User reviews

I am an avid Hallmark movie watcher. I always look forward to the premieres each Saturday. I have to say... This production seemed a little... off. The storyline was interesting and the acting was on point, but I think the location was problematic. The sound at some of the locations had major echoes and it made it difficult to understand the dialogue. Also, I don't know whether this director is someone who has directed a lot of these, but it seemed like there were so many tight, close up shots and it was very distracting. Honestly, between the sound and the visuals, I didn't make it past the first half hour.

Sara and Tony are both chefs. He works in a fancy restaurant in NYC and she has her own thing back home in Florida. Their nieces are having their 15th birthday ad they both cooking for them. At the same time, they are competing to win a cover in a magazine that is featuring foods in parties.

I liked it. I enjoy watching Taylor Cole. I wasn't sure about Levy's acting at first but I thought he and Cole had chemistry and the pair was enough for me. It's true though that it was hard to understand him, he barely opened his mouth. Even for me, that I speak both English and Spanish, it was hard to get my ear used to his accent.

One thing I liked how they portraited: the mothers going crazy at their daughters celebration. Thinking mostly about anything other than them.

One thing I didn't like: the nieces. They were supposed to be 15 years old but, to me they looked like they had 15 years of experience in the business.

I liked the "pre-ending problem" I understood why he felt like he needed to help her, and I understood why she refused his help. It felt realistic.

Anyway, average Hallmark movie.

While a lot of the 2021 Hallmark films really surprised me, especially in the early half of the year and the best of the Christmas output, the quality did decrease in a lot of the second half of the year. Was not crazy about most of the Summer Nights films and the same goes for most of the Fall Harvest output ('Love Strikes Twice' being by quite some considerable distance the best of the block). Am not the biggest of fans of Taylor Cole, have seen performances of hers where she comes over as cold, so expectations were not high.

The good news is that 'South Beach Love' was a good deal better than expected, and while it is not 'Love Strikes Twice' level it is one of the more watchable 2021 Fall Harvest films. The not so good news is that 'South Beach Love' is also not particularly good, though the aspect that left me most apprehensive was actually surprisingly a redeeming quality. It is not one of the worst 2021 Hallmark films, nowhere near close, though it is a long way from being one of the best. Middle of the road.

'South Beach Love' has good things. It is a very attractive looking film, especially the suitably exotic looking scenery that the slick photography was clearly in love with (without being too much so). The setting is not a novel one, but Hallmark have done it quite well in other films of theirs and there are parts that were fun. Was very pleasantly surprised by the cultural aspect of the film, it was nice to see some and it was done tastefully and makes one want to know more without resorting to stereotyping.

Another aspect that pleasantly surprised me was the performance of Cole, who is not the cold ice queen that she can be in her films but there is a warm charming presence here and she always look at ease. The supporting cast are above average.

However, William Levy struck me as very wooden in a role where the extreme flaws of the character made it difficult to warm to him initially. He and Cole don't gel together and the chemistry between them is minimal at best and non existent at worst. The banter between them lacks wit and flow and comes over instead as overdone in the amount of talk and bland in the delivery. Which is true of the dialogue in general actually.

Moreover, the story is very predictable and thin, which made for some very draggy pacing. Charm and emotion are minimal. Found it very difficult to connect with any of the characters, especially Levy's, due to them not being very well fleshed out and having motivations and behaviours that don't ring true. Do agree regarding the very echoey sound and repetitive music score as well.

Concluding, very average but worth a one time watch for Hallmark completest sake. 5/10.

Good story. Rather slow. The male lead was hard to understand, but the overall movie was entertaining. Taylor Cole was good. The insight to Cuban culture was good.

I love Hallmark movies and was specially excited about this one (huge William Levy fan) but was very disappointed. William's acting was not awful and even Taylor was off. The storyline was not good. The sound was terrible!!! And when they talked quick it was really hard to understand (I rewind quite a few times trying to understand what they were saying). Saw it entirely but will never watch it again.

I've watched Hallmark movies as far back as I can remember. The only problem I have with, "South Beach Love" is in sometimes understanding the accents. The problem came when the characters would speak quickly.

6.7 stars.

Latino girls at the age of 15 have these huge parties. It's similar to sweet 16 for American girls. There are two relatives who are going to create cuisine selections for these parties, but the parties get mixed up, and there are multiple problems that arise between these two supposed 15 year old girlfriends, who are at odds with one another. The male protagonist is a well-known chef and the female protagonist is very competent at her profession, and she can cook too. They were once together many years ago as a young couple, but he left and went to start a restaurant in New York. He has become a celebrity chef, and she doesn't fit comfortably in his shadow. Now he's back and things are tense.

Nothing to write home about. It's about two prima donna families with two prima donna Quinceañeras. The end is emotionally satisfying.

After the brilliant breath of fresh air which Loves Strikes Twice was (the movie that aired the week before), this was right back to the formulaic rubbish that Hallmark has been turning out since Larry Levinson's departure. Boring story, lackluster performances, and a lame attempt to widen the demographic audience.

Hallmark seriously needs to look at their product. They could start by reading the IMDb reviews of Love Strikes Twice, and see what people really want.

Taylor Cole is one of my favorite Hallmark actresses and William Levy is muy caliente but this movie is a no for me. The lighting was HORRIBLE - like it literally hurt my eyes. And the guitar music was tinny. This should have been sultry and steamy but felt cold and glaring. Oh well.

The premise is a slightly different take on bringing together old flames. An Irish-Cuban fusion seemed a bit strange, but worked for me even so. Why not if it brings something to a neighborhood that no one else provides?

The romance story was about what you'd expect, but the teenage girls added a nice touch (even if at least one of them was played by a 19 year old who seemed more like she was in her 20's). Despite my having several friends who've had quinceañeras, I've never been to one and it was nice to see what they are about. I loved the symbolism of the girl's transition into a woman. This might have been the highpoint for me and I'm not sure how rewatchable this is.

Taylor Cole and William Levy didn't have a lot of chemistry. Levy came off a little too much like he thought he was royalty and somehow Cole didn't seem natural either. Late in the movie their characters' long term familiarity came through, but it never seemed very romantic. Practical and convenient yes, romantic no.

I'm an avid Hallmark movies fan and latin as well but this was a disappointment. Accents where exagerared and hard to understand. Full of clichés that are not even common (cheesy things like the girls shoes or dolls). Acting was stiff form both main characters, little chemistry and strange story line. Hope Hallmark does something that really gets Latin culture without stereotyping this much. It's a pity since William Levy is very talented in his natural element.

So happy to see a culturally authentic Hallmark movie! I love everything about this movie ... so much so, that I read the book after watching the movie. The movie is very much like the book ... even some of the names are the same. In the book Sara was more guarded. There was no kiss between Sara and Tony until the end ... although Tony made every effort to be wherever Sara was ... like the movie. However, they do marry about six months later. Perhaps that will be the sequel!

Was not surprised to see others thought so negative about this movie.

1. It made Taylor Cole look bad,

2. Cellphone videos have better sound.

3. The awful guitar music that seemed to never stop.

4, Bad acting of a bad script with a bad story idea.

5. You knew from the beginning how it was going to end so just fast forward though it would have been the best choice.

6. Was so bad I had to sign up to review it.

I am not sure where to start...bad sound, poor story line, actors hard no 'heart'....hard to even pay attention to the movie.

I felt sorry for Taylor Cole, one of Hallmark's proven actresses being stuck in this horrible movie.

There have been so many Hallmark movie flops in the last 18 months I believe the only way to fix the problem is a wholesale cleanout of Hallmark Media's Executive Suite.

This one fails on many levels. Hallmark tried to create an ethnic Latin movie that just misses. A tired story line and acting that is not too believable contributes to this.

I really enjoyed it! I don't agree with the comments and the reviews I've read. I think it is a well-made film, I liked the story and the plot seemed entertaining. I loved William Levy, he gave that spicy Latin air that I found entertaining.

This movie wants to be cute, but it moves slowly, like an episode of a soap opera. There is nothing offensive and little or nothing to capture attention. It follows the trend of Hallmark movies, progressively becoming weaker and insignificant. No real drama and shallower characters. Maybe, Hallmark should concentrate more on substance, rather than quantity. When one wants to produce a hundred or more movies a year, real ideas run short! Taylor Cole is, as always, beautiful and charming, at least when she is not dressed as a10-year old. I guess it may be worth watching once, but I would not definitely plan to watch it again.

As an avid Hallmark viewer, I found this movie so disappointing, it's difficult to define all the elements that failed. It seems that Hallmark is working overtime to display diversity. Maybe there needs to be more attention paid to good scrips and plausible stories than simply to please all the diversities abounding these days. Most glaringly, Taylor Cole was put into role that was embarrassing for this talented and very beautiful actress. She is a stunning beauty. Her appearance in this film bordered on diminishing her lovely looks and her obvious talent. To put her beautiful hair into pigtails, and a strange hairband left this viewer curious. And then to dress her in the very short, childlike outfits she wore further felt like she was being diminished in her role. At the end of the film, she appeared in a lovely red gown that finally showed her true beauty.

The acting in the film was a bit over the top. The teenaged girls were a bit too mature and worldly for 15 year olds. And their gowns for their party were a bit mature and provocative for such young girls.

William Levy's acting was wooden, and his accent was a bit difficult to understand. He is Cuban by birth and so his accent is authentic but it failed to come through in his acting. There was very little plausible chemistry between the leads.

The film attempted to show a cultural picture, the Latino version of a Sweet Sixteen, but there was so much drama around this event that the romantic story line got lost.

All in all, a project that could have been used better, both for cultural diversity, and for the acting of the main characters. Hallmark needs to take its effort at political correctness more seriously. This film seems to have been a rush job to meet the political issues of our times.

William Levy (Tony) speaks as if he has a mouth full of Ropa Vieja. And the reverb (or bad microphone) at Tony's parents' house makes it worse. Expect to spend the first 30 minutes saying "what?" Watch this with a finger on the Rewind button.

Would be an interesting - if predictable - Hallmark movie with some (well, many) overdubs.

Wow, the acting is terrible (even Taylor Cole, which was surprising, she's usually awesome) and the plot stunk and couldn't understand what half of them were saying.

The actors didn't seem to click on project.

Hard to hold the interest...didn't.

I have been enjoying Hallmark movies for years. This movie is very disappointing. Hopefully this is not a preview of upcoming movies made by Hallmark.