Movie Review: Grilling Season - A Curious Caterer Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters and a decently mystery

Cons: Usual Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Death after party

Goldy investigating

Fun second movie

Exploding Grills

Hallmark has been in a transition period with their movies, which means it’s been a while since we had two movies in the same franchise.  That changed this last Sunday when we got a second movie in the Curious Caterer franchise, Grilling Season.

These movies are loosely inspired by Diane Mott Davidson’s best-selling Goldy Bear catering mysteries.  Despite my love for culinary cozies, you might be surprised to learn that I have only read the first in the series, and that was almost two decades ago.  So, while I know the movies have made some huge changes from the books, I can’t really compare them.  Which is probably for the best – I can just enjoy these movies for what they are, which is Hallmark mystery movies.

Goldy Berry (Nikki Deloach) (and yes, that’s already a change, the main character’s name) is catering a birthday party for Susie Craig (Amanda May).  Susie is one of Goldy’s high school classmates, but she also happens to be Richard’s (Lochlyn Munro) girlfriend.  As in Goldy’s ex-husband Richard.  Fortunately, they are all on good terms.  As the party goes on, Goldy witnesses some exchanges that make it obvious Susie has made some people angry with her.  Still, Goldy is surprised when she learns that Susie died right after the party.

At first, it appears that Susie dies due to the explosion of her new grill, a grill that Goldy used for the first time during the party.  But then, the police rule it murder.  Still, this has been enough to cause Goldy to start losing business.  Despite the warnings from Detective Tom Shultz (Andrew W. Walker), Goldy starts to investigate.  Will she find the killer?

I’ve got to admit, I have a bit of a hard time with just how friendly Goldy is with her ex and his new girlfriend.  I don’t know why since I see that happening in other movies, but that just felt off to me here.  Maybe it is because I know in the books they have a very different relationship.

But I set that aside and enjoyed this movie for what it was.  And if you are looking for a new Hallmark mystery movie, you’ll be highly entertained.  We have a large group of suspects, and Goldy does a good job of picking apart alibis and digging up motives.  I was kept guessing until the killer was revealed at the end.  I’m not completely sure I buy how the climax played out (although they did try to justify it), but I enjoyed the suspense.

The characters are good.  I enjoyed seeing more of Goldy and Tom’s relationship.  While I don’t quite buy Goldy and Richard’s post-divorce relationship, I do appreciate their relationship as well.  Goldy’s daughter is a fun character, and the suspects are all good.  Some could have been stronger, but they were minor suspects, so it was okay.  Overall, it was wonderful to visit these characters once again.

And yes, this movie does have the usual Hallmark cheese warning that comes through in the writing, production, and a bit in the acting.  But fans of the channel’s movies won’t care.

I’m glad we got to visit Goldy and the rest of the characters again in Grilling Season.  I’m hoping this means we will get to see them again soon.  If you enjoyed the first movie, you’ll be happy to come back for more.