No Reservations

No Reservations

Drama (Romance)

2007

Rated: PG

Running Time: 104 minutes

Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin

Directed By: Scott Hicks

Rating: 5 out of 10

Outline

A woman obsessed about cooking has a new chef to worry about and has the added responsibility of looking after her niece.

Review

This movie although cute might be inappropriately titled as I would have called it some reservations as it was unoriginal and uninspired. The movie has good flow and does have a positive message making it very easy to watch. The main problem with this film is the two lead characters themselves. Catherine Zeta-Jones playing top chef Kate is a strong independent woman who carries the story quite well. Aaron Eckhart playing top chef Nick is also a pretty personable character himself and provides some upbeat rebellion to Kate’s strict and rule abiding kitchen. The problem is when you get the two of them together. The first time you see Nick you know he and Kate will eventually start to have a romance but besides the obvious the actual relationship seems forced. Yes the two of them are good looking people but that doesn’t always mean great chemistry and I found their relationship a little out of place. Abigail Breslin playing Zoe does a great job of playing the sad little girl. It is a shame there are not more Abigail’s out there as she is quite a good child actor and doesn’t come off as annoying or fake on screen. The story goes on the usual sequence of events as the same tired plot twists and turns happen in this one. The cooking seems to dominate the story as expected but they do a great job of combining that with the romantic story line while it is a little cheesy it still works none the less. The sadness of the story never seems to hit home as this movie will inspire little emotional range. I found this movie was just a time filler instead of tweaking my emotions. I didn’t find this movie particularly funny, sad, or happy just cute and that wasn’t enough to save the film for me. The ending was nice and well thought up and if Kate was more like this for the rest of the film it might have worked better. I can’t recommend this film as although the food and cooking seemed exotic and flavorful the movie itself was rather bland and uninspired.

T Factor + Fan of the romantic comedy genre you might rate this higher on the rating scale.

T Factor + Found the movie not as cute as I did then this could score lower on the rating scale.

If you liked this film reel recommendations: Intolerable Cruelty, or Waitress