Ralph's Movie Reviews: NO RESERVATIONS

Monday, August 6, 2007

NO RESERVATIONS

Romantic comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Catherine Zeta-Jones: Kate, the chef of an upscale Manhattan bistro
Bob Balaban: her therapist
Patricia Clarkson: restaurant-owner Paula
Abigail Breslin: Kate’s 8-year old neice Zoë
Aaron Eckhart: replacement sous-chef Nick

REVIEW
You would be hard pressed to find anything original in this movie but that doesn’t mean to say it’s not a pleasant diversion. Although somewhat predictable, there are moments when it takes a twist. The humour is of the amusing sort rather than “laugh-out-loud”.

The acting by Zeta-Jones is first rate but again the role does not call upon her to push herself to the limit. Eckhart on the other hand has the more challenging role and needs to work on some aspects a bit more (hint: the romantic part).

CLASSIFICATION

for some sensuality and language (very little of either I might add).

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Taking a stroll with Kate, Zoë hops up on to the empty park benches and carefully steps over each armrest as she comes to it. She stops at the end of the benches when Kate says she has something to say to her. When they are finished talking Zoë jumps down from the bench having magically returned to the one where she began her walk.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.