Cooking with Love (2018)

Cooking with Love is the kind of cozy romantic comedy that knows exactly what it’s serving: warm-hearted charm, gentle laughs, and just enough spark to keep you smiling from scene to scene. Set in the bright, low-stakes bustle of a children’s cooking show, it pairs an endlessly upbeat producer with a swaggering celebrity chef, and the fun comes from watching their clashing rhythms slowly find a shared beat. Ali Liebert and Brett Dalton make the banter feel easy and lived-in, while the TV-studio backdrop adds a playful, feel-good energy that’s perfect for a rainy night or a comfort-watch weekend. If you’re looking for surprising twists or bitey cynicism, this isn’t that movie—but if you want a sweet, breezy romance with a wholesome vibe and a satisfying finish, it hits the spot.

Cooking with Love is clearly aiming for cozy, low-stakes comfort: a sunshiney producer, a “bad boy” chef, and a wholesome kids’ cooking show as the meet-cute machine. The problem is it plays like a checklist of familiar TV-romance beats, with predictable conflicts and a romance that rarely surprises or digs deeper than surface charm. If you want sharp comedy, real emotional complexity, or anything that feels remotely risky, this will likely feel bland and overly polished. That said, it’s pleasant enough for background viewing, and if you’re in the mood for a clean, easy Hallmark-style pairing with food-show vibes, it does the job.