Brilliant and touching

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is the intense perfectionist head chef of an upscale Manhattan restaurant. She has anger issues and the restaurant owner Paula (Patricia Clarkson) sends her to a therapist (Bob Balaban). She lives an intense lonely single life refusing to date her neighbor Sean. Her sister dies in a car crash. Her niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) survives and is placed with her. Zoe's father is unknown. They both struggle. Paula hires new chef Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart) to pick up the slack which only angers Kate.It's a remake of 'Mostly Martha'. This is a bit lighter in tone than the original. There are some minor changes but they kept Leah pregnant with short hair. I'm glad they lost Zoe's father in this version. It was a bit of a distraction in the original.Breslin is a great child actor. She is the big improvement over the original. She and Zeta-Jones have a compelling story. The romance with Aaron Eckhart is a little lacking. He has limited chemistry with Zeta-Jones. They're also relying on a few too many montages. I would also prefer a lot more food porn in a cooking movie. Nevertheless, this is a nice story of coming together.

So upon having to watch this film while both my teacher was out sick and I was in class sick, I really didn't expect much all things being considered. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie's ability to bring up emotions.Won't bother explaining the basics of the film since you can get that straight from the description. What I will say is that although it doesn't have the deepest story or background, it is charming. It will make you feel legitimately happy or sad for the characters and smile at some of it's quirkier moments.Being a romance film, it obviously has the downside of being fairly unrealistic, at least in my opinion. Everything centers around romance in some way and it seems a bit more like a dream that belongs to the girl in high school that works 24/7 to over achieve and yet never gets little affection, so that did leave a bad taste in my mouth when looking back on it.It's something to watch when you have a cold since emotions are the only things you can feel when sick. It's also something you only need to watch once to fully enjoy.If you have the time then go ahead and watch it, but if you're looking for something that will keep you thinking or sitting on the edge of your seat, you're in the wrong place.

I watched this movie tonight and I absolutely enjoyed it. I can't say I found it a comedy-romantic drama but rather a sweet family friendly movie. This movie has a sweet and emotional story line. The actors are all great but Catherine Zeta-Jones ( who is so beautiful) and Abigail Breslin ( who is so super talented) are superb. The story line is predictable but it is the emotions portrayed by the actors that has made the movie watchable. If you are looking for a movie with real comedy and romance then this is not for you. I didn't find anything much funny here nor is there much romance. In fact the romance part is quite brief. But what I found nice here are the portrayal of: love of a brilliant chef for her work, the relationship between an aunt and her niece which grows more lovely throughout the movie and of course the sweet romance between the main leads.So if you are up for a nice family movie, then this is the movie to watch.

This is a cutesy, Styrofoam-plastic, Hollywood remake of a beautiful and moving German film, 'Mostly Martha'. 'No Reservations tells, blow by blow, exactly the same story - and even the lines trailed on IMDb are directly lifted from the original: Therapist: Kate/Martha, I'm sure you will be able to prevent the worst from happening. Kate/Martha: And that would be? Therapist: That he will tolerate you for any length of time. And yet, No Reservations, is unrecognizable as the offspring of its lovely parent. It's pleasant, forgettable stuff. After all, what can you expect from a romantic comedy? Listen up, Hollywood; 'Mostly Martha', with its movingly drawn, flawed, three dimensional characters, its loving lenses into a compelling world AND the humor, the romance, the feel-good journey through transformation, is what we have a right to expect!