= 2 stars

Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin
Directed by Scott Hicks

Here’s a light snack respite from the bad movie celebration for – a new bad movie. Well, not super-bad, just dull and predictably boring. Which is a shame, because one of the film’s highlights is Catherine Zeta-Jones with a dab of tiramisu on her lips. It’s a simple romantic comedy based on the German film Mostly Martha.

First, the good. I guess I’m at an age where Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a thirty something, workaholic lady who dresses in dark, sensible, long-sleeved clothes is quite attractive – perhaps because she’s a stellar cook. It’s mesmerizing watching her seriousness as she sprinkles little bits of shaved asparagus on a slightly pink quail. Zeta-Jones can also will herself to look bored, happy, sexy, or pensive simply by moving her lips a few millimeters and adding the right amount of sparkle to her eyes. So she emerges from this film unscathed.

But now, the bad. No Reservations is often – confused. The simmering romance between Kate and assistant chef Nick (Aaron Eckhart) is repeatedly put on the back burner for the sad story of Abigal, whose mother (and Kate’s sister) died in a car accident. The film seems unsure if it’s a romantic comedy or tear-jerker. There are occasional glimmers of life that should have been elaborated upon, such as why Nick (Aaron Eckhart) is so wacky or what Catherine’s sister was like while alive. But too often, things aren’t fully realized or the wrong things emphasized.

Second, No Reservations is deathly predictable and glacially-paced. It’s just a matter of time until Catherine ends up with Aaron, but it takes far too long for the sparks to fly between them – and for us to witness the expected conflict and resolution.

The film also fails to evoke much excitement over the food. It’s rather telling that Ratatouille, the PIXAR computer animated film about a French rodent chef, had such culinary passion that I wanted to eat Remy’s dishes after leaving the theater. The only thing I wanted following No Reservations was a black cat poster hanging in Abigail’s bedroom, or possibly to check out Mostly Martha to see what went wrong from kitchen to table.

No Reservations
Wikipedia: No Reservations
Rotten Tomatoes: No Reservations 43%

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Categories: 2 Star Movies, General, Movies :: 2 stars, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Scott Hicks ::

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