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What's Cooking
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
What's Cooking is the first American film from director Gurinder Chadha and what a dense and interesting piece it is. What is supposed to be a representation of the melting pot feeling of L.A. comes across more as an all to familiar reminder of what can, and often does happen, on the holidays.
This is a dense and intricate film, one that opens much more upon a second viewing. After familiarizing yourself with the characters several details will pop out that you may have missed the first time. The only problem is will you feel compelled enough to give the film a second play. The film starts off with brief introductions to each family as they unknowingly cross each other's paths.
Trinh Nguyen (Joan Chen) is the mother of a large Vietnamese family that owns and runs a video store in L.A. The oldest son Jimmy is off at college and his younger brother and sister are left at home to cope with their families' strict beliefs. They are three distinct generations living and clashing under one roof.
Audrey Williams (Alfre Woodard) is the stressed out African American mother of another family at odds with itself. Broken relations are questioned and lied about when her mother-in-law comes to visit. An attempt at reconciliation backfires and reveals even more secrets.
Elizabeth Avila (Mercedes Ruehl) is the Latino mother of the largest extended family in the film and the center of the most dramatic turmoil. Her estranged husband is invited to Thanksgiving dinner by a forgiving son, who along with the other men in the family expects reconciliation.
Finally, Ruth Seelig (Lanie Kazan) is the Jewish mother of a lesbian daughter (Kyra Sedgwick) who decides to bring girlfriend (Julianna Margulies) along to Thanksgiving dinner this year. Her wish to hide this fact from the other relatives leads to some of the funnier moments in the film.
It is a large and wonderful cast, but therein is my only problem with the movie. It's too large for the way it is handled. There is not real interaction between the different families to help tie the story together. A son from one family is dating the daughter of another, but that is the only interaction. Everything else consists of moments where members from each family are in the same space, but don't know it. That is, until the Amazing Coincidence at the end, where everyone is forcibly brought together for no apparent reason.
This is an entertaining film, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had focused only on the Nguyen and Avila families exclusively. This would have allowed for more development in characters and possible consequences in their actions. Too many ideas and plot points are only touched upon and you are left wanting more. Overall, it tastes good, but will leave you hungry (couldn't resist on bad food joke).
The DVD: :
Video: : The video quality is overall very good. There is excellent saturation in the colors with deep blacks and crisp whites, but there are a few print flaws that glaringly show up from time to time. Several times during the film I noticed scratches and imperfections that appeared briefly in the video. They stood the height of the screen, but disappeared after a few seconds. The letterbox video presentation is in 1:85.1, but not anamorphic. Overall it looks good, except for the few flaws.
Sound: : The audio is full Dolby Digital, but really does not come into play as far as surrounds are concerned. There are subtle touches of background and traffic noise from time to time, but that's it. The vocals are easily heard and not overpowered by anything else. Nothing outstanding, but they are perfectly done for a film of this type.
Menus: : Clever little recipe/index cards with titles "handwritten" on them. Non-animated, but they get the job done.
Extras: There are the standard theatrical trailer and English, Spanish and French subtitles. Also included are several short interviews (most about 3 minutes with one lasting 7 minutes) with the cast and crew. They are for the most part uninformative, ego-stroking comments. Everyone talks about how great it was to work with "so-and-so" and the standard "when a script this good comes along" line was used several times. Several recipes for the dishes made in the film are included and I will probably try to make a few of them. This was a nice touch. There is also a commentary by Director/Writer Gurinder Chadha and Co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges. It is a fairly uninteresting commentary. They mostly discuss what they wanted to achieve with the film, as well as what was done for certain shots. There are very few amusing stories to keep you interested other than how many people from the production crew make appearances in the film.
Wrap it all up: A good and interesting film that has a Made-for-TV plot made better by the superb acting. More entertaining the second time around after you are sure of the character's name and relations. Worth renting or picking up cheap.
What's Cooking is the first American film from director Gurinder Chadha and what a dense and interesting piece it is. What is supposed to be a representation of the melting pot feeling of L.A. comes across more as an all to familiar reminder of what can, and often does happen, on the holidays.
This is a dense and intricate film, one that opens much more upon a second viewing. After familiarizing yourself with the characters several details will pop out that you may have missed the first time. The only problem is will you feel compelled enough to give the film a second play. The film starts off with brief introductions to each family as they unknowingly cross each other's paths.
Trinh Nguyen (Joan Chen) is the mother of a large Vietnamese family that owns and runs a video store in L.A. The oldest son Jimmy is off at college and his younger brother and sister are left at home to cope with their families' strict beliefs. They are three distinct generations living and clashing under one roof.
Audrey Williams (Alfre Woodard) is the stressed out African American mother of another family at odds with itself. Broken relations are questioned and lied about when her mother-in-law comes to visit. An attempt at reconciliation backfires and reveals even more secrets.
Elizabeth Avila (Mercedes Ruehl) is the Latino mother of the largest extended family in the film and the center of the most dramatic turmoil. Her estranged husband is invited to Thanksgiving dinner by a forgiving son, who along with the other men in the family expects reconciliation.
Finally, Ruth Seelig (Lanie Kazan) is the Jewish mother of a lesbian daughter (Kyra Sedgwick) who decides to bring girlfriend (Julianna Margulies) along to Thanksgiving dinner this year. Her wish to hide this fact from the other relatives leads to some of the funnier moments in the film.
It is a large and wonderful cast, but therein is my only problem with the movie. It's too large for the way it is handled. There is not real interaction between the different families to help tie the story together. A son from one family is dating the daughter of another, but that is the only interaction. Everything else consists of moments where members from each family are in the same space, but don't know it. That is, until the Amazing Coincidence at the end, where everyone is forcibly brought together for no apparent reason.
This is an entertaining film, but I would have enjoyed it more if it had focused only on the Nguyen and Avila families exclusively. This would have allowed for more development in characters and possible consequences in their actions. Too many ideas and plot points are only touched upon and you are left wanting more. Overall, it tastes good, but will leave you hungry (couldn't resist on bad food joke).
The DVD: :
Video: : The video quality is overall very good. There is excellent saturation in the colors with deep blacks and crisp whites, but there are a few print flaws that glaringly show up from time to time. Several times during the film I noticed scratches and imperfections that appeared briefly in the video. They stood the height of the screen, but disappeared after a few seconds. The letterbox video presentation is in 1:85.1, but not anamorphic. Overall it looks good, except for the few flaws.
Sound: : The audio is full Dolby Digital, but really does not come into play as far as surrounds are concerned. There are subtle touches of background and traffic noise from time to time, but that's it. The vocals are easily heard and not overpowered by anything else. Nothing outstanding, but they are perfectly done for a film of this type.
Menus: : Clever little recipe/index cards with titles "handwritten" on them. Non-animated, but they get the job done.
Extras: There are the standard theatrical trailer and English, Spanish and French subtitles. Also included are several short interviews (most about 3 minutes with one lasting 7 minutes) with the cast and crew. They are for the most part uninformative, ego-stroking comments. Everyone talks about how great it was to work with "so-and-so" and the standard "when a script this good comes along" line was used several times. Several recipes for the dishes made in the film are included and I will probably try to make a few of them. This was a nice touch. There is also a commentary by Director/Writer Gurinder Chadha and Co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges. It is a fairly uninteresting commentary. They mostly discuss what they wanted to achieve with the film, as well as what was done for certain shots. There are very few amusing stories to keep you interested other than how many people from the production crew make appearances in the film.
Wrap it all up: A good and interesting film that has a Made-for-TV plot made better by the superb acting. More entertaining the second time around after you are sure of the character's name and relations. Worth renting or picking up cheap.
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