Five InspiredCulinaryMovies

No Reservations

Carol Fuchs adapts writer/director Sandra Nettelbeck’s screenplay for the 2001 romantic drama Mostly Martha for this Scott Hicks directed remake starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Patricia Clarkson. Kate Armstrong (Jones) is the master chef who is equally intense both in and out of the kitchen. Though Kate’s “Type A” personality serves her well when whipping up meals in the trendy Manhattan eatery where she has made a name for herself, it threatens to sink her when she is named as the guardian of her nine-year-old niece Zoe (Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin). To complicate matters, an impetuous new sous chef named Nick Palmer (Eckhart) has recently joined the kitchen staff and his freewheeling personality seems to stand in direct opposition to Kate’s unwavering perfectionism. Yet, despite the fact that they couldn’t be more different on the surface, there’s no denying the strong attraction between Kate and Nick. As the rivalry between the competitive cooks gradually gives way to romance, the lessons learned by compromising in the kitchen reveal to Kate the importance of learning to openly express herself in order to truly connect with Zoe and find romance with the good-natured Nick.

B.A.P.S.

In this broad fish-out-of-water comedy, Nisi (Halle Berry) and Mickey (Natalie Desselle) are AfricanAmerican women with two ambitions -- marry rich men who will give them lots of money, and open the world’s first combination hair salon and soul food restaurant. However, eligible bachelors and business opportunities are in short supply in Decatur, Georgia, so when Nisi hears rapper Heavy D is auditioning dancers in Los Angeles for an upcoming video and concert tour, the pair hit the road for California. They fail the audition but are approached by a man named Antonio (Luigi Amodeo) with a business proposition. Antonio is the chauffeur for Mr. Blakemore (Martin Landau), a millionaire in poor health. As a young man, Mr. Blakemore was in love with a black maid who worked in his household; Antonio and Blakemore’s nephew Isaac (Jonathan Fried) think Nisi bears a resemblance to the girl Blakemore once loved, so they offer her a hefty payment plus room and board to pose as the granddaughter of Blakemore’s lost love. Nisi and Mickey believe that this ruse is intended to make Blakemore feel better, but in fact Isaac wants to get his hands on his uncle’s fortune, and he hopes that Nisi’s presence will make him easier to manipulate. Meanwhile, Nisi and Mickey look like a hurricane that hit a cut-rate clothing store, so manservant Manley (Ian Richardson) teaches them social graces and gives them advice on how to dress. In time, Manley and Mr. Blakemore become friends with Nisi and Mickey; the men learn to be less stuffy and enjoy life, while the ladies become more respectable. B.A.P.S. stands for “Black American Princesses.”

Soul Food

This hit domestic comedy-drama concerned the fortunes of an extended African-American family recalled through the eyes of young narrator Ahmad (Brandon Hammond). Ahmad’s world revolves around his grandmother, Big Mama Joseph (Irma P. Hall) and her three daughters: workaholic attorney Teri (Vanessa Williams), newlywed salon owner Bird (Nia Long), and Ahmad’s housewife mom, Maxine (Vivica A. Fox). Each sister is in turmoil. Teri has lost patience for her husband Miles (Michael Beach), who wants to quit the law and take up music. Bird doesn’t realize that her husband Lem (Mekhi Phifer) is about to be humiliated by her ex-boyfriend (Mel Jackson). And while Maxine’s relationship with her husband Kenny (Jeffrey D. Sams) is going well, her relationship with her jealous sister Teri needs fixing. These conflicts boil over at Big Mama’s traditional Sunday dinners, where the matriarch plays peacemaker. The ritual faces extinction, however, when Big Mama suffers a stroke -- but Ahmad is waiting in the wings to take her place. Soul Food launched the directing career of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native George Tillman, Jr., who based the script on his own family experiences. In the summer of 2000, Soul Food was spun off into a cable TV series.

Ratatouille

A scrawny rat named Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) finds his dreams of culinary superstardom stirring up sizable controversy in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant in director Brad Bird’s madcap computeranimated comedy. It’s hard being a rat with culinary aspirations, but Remy is convinced he has what it takes to break the stereotypes and follow in the footsteps of star chef Auguste Gusteau (voice of Brad Garrett). As fate would have it, Remy is currently situated in the sewers directly beneath Gusteau’s elegant restaurant. Soon Remy teams up with a young chef with little talent named Linguini (voice of Lou Romano). Together they are able to create some fabulous dishes, but they live in fear that someone will discover their secret and object strenuously to a rat being in a kitchen. When Remy’s passion for cooking turns the haughty world of French cuisine upside down, the rat who would be king of the kitchen learns important lessons about life, friends, and family while questioning whether he should pursue his culinary calling or simply go back underground and return to his life as a sewer rat.

Eat Pray Love

A woman who once made it her goal in life to marry and rear a family finds her priorities suddenly shifting in Ryan Murphy and Jennifer Salt’s adaptation of author Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling memoir. In the eyes of many, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) was a woman who had it all -- a loving husband, a great career, and a weekend home -- but sometimes one realizes too little too late that they haven’t gotten what they truly wanted from life. On the heels of a painful divorce, the woman who had previously looked forward to a contented life of domestic bliss sets out to seek her true destiny by traveling first to Italy, where she learns to appreciate nourishment; then to India, where she discovers the power of prayer; and finally to Bali, where she unexpectedly finds the meaning of true love.