wicked relatives comment this movie in Forlani´s family gatherings.