A Greek Recipe for Romance - Hallmark

I don’t envy any movie that has to follow the success we had last week with Savoring Paris. But I promise I did my very best to keep an open mind. So, how did this week’s movie premiere hold up? I’m happy to say there are a lot of good things to talk about so let’s dive right in and get to it!

Hi, I’m Stephanie and this is the Magical Movie Club - a place to come to enjoy and chat about Hallmark movies. On June 15th we watched A Greek Recipe for Romance, starring Danielle C. Ryan and Rafael Kariotakis.

I’ve got to say both actors are new to me, so I had no preconceived ideas of what to expect from either one. I did find one other Hallmark movie that Danielle Ryan has made though, which again I haven't seen, and that’s Finding Love in Mountain View. Also, I discovered Rafael Kariotakis got his start as a Tik Tok star!

The movie opens with Abby, played by Danielle C. Ryan, arriving to work as an assistant manager or a supervisor of sorts, at a very nice hotel. One of the other staff members is panicking because, as she said, “Pluto must be in retrograde.” Sorry, that line in the script was too much for me. But really, back here on Earth she was flustered because a pipe had burst overnight and it was affecting a wedding scheduled for that evening. She also didn’t know how to handle a surprise visit from one of their regular VIPs and his usual room was currently occupied. The significance of this scene is it gave us a glimpse of just how good Abby is at managing and smoothing over difficult situations like these.

Next we see her having a conversation with her mother in Greece. I don’t like to say this, but I’m not impressed with that casting choice. I don’t know if she looked too young or she just didn’t resemble Danielle Ryan enough. I’m still trying to put my finger on the pulse of that one. Anyway, her mom is very sweet and, after chastising her for eating a breakfast wrap - Abby tells her she doesn’t eat anything she can’t hold in one hand - she wishes her luck on the pending promotion.  I know, that’s getting to be a bit overdone by Hallmark, too.  

Unfortunately, as remarkably good as she is at her job, the hotel ended up laying her off instead over budget cuts.

So, what does she decide to do next? Go to Greece! She meets her mother there who, by the way, is the complete opposite of the mom last week in Savoring Paris.

Then we transition over to Theo, played by Rafael Kariotakis. He appears to live in what may as well be a palace as far as I’m concerned, and he’s arguing with someone over another property. Apparently, he inherited his mother’s restaurant 10 years ago when she passed and it’s been sitting empty all this time. He’s being told the government plans to revert the zoning for it back to a residential property in two weeks if he doesn’t open it back up again in that time. He argues about the extremely short notice and it turns out they’ve been mailing him letters for months but he’s been away in Paris all this time and never got them. Okay, I have two questions here. 1) Why did his mail sit in Greece unopened for 3 months? and 2) If this guy he’s talking to knows all this, then why in the world didn’t he pick up a phone and call him or text him or email him? 

I mean I understand this was necessary to set up the premise of the movie, but that seemed a little weak as an excuse to me.

Next up comes the meet-cute. Apparently, Theo rides a scooter and he parked it a mere inches, or I guess since it’s in Greece should I say, centimeters, away from her mother’s car and boxed her in. When Abby and Theo meet I wouldn’t say either of them was nasty toward one another, but she made it known that she thought he was being inconsiderate and he was clearly annoyed by her standing in his way not letting him leave. I actually thought they missed a great opportunity here. She should have pointed out she would have been gone herself by now if his scooter hadn’t blocked in her mom’s car in the first place!

Oh well, what we learn about Theo is his family is extremely wealthy and his father has been pressuring him to come back home to Athens to work for their company. Dad feels he’s indulged him long enough and it’s time for Theo to do the responsible thing. 

But Theo is a chef. As a matter of fact he and Abby meet again when she’s having dinner with her mom and her boyfriend, Yanni, and we find out Theo is the surprise chef who prepared their meal. While Abby says she doesn’t like his customer service, she is quite impressed with his cooking.

As things unfold, Abby has a shot at another management position within the same company she was just working for, but she would need restaurant experience. And Theo needs to open the restaurant on his vacant property within two weeks and doesn’t know how to go about it. So with some persuasion from their mutual friends, they decide to work together on this project for the next two weeks.

Obviously it wasn’t always smooth sailing for them. The gag with the lights was quite funny. And the way they interacted with each other was entertaining. Like when he threw away her microwaved gyro, which she pronounced “g-eye-ro.” And then we got to see him make her an authentic Greek gyro - in slo-mo, too. It looked so good!

Oh, and did I mention he didn’t tell her who exactly he was? Yeah, we’ve seen this before with Hallmark where he wanted to make his own name for himself and not get there by using the family name or money, so he used his mother’s maiden name.  I’m guessing he figured since she was leaving in two weeks what would it matter to her?  

Well, it did get more complicated when for one, they started to develop feelings for one another, and also Abby's mother was in real estate and she was hired by his father to sell the family Villa, you know the one where he’s been living?  At that point he should have told her who he really was, but he was determined to keep his secret as long as he could.

Things really fell apart when they received a notice two days before opening the restaurant that he owed 10 years’ worth of back taxes on the property. And I’m sure you’ve probably guessed they couldn’t open without paying them. By this point she had actually found out already who he was but he didn’t know it. Yeah, that was awkward.

And just when you thought they had that all worked out, the night before the inspection, the building started falling apart again. That’s when her expertise as a hotel manager came into play. Remember she was very good at solving problems, just not necessarily those involving her own life.

What I loved about this movie is how Abby and Theo each found purpose together. You see Abby thought all along that she knew exactly what she wanted. That was until she dedicated two weeks of her life doing something that she found out was far more meaningful and personal than managing a big hotel or restaurant back in New York.

And Theo sort of had the opposite problem. He knew he always wanted to open the restaurant back up someday, but he didn’t know how to go about it. I guess sometimes getting started is the hardest step. Not to mention he was constantly fighting with his father about his future. So he felt lost.

Now I totally respect that you may or not feel this same way but I wanted to put it out there that I, personally, believe that God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. And this movie is a beautiful example of just that. Abby needed to be let go from her job to find her purpose, and Theo needed a metaphorical fire lit under him to get that restaurant opened, and the two of them needed each other. That’s what made this story so beautiful.

Having said that, there are a few things I didn’t care for about this one. 

• The script in the beginning had its rocky moments for me. I mentioned that earlier so I won’t rehash that.

Also, the pace of the movie was kind of slow at times and the energy on screen was lacking in some scenes. Like the long silent pauses when Abby went back to the kitchen to compliment Theo on his cooking, or after they had spent the night fixing up the place before the inspection and they were standing around silent looking at it before sitting down. 

And then I never got on board with the casting of the role of her mother, nor pairing her with Yanni.  Don’t get me wrong, I actually liked both characters just fine, but putting them together seemed odd to me. They just didn’t fit.

But I did enjoy several things about the ending. Like Theo and Abby each lying in their own beds listening to the ringing of the morning church bells together. And the way things worked out between Theo and his father. This movie gave me goosebumps, and that’s a tell-tale sign for me that I enjoyed it.

Was it another 5-star movie? No, not quite. The story was beautiful and I love how the characters came together to find their purpose and their passion.  But I can’t ignore the fact that it needed some energy at times. I don’t know if there were too many long pauses between their dialog or maybe some additional music would help. But I loved the story, the character growth, and the chemistry, so I’ll give this a 4 1/2 out of 5. 

So how about you? What did you think? I’ve seen it a few times now and for me anyway, I’ve found that each time I watch it I enjoy it even more.  

Well I think that wraps up my review of A Greek Recipe for Romance. Next week we’ll be watching the final June premiere in the Passport to Love series with Two Scoops of Italy starring Hunter King.  

And then guess what?! Hallmark kicks off Christmas in July! That’s right, it’s almost time and I can’t wait.  I’m working on a project for Christmas in July that I hope to finish in time. I’ll let you know how it’s coming along next week. 

Until then, and as always, thank you so much for being here and being a part of the Magical Movie Club. We'll be back next week to chat more about our favorite magical movies!  

Hallmark Channel's Original Preview:  A Greek Recipe for Romance - Preview

Hallmark Channel Movie Site: A Greek Recipe for Romance