We saw Melissa M was in the movie, so we expected she would be the headliner. She was not. When we finished the movie it felt like a bait and switch. Melissa M and Melissa P being in the movie, we expected it to be hilarious. It was funny in parts, but not as good of a comedy as it could have been. We watched it on Prime, thank goodness, otherwise I would have been demanding my money back.

First of all, I want to state that sometimes watching a silly movie is relaxing. This movie, what not Academy Award worthy, was never trying for that genre. It was hilarious and silly and entertaining. People should not expect ever singly movie to be "high class", some movies are just made to entertain, make you laugh, then just go on your way. I found this movie very funny and don't consider myself stupid in any way, but not snobbish at the occasional movie made for kicks. Melissa McCarthy must have just been getting started and was hilarious. I would recommend this for a rainy night with silly friends and popcorn.

There might be a few hundred reality shows based on cooking competitions. Some involve chefs, while others involve children trying to cook five star meals. It's all terrible. More than 10 years ago, a woman named Cathryn Michon made a film in the style of a Christopher Guest Mockumentary (Best in Show), called 'Cook Off!', which showed us some whacky characters in a cooking competition. Again, this film was made more than 10 years ago and has been sitting on a shelf for the right time. Turns out, it was never the right time and for some reason, we have this horrible movie in front of us. The poster and cover art of 'Cook Off!' would have you believe that Melissa McCarthy stars in the film as she is front and center on every piece of promotional material. That's not the case though as she might have around 10 minutes of actual screen time in the whole film. This annoys me to great end when companies do this. One of the problems I think we have here with 'Cook Off!' is that Cathryn Michon took on the roles of directing, producing, editing, writing, and starring in the film. She hasn't done much at all and I don't think she handled any of these aspects well at all. It's a shell of a film that takes all of its cues from Christopher Guest, but never pulls off any of the dry humor, wit, or charm that any of his films have. Michon took on too much and it became a lazy script. She even had Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno-911) help write the script here and there and star in the movie too, but nothing helped. Like 'Best in Show', this 'Cook Off!' film follows a group of off-beat individuals who enter a cooking contest to win a cash prize. We meet each of these individuals and their families first and see just how strange they are. The cooking competition gets underway and instead of having these entrants cook something delicious, they all cook their "best or favorite" meals, which are all flat out disgusting. One dish is even called "That Time of the Month Crab Puffs". This is what we're dealing with here.The humor isn't subtle or witty. It's just annoying and unfunny. I could go into each contestant here, but I won't, because they are all the worst stereotypical characters you could write with no real direction. Even though the film is 98 minutes long, you still feel like 45 minutes needs to be cut out. It's that bad, which is unfortunate, because there are so many great comedic actors here, but given the script, nobody could do anything to make it better. Stay clear of this one for sure, as you won't have an appetite for anything after watching this.

Van Rookle Farms sponsors an annual cook off event with a prize of one million dollars. It has 50 contestants. The film builds the character of 5 contestants and then introduces us to two more. They stereotype people of various regions. The script played to the strength of the actresses. I especially loved Jennifer Elise Cox resurrecting Jan Brady. Melissa McCarthy whose face is featured in the middle, actually had a small role as compared to the other contestants.The writing was hit and miss. Wendi McLendon-Covey and Cathryn Michon wrote themselves pretty good roles but some scenes struggled. They brought in people who know and do comedy all the way down to Don Imus' daughter Elizabeth. They saved a lot of scenes.Guide: The film has some mild sex talk. They bleeped out swearing except at the end with the punk band singing. No sex or nudity.