A family in search of a new home finds themselves in a small provincial French town. The patriarch of the family, despite his children’s protest, decides that it is in this town that they will rebuild their lives and open a restaurant…one hundred feet away from one of the most celebrated French restaurants outside of Paris.
This is a nice little light hearted movie about food. The characters are endearing, the setting is charming, the food is abundant, and the story is cute albeit about 40 minutes too long. Here’s the deal. This movie was reminiscent of Chocolat (2000) mixed in with a bit of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012). With that in mind, there are many scenes of food, food prep, food mixing, and food tasting in an endeavor to entice the audience into the film’s world of piquancy and zest. Now, here is the problem, I am not a foodie nor food connoisseur of any kind. My favorite restaurant is McDonald’s and my favorite foods consist of diet Coke, dark chocolate and ketchup. So when they are mixing and tasting these elegant dishes, fawning over the spices and the mixture of flavors created, as a member of the uncouth dining population, I found myself somewhat at a loss. I suppose if amongst the glitz and glamour of the cuisine world or perhaps if you like to cook, one would be terribly impressed and salivate over the presentation. This technique, using the food as the star of the flick, worked divinely in Chocolat, because everyone knows what chocolate tastes like. In this, as a layman, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the seduction attempt.
Sweet but a tad over cooked.
** ½ Rentable
Rated PG (for language and brief violence)
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