One of my more recent favorites is No Reservations. Now, I’ll tell you right now, there were no Oscars; not even a nomination. We’re dealing with lowered expectations. If you go into this with that in mind, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I guarantee your girly-girl will love ya for it. She just might cuddle up on the sofa with you while you’re watching.
The second best pay-off of the evening will be that you get to watch Catherine Zeta-Jones. Now how painful can that be? Catherine plays Kate, a control-freak chef so tightly wound it’s a wonder she doesn’t pop in the steam of her own kitchen. Despite her position as reigning queen of the Manhattan foodie set, Kate has no joy; she does not really exist outside of her job and her employer-ordered therapy. She throws temper tantrums when anyone, customers included, questions the perfection of her meal creations.
There’s a big turnaround for Kate, however, when her sister dies suddenly, leaving Kate to care for her wide-eyed, mini-bohemian 10 year old niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin) at the same time that a larger-than-life sous chef, who impossibly seems to be able to cook well, endear the staff and customers and enjoy life, gets a job in Kate’s kitchen. Nick (Aaron Eckhart) pushes all of Kate’s buttons and instantly hits it off with Zoe, and thus begins Kate’s transition from uptight head case to romantic comedy lead. Making room for Zoe and just maybe Nick in her self-focused life creates an incredible challenge.
There is nothing here to strain your brain and the cast could do a wonderful job with this one in their sleep. Zeta-Jones goes from cranky to cuddly right before our eyes. Eckhart plays the sweetly endearing Mr. Perfect with visible ease and Abigail Breslin is a mini-master of the silver screen and she just keeps getting better and better. The talents of this cast are pretty much unnecessary but they make this funny movie incredibly easy to watch.
For all the times that No Reservations is utterly conventional and predictable, it is kind enough to sidestep the contrived complications that often litter the genre—Zoe is a little girl in mourning, but she isn’t acting like a devil child out to destroy Aunt Kate. The family plight is not a downer to this movie that it could be, and even the cookie cutter romance isn’t plagued by wacky, trite misunderstandings to veer it off course.
It’s not sappy, the acting is tight and the story line…well, at least it has a story line, so pick No Reservations up, order some Chinese take-out with a single set of chopsticks and enjoy. Once again, I welcome your comments at chastings@rockcliff.com and don’t forget to go to my website for my archived movie reviews.