Alison Sweeney is back as Hannah Swensen in Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, now out on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. In this movie franchise, Sweeney’s Swensen, a character based on the novels of author Joanne Fluke, is a baker who somehow keeps finding herself caught up (and solving) murders. In the latest installment, Hannah tries to figure out how a TV producer’s murder is linked to a local string of robberies in town
Opening Shot: Shots of Hannah Swenson, professional baker and occasional murder-solver, baking a blueberry pie are interspersed with shots of a masked man breaking into a house and pocketing someone’s jewels.
The Gist: In this new Hannah Swensen mystery, there are a couple of different, interweaving plots happening all at once. The first of which is that there’s a cat burglar lurking around Hannah’s hometown of Lake Eden, Minnesota, and after years of unsolved thefts, the local prosecutor, Chad (Victor Webster) has compiled enough evidence hopefully to convince a jury that a man named Lloyd Chyasley is responsible for them.
Te other big thing that’s happening in Lake Eden is that Hannah’s adorable local bakery, The Cookie Jar, has been selected as a filming location for The Connie Mac Show, a cooking show hosted by a baking and lifestyle legend named Connie Mac (April Amber Telek). Connie seems like a cross between Ina and Martha, except that, in reality, Connie doesn’t cook or even know what she’s doing in the kitchen. She’s a diva to the highest degree but is simply the face of the show. When Hannah, a huge Connie fan, agrees to help prepare some of the food Connie is making for the episode they’re filming there, she gets a harsh dose of reality when Connie also turns out to be a raging A-hole. “Never meet your heroes,” Hunt Bantry, Connie’s apologetic producer later tells Hannah, revealing to her that Connie is a fraud.
The next day, when they’re supposed to finish filming Connie’s episode, Hunt Bantry’s dead body is found locked inside The Cookie Jar.
Is there any connection between these jewel heists and a dead cooking show producer? Well, of course! When Hannah finds Hunt’s body inside her shop, she notices the website that Hunt was looking at before he died was an article about Lloyd Chasley. With help from lawyer Chad, her diva mom Delores (Barbara Niven) and police officer friend Lonnie (Daylin Willis), Hannah tries to connect the two crimes, all while keeping the cookies baking at the Cookie Jar.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The Hannah Swensen mysteries have made a name for themselves as Hallmark’s answer to Murder, She Wrote and Midsomer Murders; cozy mysteries that seem quaint and fun, like you might start looking for real estate in these charming, fictional towns despite their high per-capita murder rates.
Our Take: The Hannah Swensen mysteries are a usually winning combination of clever murder mystery and entertaining ensemble. Reality Bites still gives the ensemble plenty of fun stuff to do, but alas, the mystery here feels stretched thin and ultimately is so predictable that the climactic reveal simply seems like it takes forever to get to.
Credit goes to Barbara Niven, who tends to steal the show as Hannah’s glamorous and un-self-aware mother who inserts herself into every situation (whether she’s helpful or not), along with Hannah’s BFF Norman (Gabriel Hogan), the local dentist who loves a good stake out. There are several recurring characters who feel like old friends and their presence adds to the familiar, comforting vibe of the movie. The problems lie in the overall plot that just feel a little silly and overdone. By the time the movie reveals the whodunnit of it all (by way of about a half-dozen other misdirects that just strettttch the running time out), so many suspects and side plots have come and gone that the real criminal’s identity is unsurprising and just warrants a lukewarm shrug.
Parting Shot: Hannah and Chad walk down the street together discussing – at last – the date they’re going to go on.
Performance Worth Watching: Barbara Niven’s Delores has decides to take up acting in this installment (you may recall that the last time around, she decided to become a private investigator). Being a proper diva suits her.
Memorable Dialogue: “Delores Swenson. I’m in the business, too. ACTOR,” Delores says as she walks onto the Connie Mac set and introduces herself to the crew. It’s a bold statement for a woman whose resume leads with a supporting role at the community theater. But this is who Delores is, and she owns it.
Our Call: If you’re watching Reality Bites: A Hannah Swenson Mystery because you want a gripping mystery, it’s unfortunately a disappointing one. That being said, there’s still something charming and fun about the Hannah Swenson movies thanks to the reliable cast that keeps things light and entertaining. If you love yourself some Alison Sweeney and enjoy this movie series, you might find it worthwhile, otherwise, save yourself some time and SKIP IT.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.