No Reservations: DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray Review (2008)

Based on the 2001 German film "Mostly Martha," this remake is a tragedy, a romantic comedy and a drama, with its charismatic cast navigating the manufactured highs and lows with enough skill to deepen what otherwise might have been a slight movie sorely lacking in depth.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is Kate, a gourmet chef at a top New York restaurant who loses her sister to an accident and assumes the responsibility of raising her niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin). The transition proves more difficult than Kate imagined.

Zoe wants nothing to do with her aunt, and Kate, by extension, doesn’t know what to do herself. She seeks the help of her psychiatrist (an excellent Bob Balaban), but still the situation stretches her to her limit, so much so that Kate’s boss, Paula (Patricia Clarkson), insists that Kate take time off from work to get her life back in order — and, most importantly, to grieve.

Meanwhile, here comes Nick (Aaron Eckhart), the affable sous-chef with a five o’clock shadow that’s so formidable, it could be used as a zester. In Kate’s absence, he’s hired to run the kitchen. And when Kate catches wind of that, let’s just say the movie whips its whites into one heady froth.

While there is little logic and no surprises in "No Reservations" — the movie can be a heartbreaker, though one that doesn’t leave a dry cliche in the room — films such as this can manage to get by on subtlety, feeling and charm so long as they have the right cast to see them through. "Mostly Martha" had that. This movie does, too.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

Read the full review here.