Runtime: 104min 12secs
Tagline: Life isn’t always made to order.
Directed by: Scott Hicks
Screenplay by: Carol Fuchs and Sandra Nettelbeck
Plot Outline:
Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is the master chef at the trendy 22 Bleecker Street Restaurant in Manhattan. She runs her kitchen at a rapid pace as she co-ordinates the making and preparing of all the fantastic meals and personally displays the food to perfection on every dish. She intimidates everyone around her, so her boss sends her to therapy. Kate’s sister is killed in a car accident and her nine-year old daughter Zoe (Abigail Breslin) moves in with Kate.
With all of Kates problems, the boss orders her to take some time off and hires a new chef to join the staff. Nick (Aaron Eckhart) is a rising star in his own right and could be the head chef of another restaurant, but he wants to work under Kate. Kate begins to feel threatened by Nick. With all that is going on in Kates life, falling for a man is the last thing she was looking for. This particular man? Definitely not.
Fate however has something else in mind ;-).
Overall Impressions:
The overall kitchen them reminded me of Cheeni Kum a few weeks back which was the superior film of the two. I wouldn’t feel the urge to watch it again in any hurry, but it was okay — up to a point. The performances fare well, but the pair don’t quite gel and look a bit awkward. That said, I did find myself entertained for about 90 minutes, then I got bored and just went all critical and object oriented on it, snipping it down to its bare bones.
Breaking it down (with spoilers, but seriously I’m not sure you can call them spoilers, I mean it’s a chick flick, you knew how it’d go by simply the trailer surely, but anyway):
Kate can’t quit the kitchen because it’s her entire ife as far as she’s concerned, but it isn’t explicitly said. She ends up getting this little girl as an addition to her life, in comes the strapping hero, as an additional staff member with a totally different personality with a common interest of cooking — End of Act I — So far so good. The variables have all been put in place and established their identities.
What follows from here: Motherhood is a difficult thing for Kate, but with the aid of a father figure too, slowly and steadily we find she learns to cope & see the advantages of being like a family. She has issues with him and their differences and these are resolved. It seems to have gone quite smoothly and seems like a happy ending. It seems like Acts II and III have been done with. I begin looking at my watch. It felt like it should have ended, but it hasn’t, there is the conflict at work of Nick getting offered her job. Wait, what?
We then get the realisation moment where Nick tells her the restuarant isn’t her whole life as he dramatically decides to walk out. It was okay the 1st time, as we kinda knew she’d have to stop him. This time though, I shake my head an cringe a little. Further issues with little girl establishes she’s no good at this alone.
She speaks to her counsellor who’s a lovable old man (whose glasses remind you of Arvin Sloane from Alias), asking him why life doesn’t have a recipe book telling her what to do at each step. He replies in a language she might understand: The best recipes are always the ones you make yourself (or something to that effect. She swallows her anger & confusion & we get happy ending resolution (take 2).
Though the penultimate scenes do work, it would have been perrfectly fine to end earlier. It felt a little long because of it. Just me anyway.
Generic chick flick, nothing exceptional but with the void of any others in the market currently, I’m sure it’ll do well. No must, but a typical date-film.
Reviewed by Ramchandra