In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Just doesn't work. I find that Lasse Hallström's later films are completely devoid of chemistry and lack that essential "spark" that brings the film to life. Sure, all the beats are there in the script, but they are delivered so perfunctorily that it just doesn't engage or entertain. There's little to enjoy here apart from a few "food porn" shots and a little bit of landscape photography, which just about warrant the 2-star rating. You should probably give it a miss.

I certainly enjoyed this film and it made me smile. IMDb classes this as comedy and drama but I wouldn't say there is much drama in it. You know who will fall in love and the plot follows exactly the journey you expect. It's not on the level of something like Four Weddings where you laugh, you cry, you smile, you cover your mouth with your hand in shock but it's still worth a watch if you want a little heart warming and not much of a challenge.Manish Dayal (Hassan) and Charlotte Le Bon (Marguerite) are the eye candy but the real stars here are, of course, Helen Mirren (Madame Mallory) and Om Puri (Papa). Their initial warring did make me smile, though it isn't laugh out loud, and their eventual romance is genuine and subtle.Everyone has a heart of gold and those who don't are (as with all good comedy romances) served their just desserts following their indiscretions.Helen Mirren yet again proves how much she deserves that Oscar. You really can't go wrong when you see her name in the cast.

Overall, this is a fairly poor film. The first half was moderately enjoyable, though it was easy to predict how things would unfold. Once the main character gets a career break and heads to Paris (ie.. the second half of the film), it becomes bland, pointless and boring. In fact, at times I felt like two different films were made and joined together as it transitioned from a mildly amusing drama to a melodramatic vapid Hollywood drama.Spielberg and Oprah were producers - Americans making a European film... Needless to say that it has some ridiculous touches as a result. For instance, the main character starts having wine with dinner ... in Paris .. to indicate that he's dulling his pain by turning to drinking. Laughable. About 50 minutes of the last hour could (should) have been left on the cutting room floor. The love aspect of the film was totally predictable, though unconvincing. The "quickie" they have towards the end of the film was a truly eye-rolling addition.Strangely it also fails as a foodie film. Aside from the overly predictable and silly "French with Indian influences" cuisine thing, there are flat out mistakes from anyone who knows a thing or two about French cooking. Hollandaise sauce is made with clarified butter, not oil. The latter is used to make mayonnaise. Furthermore, you would never take Hollandaise sauce on a picnic as the butter would solidify. One of many.Nit picking aside, it's ultimately hard to identify where the film is a legitimate success and it's not recommended viewing!

I'll keep this short - this was an enjoyable movie. I watched it on a rainy day on Sunday. The only thing that could've made it better would have been some good food to enjoy it with. The story itself is quite foreseeable after the first third of the movie - but it's the journey that matters. This movie is enjoyable for those who enjoy movies involving cooking and for those who enjoy 'feel good movies'. It's a simple recipe but hard to master. And I believe this movie did it. One thing that left me bothering during the end scene, as they zoomed out on the restaurants. Where were people supposed to park? I saw not one car, not one place to park and the town seemed to be quite far away :)