Just Desserts (2004) Lauren Holly, Costas Mandylor, Dorie Barton, Andrew Lauer, Brenda Vaccaro, David Proval, Maria Bertrand Movie Review

Just Desserts (2004)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Lauren Holly in Just Desserts (2004)

A Double Slice of Cheesecake

With small family businesses shutting down Marco Poloni (Costas Mandylor - Virtuosity) is desperate to keep the family bakery running and when he learns of a cooking competition with a $250,000 prize he wants to enter. But Marco needs a cooking partner and so persuades Grace Carpenter (Lauren Holly - What Women Want), the chef at a restaurant to be his partner, not so easy when they don't get off to the best of starts, disagreeing over one of her desserts. But that is not Marco's only problems because having talked her into partnering he also has to deal with his rival, Jacques du Jacques (Andrew Lauer), from the cooking academy and also a judge who dislikes him. Plus whilst Grace is dating the wealthy Jim (Bruce Thomas) she starts to fall for Marco and he for her.

It's hard to resist a pun or two when talking about "Just Desserts", a made for TV romantic comedy about a couple of cooks who enter a dessert making contest, because this is a very sweet movie, maybe too sweet for some people. But whilst the level of sweetness quite often creeps towards the sickly point "Just Desserts" is fun, well mindless fun because there is little about this kitchen romance which you won't have seen before, making it extremely predictable. From Marco and Grace not initially getting on to falling in love to the final outcome of the competition it is very straight forwards with nothing, and I do mean nothing, to make it feel any different to other romantic comedies which take us into the kitchen; but a little mindless fun is sometimes what you hunger for.

Costas Mandylor in Just Desserts (2004)

Thankfully the xasting in "Just Desserts" works because Costas Mandylor as Marco and Lauren Holly as Grace are good. So okay Costas layers on the typical American Italian a bit thick but there is a touch of chemistry between them especially when their relationship is in the antagonistic stage. And the supporting cast are just as enjoyable with Andrew Lauer being amusing as the fake French Jacques du Jacques whilst David Proval is mildly amusing as Uncle Frabrizio.

What this all boils down to is that "Just Desserts" is meaningless fun, it is unoriginal, stereotypical and often cheesy as well as overly sweet but it delivers up everything you expect. Basically a reasonable way to waste and an hour and a half but not a movie you will remember for anything out of the ordinary.


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