"No Reservations" is like a puppy begging for your attention. Sometimes it's cute and charming, and other times you just want to push it away.
(Plot summary follows in next three paragraphs - might have spoilers)
The movie has more plot than it knows what to do with, and it's all predictable. It starts with Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a renowned chef at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. The movie's opening scenes take great pains to make us see what a control freak Kate is, to the point that you wish you could slip her a Valium.
It's quickly obvious that the movie's point is to get Kate to slow down and smell the roses. It does this by briefly showing us Kate's single-mom sister and then killing her off in a car accident, leaving behind Kate's niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin), who of course is now lost without her mother.
As if that wasn't enough, the restaurant owner decides to hire another chef, a bon vivant named Nick (Aaron Eckhart), as a partner for Kate. Whereas Kate runs her kitchen by-the-book, Nick plays and sings opera for the kitchen staff while he's cooking. Gee, d'ya think all of this might work upon Kate's reserves and, ya know, lighten her up a little? If ever there was a movie that needed its actors' charm to get the story across, here it is. In particular, Nick is the most hopelessly written character in the film. He's nothing but smiles, songs, and slickness. And you don't believe for a minute that he has anything resembling a real past. His sole point of existence is to remove the bug that is so firmly implanted in Kate's curvy posterior. That Aaron Eckhart sells him to us with seemingly no effort is a tribute to his acting.
Catherine Zeta-Jones' sales job isn't quite so smooth. We're meant to see that Kate is so frosty because she's been hurt a lot in life, but in the end, all we really get is Kate's prickliness -- particularly when the movie's climax brings back Kate's coldness just when we thought it had been safely tucked away.
The movie's lucky charm is Abigail Breslin. Zoe talks smart, but unlike most movies with wisecracking kids, the movie makes you believe it's because Zoe is intelligent and gets right to the heart of things. Breslin was pretty good in the equally contrived "Little Miss Sunshine," but here, she's the 11-year-old motor that keeps things running; without her, the movie's contrivances would be even more threadbare than they are.
There's nothing wrong with a movie that has familiar destinations; the dealmaker is how novel the movie is in getting there. As a "weeper," I mildly recommend "No Reservations" -- but not without reservations.
(Plot summary follows in next three paragraphs - might have spoilers)
The movie has more plot than it knows what to do with, and it's all predictable. It starts with Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a renowned chef at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. The movie's opening scenes take great pains to make us see what a control freak Kate is, to the point that you wish you could slip her a Valium.
It's quickly obvious that the movie's point is to get Kate to slow down and smell the roses. It does this by briefly showing us Kate's single-mom sister and then killing her off in a car accident, leaving behind Kate's niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin), who of course is now lost without her mother.
As if that wasn't enough, the restaurant owner decides to hire another chef, a bon vivant named Nick (Aaron Eckhart), as a partner for Kate. Whereas Kate runs her kitchen by-the-book, Nick plays and sings opera for the kitchen staff while he's cooking. Gee, d'ya think all of this might work upon Kate's reserves and, ya know, lighten her up a little? If ever there was a movie that needed its actors' charm to get the story across, here it is. In particular, Nick is the most hopelessly written character in the film. He's nothing but smiles, songs, and slickness. And you don't believe for a minute that he has anything resembling a real past. His sole point of existence is to remove the bug that is so firmly implanted in Kate's curvy posterior. That Aaron Eckhart sells him to us with seemingly no effort is a tribute to his acting.
Catherine Zeta-Jones' sales job isn't quite so smooth. We're meant to see that Kate is so frosty because she's been hurt a lot in life, but in the end, all we really get is Kate's prickliness -- particularly when the movie's climax brings back Kate's coldness just when we thought it had been safely tucked away.
The movie's lucky charm is Abigail Breslin. Zoe talks smart, but unlike most movies with wisecracking kids, the movie makes you believe it's because Zoe is intelligent and gets right to the heart of things. Breslin was pretty good in the equally contrived "Little Miss Sunshine," but here, she's the 11-year-old motor that keeps things running; without her, the movie's contrivances would be even more threadbare than they are.
There's nothing wrong with a movie that has familiar destinations; the dealmaker is how novel the movie is in getting there. As a "weeper," I mildly recommend "No Reservations" -- but not without reservations.