YouTube Won
For weeks, YouTube kept recommending this film to me.
Every time I opened YouTube, there it was.
A baker.
A cookie.
A murder.
I ignored it. Firmly.
YouTube responded by recommending it again.
And again.
And again.
Eventually, I clicked. Not because I wanted to watch it, but because I wanted YouTube to stop looking at me with that smug little “I know what you like better than you do” expression.
The annoying thing?
It was right.
Characters
The film stars Alison Sweeney as Hannah Swensen, owner of a bakery called The Cookie Jar and apparently the only person in town capable of solving crimes.
Cameron Mathison plays Detective Mike Kingston, whose job would be significantly easier if Hannah stopped investigating his investigations.
The rest of the cast is made up of family members, townsfolk, suspects, and future suspects. It’s that sort of town.
Recap
What’s It About?
Hannah bakes cookies.
Someone dies.
Hannah decides that baking cookies and investigating murders are not nearly enough work for one person, so she starts doing both.
Clues are followed. Questions are asked. Cookies continue to be baked.
That’s really all you need to know going in.
Review
This isn’t the sort of mystery that keeps me on the edge of my bed wondering who the killer is.
But it is the sort of mystery that keeps me looking at my phone while I’m simultaneously playing Candy Crush on my tablet.
And that is a category of entertainment that deserves respect.
The story moves along nicely. The mystery is interesting enough. The characters are pleasant company. Nobody is being disembowelled every fifteen minutes. Nobody is delivering dark monologues about the human condition.
It’s cosy.
That’s the word.
The film feels like being handed a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits and then being told, “By the way, there’s been a murder.”
I wasn’t desperately trying to solve the mystery. I wasn’t counting clues on my fingers. I was simply having a nice time.
Sometimes that’s enough.
Final Thoughts
A pleasant cosy mystery with cookies, small-town charm, and a murder that won’t give you nightmares.
Not edge-of-the-bed stuff.
Not the sort of film that will change your life.
But a perfectly enjoyable watch for a lazy evening when your attention is split between YouTube, Candy Crush, and wondering why Hannah keeps stumbling over dead bodies.
Nice cosy mystery. Nothing gory. One-time watch. Would probably watch another if YouTube keeps pestering me.
There, all done. Feeling much better now. Phew!
Shabana Mukhtar