Big Night (1996)
Directed by Stanley Tucci
Primo and Secondo, two immigrant brothers, pin their hopes on a banquet honoring Louis Prima to save their struggling restaurant.
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What critics compared Big Night to
The film “Chef” heralds the glorious return to the big screen of food porn, a term once ascribed to “Babette’s Feast,” “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “Big Night” but now mostly relegated to the Cooking Channel.
Complete with a chocolate cake contretemps that reminds you of Stanley Tucci in Big Night , Chef can seem like a reheated mid-budget studio comedy, yet the light Favreau-and-friends romp (which morphs into a road movie) goes a long way on charm.
The movie reminded me of other delectable food-focused fare such as “Big Night” and the animated “Ratatouille.”
"Chef" is the food movie for the food truck era, a film that doesn't appear to be headed for classic status in the vein of "Big Night" or "Eat Drink Man Woman," but which taps into the zeitgeist in an assertive, interesting way.
Even without that comparison, Chef very much deserves to join Big Night and Dinner Rush in the canon of great American food movies.
It's a return to form deserving of a place alongside culinary classics such as Big Night and Babette's Feast.
With a clever chase sequence along the banks of the Seine River, with kitchen scenes as cinematic (and hunger-inducing) as anything in the live-action gastronomic hits Babette's Feast and Big Night, with a script that plays to both kids and adults without pandering to either, Ratatouille is simply grand.
Date Night, Rough Night, Game Night … maybe it’s time to reboot the 1996 Stanley Tucci–Tony Shalhoub restaurant dramedy Big Night?)
Supporting performances among the male characters are generally okay, with Robbie Coltrane ("The World Is Not Enough," "Message in a Bottle") and Ian Holm ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Big Night") being the most prominent actors playing those who assist the inspector in different ways.
His footwork uncovers the real identity of Prince Albert and his interview with Sir William, (Ian Holm, "Big Night") practitioner to the Royals, confirms his suspicions that the murderer must have the education of a surgeon.
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Though Chocolat presents its title treats as "sinfully scrumptious" -- the same sort of passionate treats as Big Night and Like Water For Chocolate -- Hallstrom never quite conveys the right amount of desire.