No Reservations (2007)

Directed by: Scott Hicks | 104 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin, Bob Balaban, Jenny Wade, Brian F. O’Byrne, Patricia Clarkson, Lily Rabe, Matt Servitto, Zoe Kravitz, Fulvio Cecero, Cassandra Seidenfeld, Ramon Fernandez, Matthew Rauch, Patrick Zeller, Sam Kitchin, Eric Silver, Lorca Simons, Katherine Sigismund, Angel Rosa, Mario Morales, Yevgeniy Dekhtyar

This remake follows a single change after faithfully the original ‘Bella Martha’ (2001). ‘Martha’ is now called ‘Kate’, but Kate has no other passion than cooking. She is very satisfied with her sole rule in the kitchen where everyone adheres to her rules. Even Paula (Patricia Clarkson), the owner of the restaurant, hardly dares to argue with her, because Kate’s cooking is inimitable. All Paula demands is that Kate undergo therapy to control her angry outbursts at complaining customers. But Kate doesn’t quite understand what to look for from this therapist (Bob Balaban). After all, she knows better than anyone whether a dish is perfectly prepared or not. That’s why she talks to him about her cooking and recipes and regularly brings him good food that he eats with a little guilt, but still enjoys it.

Kate’s sister and niece are on their way to her when they have a car accident. Her sister dies and, since no one knows who her father is, her niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) comes to live with her. An emotionally complicated period begins for both of them. Zoe struggles to get over her mother’s death and adjust to life with her busy aunt. In her over-organized life, Kate suddenly has to take care of a young girl who has just lost her mother. Her only certainty is her kitchen, but when she goes back to work, the successor to her heavily pregnant sous-chef Leah (Jenny Wade) turns out to be the flamboyant Nick Palmer. This epicurean literally brings music to Kate’s kitchen and knocks the last piece of solid ground out from under Kate’s feet with his completely different approach to cooking and living.

A comparison between the original and this remake is almost inevitable. The original wins. Due to the sober approach and intense playing of Martina Gedeck, the sadness about the loss of her sister and the confusion about the fact that she suddenly has to take care of a child who is also emotionally tangled is more palpable and the drama element it comes into its own in that film. Moreover, Aaron Eckhart as a romantic party is much less credible than Sergio Castellitto, which makes his crush seem perfunctory.

‘No Reservations’ is a warm film judged on its own merits, but at times too warm. When Kate and Zoe are truant for a day from work and school respectively, the Monopoly game they are playing is really fun to watch, but then it also has to be followed by a cute pillow fight and that’s just too much. The viewer also regularly sits in a cart in an amusement park and is transported like a salt bag along all the obligatory songs that belong to mourning and give in to a new love and thus choose a different kind of life. The director has not come up with any original approach for this, any more than he has exploited the move from Hamburg to Manhattan to put his own stamp on the film. But apart from all this ‘No Reservations’ is just a pleasant film to watch in which the frequently used music is used well to evoke a warm atmosphere. In addition, the two ladies play their roles very nicely and at the right moments also touching. A pleasant family film that is never really dramatic or hilarious, but good for a mild smile.