27 April 2013

Weekend Cooking: Today's Special (Film)

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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I love haunting the streaming services for good movies that focus on food. I'm not quite sure what I expected when I picked Today's Special, but it turned out to be a good film that both Mr. BFR and I enjoyed.

Samir (Aasif Mandvi) has big dreams of becoming the head chef at a major New York restaurant. Although he's a respected sous chef, he isn't moving up the ladder fast enough, so he decides to go to Paris and study under the direction of a master. When his father, the owner of the Tandoori Palace restaurant, falls ill, Samir is obligated to keep the business afloat, although he has never cooked Indian food. Will Samir succeed in rescuing the failing family restaurant?

Although the plot may be a little predictable, Samir's journey to self-discovery and success is fun to watch. The cast, including cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey, do a wonderful job avoiding the worst of the Indian America stereotypes while maintaining enough of the universal immigrant themes to keep us laughing. I especially loved the character of Akbar (Naseeruddin Shah) and the way he helped Samir. Oh, and his philosophy of cooking is the best; okay, I might think that because it matches my own.

Besides Samir's story, there are lots of kitchen scenes, and I guarantee you'll be craving a good curry before the movie is over. Take a look at the trailer:


Directed by David Kaplin and produced by Inimitable Pictures, Sweet180.

20 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks 4/27/13, 6:50 AM  

This would be bad for me to watch - I'm already craving Indian food like crazy! Jim claims he doesn't like it however (but he does - you just can't identify it for him in advance). But whenever I read a book featuring curry or spicy food (like the wonderful Abraham Verghese book Cutting for Stone which I need to reread) I have to have some immediately!

Lisa (Southern Girl Reads) 4/27/13, 7:27 AM  

I think I would really enjoy this film because I love watching anything having to do with cooking! Plus, I've recently started experimenting with Indian foods. Thanks for sharing this film!

Tina 4/27/13, 7:36 AM  

Ah, this is a really good movie. Total foodie movie. I watched this back in February and enjoyed the acting and story very much. But the cuisine is, alas, too spicy for my constitution.

Great foodie movie.

JoAnn 4/27/13, 7:46 AM  

I love instant streaming... and browsing to find something I didn't even know I wanted to watch! This looks like a good one.

caite 4/27/13, 7:52 AM  

this sounds like a fun flick. What have a seem him in before..I have to check that out.

Heather Webb 4/27/13, 7:59 AM  

I'm a big fan of food movies. A few good ones are:

Mostly Martha (German film), Eat Drink Man Woman (Taiwanese film), and Big Night. Then there's always Chocolat--not exactly a cooking movie but the chocolate scenes are amazing. :)

You've probably seen all of these since you're a food-a-holic like me, but I thought I'd mention them just in case! I'm going to check out your suggestion tonight. :)

Marg 4/27/13, 8:47 AM  

This sounds like a fun movie to watch!

Belle Wong 4/27/13, 8:47 AM  

I'll have to tell Ward about this one - he loves this kind of movie. We have one of Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks!

Unknown 4/27/13, 9:17 AM  

I would love to watch this. I think I saw it listed a few times on a cable channel in our area. I'll have to look for it on Netflix.

bermudaonion 4/27/13, 9:26 AM  

That looks good - I love the trailer!

(Diane) bookchickdi 4/27/13, 10:10 AM  

I love Aasiv Mandi on the Daily Show, but I've never seen him act in a film. Thanks for the review, it sounds like a fun film.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews 4/27/13, 11:59 AM  

Hi,

This is not our usual kind of film, we prefer action / thriller movies generally and whilst I know that hubbie wouldn't be interested in watching it, I might well give it a try and I know that both my nieces would be cracked up watching it!

We both love curry, although watching some of the antics in the trailer, it does put me off a bit. We are lucky enough to have a good cuury house abour half a mile down the road from where we live, in fact we were there just last week, with friends.

Thanks for the recommendation and for hosting. Enjoy the weekend.

Yvonne

Sandy Nawrot 4/27/13, 5:54 PM  

I love Indian food! And movies about food! I've never heard of this one before but it sounds like fun!

Peggy Ann 4/27/13, 8:50 PM  

Beth, I just put this movie in my instant que @ netflix!

Teddyree 4/28/13, 12:57 AM  

I think I'd love this one, I love Indian food, I love a good foodie movie and the trailer was good. Thanks for sharing :)

Sheila (Bookjourney) 4/28/13, 8:57 AM  

MMMMM Indian food! I think I would enjoy this movie.

Gilion at Rose City Reader 4/28/13, 3:57 PM  

Sound like a fun movie. I'll go add it to my queue.

Rose City Reader

Peaceful Reader 4/28/13, 9:55 PM  

I need a day of watching movies just to myself! This one is already on my Netflix list. It's the very tail end of the weekend but had to join up to talk about birthday cake!

Daryl 4/29/13, 10:28 AM  

i love Aasif Mandvi ...

Julie P. 4/29/13, 2:44 PM  

Looks pretty good! I just had a fantastic curry last week and I'm already wanting more.

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