Review of No Reservations (2007) by Shaifali A — 02 Jan 2014

No Reservations misses the spark with subtle romance, dull drama and toned-down emotions, and a dollop of sophistication and pomp in the scenery and furniture.

No Reservations by Scott Hicks is a 2007 romantic comedy about 'one of the better chefs in town', a control freak, Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and an exuberant and Opera-loving Nick (Aaron Eckhart) who comes and topsy-turvy her life in a very slow motion, and she starts to break her own rules when Zoe (Abigail Breslin), Kate's niece starts to like Nick and finds in him and Kate a family; and the movie takes a predictable turn and we see a budding romance between the two during their talks about food and recipes and the cold fights, but the spark is missing. First of the only two (and very bland) kisses happens after the first half.

Nothing strikes out much in the 1 hour 40 minute movie, except the opera playing in the background. A line that stuck out, said by Kate's therapist (Bob Balaban) is 'it's the recipes you create yourself that are the best'. Hence, there is no cook book for life, and you can and should break your own rules as you see fit.

Predictable for dummies, you can easily skip watching this, if you are looking for a get-lost-in-the-world-of-romance movie. A little flicker in their romance would have spiced things up enough to have me give it an above-average rating, considering the genre.