A Recipe for Seduction Review: A Spicy and Bite-Sized Advertisement

Release date: December 13, 2020
Running time: 15 minutes
Starring: Mario Lopez, Chad Doreck, Justene Alpert, Tessa Munro, Martin Morrow

A woman must choose between a handsome chef she met and a would-be husband chosen by her mother.  Jessica Mancera (Alpert) seems to have everything going for her.  Good life, loving boyfriend, and a delicious Christmas dinner.  But digging deeper, we find out that maybe her life isn't all it's crackling up to be.  When a mysterious new chef, Colonel Harland Sanders (Lopez) enters the picture, Jessica develops a hunger for a something new.

First off, yes this is a real thing.  The movie is clearly an advertising collaboration, but I'm thankful to say that it's not as overt as you would expect.  There are several scenes with fried chicken, Colonel Sanders, and a "secret recipe" but other than that this is your typical campy made for TV movie with an exaggerated style.  The biggest draw is Mario Lopez as Colonel Sanders, and thankfully he made the larger than life figure his own rather than trying to emulate the brand figurehead.  He doesn't have a fake accent, but he does have more salt than pepper in his hair, thick glasses, and a strong mustache and soul patch.  But it's also Mario Lopez so his white outfit doesn't hide his biceps.  The other characters are fun to watch and fit into the overall feel for the film.  They're not overly complicated but they provide some intrigue and conflict as Jessica tries to decide what she wants for her life.

And the story of A Recipe for Seduction is simple but effective.  Being a 15 minute mini-movie, there isn't much room for nuance.  The relationships don't so much simmer, but flare up like a battered drumstick dropped in oil.  There are some spicy scenes and and the story moves relatively quickly given the limited time.  And as stated earlier, the story has several KFC references, but thankfully it's not thrown into your face.  They took a good balance here of evoking the brand and some campy positivity without taking over the whole movie.  I don't think there is even red and white bucket shown in the film but the build up advertisement did call it a "piping hot love affair of deep fried romantic goodness."  The brand leaned into the camp, with overly dramatic acting and several threads in this short mini movie.  And the film ends with a twist, so maybe there will be a spicy sequel sometime in the future.  Sure it's made for TV so that means there is a limited cast and some of the effects are not great, but overall this is a fun, silly made for TV movie that highlights a brand collaboration that is enjoyable without being overt.

A Recipe for Seduction's spicy scenes, bite-sized duration, and piping hot cast led by a salt and pepper Mario Lopez make it one campy movie you'll want to dig into.  

Watch it.

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A Recipe for Seduction debuted on Lifetime on December 13, 2020.  Check your TV listings for additional showings.