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No Reservations Reviewed by Rich Drees
Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is at the top of her game as the chef at a popular lower Manhattan restaurant. She’s so good at her job that she is apparently immune from firing even when she verbally abuses the occasional abrasive customer who complains about their meal. Instead, her boss (Patricia Clarkson, who is wasted in the role) sends her to a therapist (Bob Balaban, also just collecting a check), though she can’t help bringing him gourmet food to try.
Kate finds her life turned upside down though, when her sister dies and she suddenly finds herself taking care of her niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin). Meanwhile at work, she finds herself sharing her kitchen with a new chef, the happy-go-lucky Nick (Aaron Eckhart), who seems to get along better with Zoe better than Kate does. Before one can say “opposites attract,” Nick and Kate are on a romantic collision course, but not without a few obstacles in the way.
Most grievous though, is the film’s message that despite having a fantastic Manhattan apartment and being successful in her career Kate’s life is only fulfilled once she has a d a child in it. While it is true that for some women, a family is an important goal, No Reservations presents a woman who has obtained her goals in life, but is still feels empty inside until a child and a man enter her life. It is a tone that comes across as condescending and patriarchal. Fortunately, the movie is so lightweight to begin with that any subtext won’t make much, if any, impact. |
For a story predominantly set in a trendy, high-end Greenwich
Village eatery, No Reservations is cinematic cotton candy-
momentarily sweet to the taste before dissolving quickly, leaving
one to realize there was nothing of substance to the experience.
Zeta-Jones and Eckhart are likeable enough actors in their own
right, but here they fail to generate enough of the chemistry needed
to carry this film. The pair try as best they can, but ultimately,
they are let down by the film’s script, written by newcomer Carol
Fuchs, adapting the German film Mostly Martha. Beyond the
very generic characterizations given for the leads – she’s the
uptight, serious one, he’s the free-wheeling, care free one - the
screenplay holds absolutely no surprises. The minute Kate and Nick
meet, one knows exactly how the rest of the film’s runtime is going
to play out. It hits every expected story beat one has come to
expect from the genre. Fuchs’ script finds nothing new in these
situations, presenting us with the same old tired comic premises
(i.e., the punked out babysitter) and romantic complications (i.e.,
Nick’s out-of-town job offer).