Review of The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) by Jesse O — 20 Jun 2018

It's apparently become a running joke now that I end up writing reviews later and later, as it's now 9:24 pm Of course, I also haven't had dinner yet, so it rules to be me, I guess. Anyway, I think it should be known, for the record, that I am an awful cook.

Or at least I think I am, since I'm the only one who has eaten my cooking thus far. Sometimes there are moments when I look at a particularly skilled chef working their magic and I think to myself that I wish I could do that.

I suppose you might say that I could take classes but, realistically speaking, one is born with that. Might sound like a cliched thing to say, but I feel that it's true in this case. Also, and this might sound ignorant, but I find food criticism to be a bit snobbish.

I'm not saying that food critics' opinions are invalid, but it's just a profession that I do not understand. Obviously, there's a stereotype associated with a food critic that might not always reflect the reality, but, as a whole, I don't know what the point is of reviewing food.

I suppose you could make the argument that it serves to promote great meals and restaurants, but what's great to one person might be shit to me. The difference between food criticism and, say, film criticism is that, at the very least, you can come to learn to trust someone's opinion on a movie.

Maybe your tastes align or whatever, so you can seek them out knowing that the reviewers' thoughts might match your own. You don't necessarily have that in food criticism because, again, it involves literal taste.

It's so much easier to enjoy a movie that a critic you followed enjoy than it is to enjoy a meal that a food critic you follow loves. I don't know how to explain this, but it makes perfect sense in my mind.

So fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that, in part, this film deals with Madam Mallory's restaurant's search for their second Michelin Star. This Michelin Star thing is a bit of a guide book that tells you which restaurants you should visit based on their star rating.

There are three stars, one is very good, two is phenomenal and three, well, you are basically one of the greats. Mallory has been eagerly anticipating their second star year after year for 30 years at the time of the film's events.

This is where Hassan, his father and the rest of his family come in. They open a restaurant across the street from Mallory's restaurant, hence the title, after leaving India (losing everything they had in a fire, including the matriarch) to start anew in Europe.

Their car breaks down in this village and Hassan's father comes across the property that is being sold. Of course, he buys it and they start their own restaurant. A lot of the movie is the obvious culture clash, where the stuffier and uptight Mallory has to deal with the more lively, (sometimes) louder and spicier Indians living 100-feet from her.

Naturally, they also feud. Mallory takes a look at her competition's menu and proceeds to buy all the ingredients at the local market just to fuck with them. It's all the typical stuff you would expect.

Hassan falls for Marguerite, who works for Mallory's restaurant as a sous chef, I think. Of course, though, not everything is so pleasant. Hassan's arrival with his family ruffles some feathers among the racists in Mallory's kitchen, who proceed (with a group of friends of his) to torch Hassan's family's restaurant.

Here's the thing, I get why they did it, but it felt so forced and heavy-handed. For how pleasant the rest of the movie is, this racism shit just didn't really fit in with the rest of the movie.

I suppose it was necessary in that this is what brings Mallory close to Hassan and his family. It's what ends their rivalry and allows Mallory to see Hassan as a potential chef for her restaurant instead of her competition.

But, to be completely honest, this could have been done in an entirely different way. Racism is still alive and well (and this was a movie released in 2014), but I do not like the way how the movie handled it here.

Again, it just doesn't fit thematically with the rest of the movie. Mallory, eventually, hires Hassan to work for her at her restaurant, which puts him at odds with Marguerite since, essentially, they're both 'fighting' for the same position as top chef.

Eventually, though, Hassan's excellent cooking gets Mallory's restaurant the second star she's waited for for three decades. This, apparently, is a really big deal as Hassan becomes an overnight sensation.

He's getting offers from major restaurants and he proceeds to take one of them. Of course, working in a major restaurant lacks the passion and the love for him that cooking for a 'smaller' place brought to him.

Here's the thing, and I don't know if this is an actual thing, but I find this idea of Hassan becoming a celebrity because of his Michelin stars to be a little exaggerated. I mean, I'm certain that there's some fame associated with that, but it's also fame that's known to a very niche group of people.

I don't think most people would really care one way or the other honestly. So this idea that Hassan is now a major celebrity because of this was difficult for me to buy. Name me a famous chef that's not Wolfgang Puck and Emeril.

Go on, I'll wait. That's not to diminish the work of chefs who have managed to earn these stars, but I don't think one becomes a major celebrity ala, I don't know, Sandra Bullock because of that.

Maybe it's just me. But, of course, all of this is set-up so Hassan eventually gets tired of working in a restaurant that has drained his passion and creativity to return to a smaller place where he can feel passionate about what he loves once more.

It's basic, simple stuff. I'll be honest, though, I definitely enjoyed this movie. I wasn't a fan of the racist stuff, not because it shouldn't have been done, but just how it felt in contrast to everything else.

Hassan's fame was also difficult for me to buy, but this was still an enjoyable enough movie. Helen Mirren is great, as always. And the rest of the cast is really solid all around. The storytelling is definitely predictable, but, again, I think the movie's tone and pacing definitely helped out a lot.

The characters are likable and you want to see them do well or well enough given their circumstances. It's not a perfect movie, by any means, but I connected with its message about the importance of family, particularly with what's been going on personally.

Again, to me, this is an enjoyable movie. Wouldn't give this a glowing recommendation, but if you come across this on cable TV then it's worth a watch.