Sep 02 2013 11:34 AM
Haute Cuisine sous chef quits in a huff when he doesn't get the promotion he was angling for, vows to go to Paris and learn from the greats. Fate intervenes when his father's sudden illness forces him to step in and take over the family business --- a greasy, messy storefront takeout Indian restaurant, and he realizes that despite his training, he isn't much for cooking the cuisine of his heritage.
Pretty archetypal plot, with character types you'll perhaps recognize from other films, and a lot of players who will make you point and say, "Oh, it's that guy, you know, from that other film."
Bonus points for the screwballl-comedy element of the lead usually being on the verge of blowing up at people but never quite doing it. As a New York movie, a kitchen movie, a career crossroads movie, an ethnic movie, and a how-do-I-reconcile-with-my-stubborn-father-while-remaining-true-to-myself? movie, there's not much new, but it's all these things and it fits together pretty well on a modest budget and that ain't a bad place to take your date.
Bonus: no rapes or ritualistic torture! (Oh, did I give away too much?)
