Hearts Around The Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient is the fourth and final title in the Hallmark Channel’s Hearts Around The Table film series. This romance tries to put a bow on all of the stories introduced in the prior three films, while also introducing a new love interest and potential happy ending for food truck owner Kiki Mercer (Kathryn Davis). With Jenna’s (Ashley Newbrough) wedding drawing near, Kiki feels the mounting pressure of catering the event for her dear foster sister as she pushes herself hard to give her loved ones a meal to remember. Can Kiki learn to open herself up in both cooking and love so that she both can crush the catering and score her own sweet love story in the process? And does this movie do enough to provide a satisfactory ending for the whole Hearts Around The Table franchise?
The Gist: Food truck owner Kiki Mercer (Kathryn Davis) is catering the wedding between her foster sister Jenna (Ashley Newbrough) and Jenna’s longtime love, Andrew (Steve Lund), and she’s is starting to stress. With only four days until the wedding, Kiki’s best laid plans are starting to fall apart as her salmon shipment and industrial oven connections fall through, putting her menu and mental state into chaos. While Jenna, their other foster siblings Shari (Mishael Morgan) and Josh (Jake Epstein), and their former foster mom Angie (Mindy Cohn) just hope that Kiki is present for the festivities so they can all enjoy themselves together, Kiki is tying herself in knots to delivery the perfect wedding meal for the found family that means everything to her.
Kiki’s breaking point, however, comes not long after meeting Andrew’s best man and childhood friend, Clay Rutherford (Torrance Coomb). Clay seems immediately intrigued by Kiki after they literally bump into each other for the first time at the local farmer’s market, but Kiki feels intimidated and a bit inferior compared to Clay after learning that he’s the executive chef and owner of fine dining restaurant Seven Basil. Clay gets real with Kiki about how hard it’ll be to pull this off alone and that in busting her butt to handle the event’s catering, she likely won’t be able to enjoy or be present for any of the actual wedding. Kiki finds it awkward and difficult to ask for help, but she soon comes to find that in both life and love, there are some things you can’t handle all on your own, and Clay is all too willing to lend her a hand in both endeavors.
At the same time as Kiki and Clay’s budding connection amidst catering stress, Jenna is having her own personal crisis as the wedding festivities and traditions remind her of her birth parents. Since her mother raised her on her own and then died young, Jenna has no memory of her father and feels hurt by his seeming complete disregard of ever getting to know her. Angie decides to get involved and secretly tracks down Jenna’s dad, a man named Theo Whitaker (Rick Amsbury), and ends up breaking the news not only about Jenna’s impending wedding, but also of his ex-wife’s death two decades prior and Jenna’s subsequent entry into foster care. As a result, both Theo and Jenna are left with difficult decisions about reconnecting just in time for the wedding.
The main characters from all throughout this film series are coming together for Jenna’s big day, and Hearts Around The Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient seeks to give them all the satisfying send-off that they deserve. Does it pull it off? You may just have to watch to find out.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: In addition to the previous three Hearts Around The Table movies, Hearts Around The Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient is also reminiscent of Hallmark romances that revolve around chefs or cooking, like A Dash of Love, Just Add Romance, and Love on the Menu.
Performance Worth Watching: Kathryn Davis is a likable as Kiki and leads the film in a way that keeps viewers engaged and rooting for her happiness. Additionally, even in a supporting role, Mishael Morgan is a standout Shari thanks to her warm and natural onscreen presence.
Memorable Dialogue: “You’re not like most other people, Kiki.” She’s not like other girls! And Clay likes that very much.
Sex and Skin: None!
Our Take: Hearts Around The Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient feels fresh and more successful than not because romance is only a fraction of the film’s central concern. Although the love story between Kiki and Clay is definitely a major plotline, it feels like the overarching theme was family, which is a fitting focal point for the end of this Hallmark franchise. While Kiki and Clay do have some chemistry and feel worth rooting for, the most engaging and natural interactions in the movie seemed to come from Angie’s found family, particularly amongst the grown ladies in the family. After all, you truly can’t go wrong when emphasizing girlhood and sisterhood.
So sure, there were definitely a lot of cheesy parts, and sometimes Clay was a bit frustrating — why didn’t he do something when his old culinary school pal Crystal (Shohana Sharmin) was being a bit touchy with him and condescing about Kiki’s food truck and catering work?! — but the overall impression is still a happy one thanks to that focus on family. It’s not just Kiki’s movie, it belongs to everyone in the Hearts Around The Table cinematic universe, and this title offers them all a sweet send-off that gives all of the characters you’ve grown to know and love their own little moments and happy endings.
Our Call: If you haven’t seen any of the previous Hearts Around The Table titles then this movie isn’t worth going out of your way to watch. However, if you have seen any or all of the previous movies in this film series then I believe Hearts Around The Table: Kiki’s Fourth Ingredient is worth watching at the very least for its sweet, neatly packaged ending to the stories of all these characters we have gotten to know. So in that case, STREAM IT.
