Sitting in Bars with Cake sets the bar on a slice-of-life theme.

Just a little tip that this film is not a baking show, food competition, or something like that. It’s actually inspired by true events that took place in 2013 and it’s based on the book written ​​by Audrey Shulman. Sitting in Bars with Cake follows two best friends Jane and Corinne who are navigating life in Los Angeles in their twenties. Corinne convinces her extremely-talented home baker best friend Jane to commit to a year of baking cakes and bringing them to bars, with the goal of meeting new people and developing confidence. During their year of baking cakes and taking them to bars, Corinne receives a life-altering diagnosis of cancer, leading the pair to face an unlikely challenge they have experienced before. 

Two widely-known television stars Yara Shahidi (ABC’s Black-ish) and Odessa A’zion (CBS’ Fam) portray as best friends and roommates, Jane and Corinne. In the film, Jane is an ambitious, talented baker who enjoys baking cakes and taking them to local bars while studying to get herself into law school. Her best friend Corinne, however, convinces her that she should become a baker instead of focusing on law school. As Jane continues to bake cakes throughout the film, Corienne is diagnosed with cancer, which puts their friendship at an unlikely risk. With that, they continue to do the cake-baking business while Corinne receives medical treatment for her cancer diagnosis. 

Trish Sie handles the director duties in the film after directing Pitch Perfect 3. As director of this film, Sie does an adequate job of filling the screen with goodies and sweets, providing the requisite foodie experience for the viewers, mostly those who love food, desserts, and all sorts of sweets. By taking this advice from several other baking shows and films that involve food, it showcases the colorful ambition of making desserts, making new friends, and seeking social relationships. Though, for the most part, it focuses on a loved-one who is diagnosed with cancer. One thing that throws me off is when the scenes involve two girls baking a cake and taking it to a local bar, which my main thought was that it was illegal to bring outside food to a bar. Another thing is that the supporting actors felt underused, which explains their personality traits. Lastly, be warned the third act contains a tear-jerking scene that will make the food-loving viewers weep all over their stuff of love.

Actors Martha Kelly (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Ron Livingston (Office Space), and Bette Midler (Disney’s Hocus Pocus) are all featured in the film as Ruth, Fred, and Corinne’s boss Benita respectively. 

Sitting in Bars with Cake sets the bar on a slice-of-life theme and I think this movie could’ve been better if there was better pacing and better scriptwriting to indulge. The main two actresses really fit the bill on this one. I actually saw this in theaters just before it came out on Amazon Prime Video, which is this Friday. Honestly, this film runs two hours long and is a must since this film makes me crave for dessert. This is where you can recall what Marie Antoinette said, she would say “Let them eat cake!” It’s a nifty throwback to those who loved watching baking shows and movies on your streaming service devices (or YouTube for instance), but this is the main course for cake lovers out there. This movie is sweet, not too dry, and full of goodies as if this is your box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. That’s what Forrest Gump would say.

GRADE: B

Photo credit: MGM/Amazon Studios