Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery 2025
Sinopsis
Hannah’s favorite reality show takes over The Cookie Jar. When the producer is found dead, Hannah and Norman team up to track down the killer. Chad invites Hannah to court.
Cast
- Alison Sweeney as Hannah Swensen, a local baker who owns the Cookie Jar bakery and cafe
- Cameron Mathison as Detective Mike Kingston, a recently widowed homicide detective who moves to town from the city
- Lisa Durupt as Andrea Swensen Todd, Hannah’s sister
- Toby Levins as Deputy Bill Todd, a local detective who is married to Andrea
- Gabriel Hogan as Doctor Norman Rhodes, a dentist and Hannah’s close friend
- Barbara Niven as Delores Swensen, Hannah, Andrea and Michelle’s mother
- Juliana Wimbles as Lisa Herman, a helper at Hannah’s bakery
- Garry Chalk as Mayor Bascomb, the town’s Mayor
- Tess Atkins as Michelle Swensen, youngest daughter of Delores
- Victor Webster as Chad Norton, Lake Eden’s prosecuting attorney
Review
I’m a week late! I hadn’t seen the announcement that Hallmark was premiering their first mystery movie of the year last week, so I had to catch a reairing on Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, they reair stuff frequently, especially right after it has first premiered. It was fun to check in again with Hannah Swensen in Reality Bites.
Hannah Swensen (Alison Sweeney) is thrilled when the production for the Connie Mac show reaches out, asking to use her bakery for a couple of days of filming the show. Hannah’s a big fan of the famous baking show. She even gets to work behind the scenes helping prepare the food.
However, she quickly learns that Connie is not a nice woman. But the big shock comes the second morning of filming when she shows up to find one of the producers has died in her bakery. While the police are slow to rule it a homicide, Hannah starts investigating anyway. Can she find the killer?
When I was reading the description for this movie, I was trying to figure out what book they were using as the basis for this movie. When Connie Mac popped up, I knew, although it’s hard to call Blueberry Muffin Murder the basis for this film. There are so many differences that they might as well be two different stories. Okay, so it’s been a couple of decades since I read the book, but still, when the murder victim is different, it’s hard to consider them remotely the same.
So, we get to judge this movie on its own terms. Honestly, as a mystery, it’s a bit of a disappointment. It’s obvious what the motive for the murder is going to be tied to early on, and we just have to wait for the characters to catch up. The killer was a surprise, but that was because we really didn’t have any clues leading to this person. Or anyone, really.
Having said that, it was entertaining. I enjoyed getting to spend time with the characters and watch them in all their over the top glory. Okay, so that’s mostly Delores, Hannah’s mother, who is played with scene stealing delight by Barbara Niven. And yes, she is playing the character that way on purpose since she is supposed to be providing us with some laughs.
Since we’re on the subject, overall, the acting is fine. Some performances were stronger than others, but if you are used to Hallmark movies, you’ll know what to expect.
The main cast is all great as they work to solve the case. I find it interesting that they included Gabriel Hogan’s Norman in this one in a big way while clearly ramping up the romance between Hannah and Chad (Victor Webster). I’m still trying to figure out why they brought him in since we’ve got plenty of other characters. Speaking of which, Andrea was missing this time around, but the rest of the cast filled in just fine.
