Hallmark Channel
Summer came to an end on LMN with a movie set along Miami’s South Beach, and now Hallmark Channel’s ‘Summer Nights’ series concludes with another beach town movie, but this one set much farther north in Montauk, Long Island, giving the story a more small town, homey feel.
Catch of the Day stars former Cheaspeake Shores actress Emilie Ullerup as Sophie, a former Montauk resident now trying to make a name for herself in the high-powered restaurant world, working in the kitchen of a new restaurant awaiting its first review. Sophie is not shy about speaking out about how good their food is no matter what the review says, but when it comes in and they get four stars, Sophie finds herself handed the sous chef position because of her passion and dedication. That same night she calls her sister on Montauk to give her the news, but Abigail is in the middle of a flooding emergency at the family restaurant and can’t chat until the next morning. When Sophie gives her the news, Abigail is thrilled for her but breaks the news that she is on the verge of selling the family restaurant because it’s just not profitable anymore, especially after their father died and the rich tourists who invade Montauk every Summer are looking for food that’s a bit more upscale. Sophie needs to help and asks for three weeks off, not the best move since she just got a promotion, but the chef convinced the owner to let her go … for ten days, tops. And there is one condition — Sophie has to prepare a meal for owner Evelyn and her ritzy investor friends on Montauk, and if everyone is please Sophie will get the Executive Chef position at Evelyn’s new restaurant in Las Vegas. That is Sophie’s dream so she accepts, but there is one little problem — she didn’t reveal to anyone that she is going home to help at her family’s restaurant.
When Sophie arrives home, Abigail shows her a local food blogger’s review of their food, it wasn’t good, and Sophie was horrified to see the walk-in freezer stocked with … frozen fish! No wonder the review was bad. And Montauk is right on the ocean! Sophie insists that they need fresh fish to elevate their menu, but it’s much to expensive and Abigail can barely pay the bills or the staff. But Sophie heads to the local fish market to get a couple of pieces of fish to prove to her sister what can be done, and she happens to run into Cam, whose family has run the fish market for years. The two had a rocky history in high school and their meeting is a little awkward, but as fate would have it they keep bumping into each other until they inevitably agree to have dinner. That goes well and Sophie and Cam begin to grow closer, leading to a shocking (for Hallmark) kiss midway through the movie (that kiss generally does not come until the very end). Of course, things get complicated for Sophie as she struggles with Abigail on what direction to go with their restaurant, hiring a manager and sprucing up the place to make it more modern, as well as trying to come up with a menu for Evelyn and her guests. When Sophie does reveal her menu, Evelyn is horrified that she would dare to grill anything for her wealthy guests, feeling the menu is much to ‘local’ for people accustomed to high class fare. Luckily another of the cooks from the New York restaurant, Julie, steps up with a menu that suits Evelyn’s taste, and Sophie agrees to prepare it. But all of the stress is driving a wedge between her and Cam, and when she reveals that she could be heading to Las Vegas if she pulls off the dinner, Cam pulls away, refusing to kiss her goodnight after another dinner (so that earlier kiss was an important plot point), and excuses himself, not wanting to show both how much he’s grown to care for her and how hurt he is that she wants to leave her hometown, a place he is firmly rooted to. With her family restaurant set to relaunch for the July 4th holiday, Sophie is focused on Evelyn’s dinner which goes from disaster to disaster, as first the power in town goes out — leaving Sophie no choice but to grill — and Julie drops all of the fish that had been in the sous vide on the floor. Sophie needs to call in a favor with Cam, but what he has left isn’t what Evelyn is expecting and Sophie has no choice but to fire up the grill and hope for the best. Can she make Evelyn and her guests happy enough to get the Las Vegas job, fulfilling her career goal but possibly letting down her family and breaking Cam’s — and her — heart, or will she realize that the stress of working in a major restaurant is too much and Montauk is where she belongs? What do you think?
Hallmark Channel
Catch of the Day is a truly pleasant Hallmark Summer romance. It’s puzzling as to why they didn’t air the movie closer to the Fourth of July instead of right before Labor Day — but of course they did have ‘Christmas in July’ movies running that month. Still, they could have aired it before Providence Falls, which would have been better closing out the Summer Nights series. Regardless, the movie manages to make you connect with Sophie, her family and Cam, does a nice job of painting Evelyn as a mild version of the villain, and makes you want to just be a part of this beach town community where everyone seems to know everyone else and they are all super pleasant to be around. Ah, if only that were real life. It certainly makes for a nice bit of escapism from the real world, nonetheless. There is one interesting tidbit about Catch of the Day: the sotry was conceived by Katie Lee Biegel, who also co-wrote the screenplay, executive produced and played the local food blogger, Marissa. One might think this was some kind of vanity project (she also wrote, executive produced and acted in 2022’s Hallmark movie Groundswell). Whatever it was, the screenplay manages to lure you in without being flashy, creating grounded characters dealing with real life problems, finding ways to deal with them successfully. It may not be realistic, but it is inspiring and heartwarming by the end (my eyes may have ‘sweated’ a little by the time the credits rolled). The movie is skillfully directed by Jessica Harmon, and the mostly outdoor locations feel authentic (though there is one nighttime dinner scene wide shot that I couldn’t tell if it was a real location or done with visual effects as it felt a bit artificial, even though close-ups of the actors were definitely on location). It all just comes together so well to give you a warm feeling inside.
Helping sell the emotions and feelings of the characters are the excellent cast. Emilie Ullerup nails Sophie, a strong woman with a dream to succeed in a world she loves. She has her goals to reach by age 40 and she is driven, but she also values family, feeling guilty for not visiting more often because of her career. She makes her progressively growing feelings for Cam also feel authentic, not really expecting to feel anything but being in a small town makes it impossible to not see him just about everywhere, putting the past behind her but looking at the future and trying to decide whether to follow her dreams or her heart. She makes Sophie entirely relatable and that is important so the audience can empathize with her struggles. Michael Rady is excellent as Cam (giving a young Ken Olin on thirtysomething vibe). He looks like he’s been in Montauk all of his life, he completely convinces the viewer that this place is his life. He wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to Sophie, and he makes us root for him to show her enough of his heart to convince her to stay, and he breaks our heart a little when it seems like she might actually leave. Excellent work from both of them.
The supporting cast is also very, very good. Alison Wandruza perfectly conveys Abigail’s stress at trying to keep the family restaurant afloat, more out of duty than desire, a need to keep their father’s legacy afloat. Sharon Crandall manages to make Evelyn a stern boss, someone with high expectations who doesn’t suffer fools, and who expects total focus from her employees. She borders on being the villain, but she shows that Evelyn can also admit when she’s wrong. Tim Perez plays Javi, a Montauk local and long-time employee at the restaurant who is more than willing to step up to keep the place going. He really gives Javi a humanity that shows him to be not just a good employee, but a great friend, as close to being another member of the family as anyone could get. Amanda Huxtable’s Julie is a bit of a complex character because the way she plays her it seems like she will do anything she can to scuttle Sophie’s chances at advancing, perhaps even sabotaging the fish at Evelyn’s dinner. She completely changes, though, when Sophie takes the fall for that disaster and steps up to help Sophie get through the dinner. Other supporting actors like Casey Manderson, Scarlett Kennedy and Layla Verrault as Abigail’s family all give very natural performances. Really, there isn’t a bad performance in the bunch and those performances are key to making the story work.
While it may be the end of Summer, Hallmark gave us one last chance to bask in the warmth of a small, beach town romance full of heart, emotion and real human connections that can be enjoyed at any time of the year.
Catch of the Day has a run time of 1 hour 23 minutes, and is rated TV-G. The film is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – Catch of the Day
Hallmark Channel