Bob Giraldi, award-winning director of commercials and music videos (Michael Jackson's "Beat It"), uses his own restaurant--Gigino's Trattoria--as the starting point for his debut feature, DINNER RUSH. The film is about one lively night at a trendy restaurant in the TriBeCa area of New York City. Louis (Danny Aiello) is an .. Read more
| Starring | Edoardo Ballerini, Danny Aiello, Vivian Wu, Mike McGlone |
|---|---|
| Director | Bob Giraldi |
| Genres | Comedy |
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Bob Giraldi, award-winning director of commercials and music videos (Michael Jackson's "Beat It"), uses his own restaurant--Gigino's Trattoria--as the starting point for his debut feature, DINNER RUSH. The film is about one lively night at a trendy restaurant in the TriBeCa area of New York City. Louis (Danny Aiello) is an aging bookie and restauranteur who's bemoaning the transformation of Gigino's from a down-to-earth, mom-and-pop Italian eatery to a pretentious, see-and-be-seen establishment. Louis's talented son, Udo (Edoardo Ballerini), is an ambitious star chef who wants to take over the restaurant because he claims his food and his style are responsible for the success of the business. To make matters worse, Louis is confronted by a pair of thugs known as Black and Blue who murdered his partner and now want to take over his place. Mark Margolis is hilarious as the droll art critic and nightmare customer, Fitzgerald. Summer Phoenix plays a smart-talking waitress. And topping off the colorful cast is Sandra Bernhard as a snotty food critic.
| Starring | Edoardo Ballerini, Danny Aiello, Vivian Wu, Mike McGlone, Sandra Bernhard, John Corbett, Summer Phoenix |
|---|---|
| Director | Bob Giraldi |
| Studio | PATHE DISTRIBUTION |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 38 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Released | DVD: 23 Sep 2002 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
This is a sublime slice of New York life from director Bob Giraldi, a veteran of over 2,500 commercials and many famous videos — including Michael Jackson's Beat It — but only two other feature films. Giraldi displays a mastery of texture and character in this delightful comedy drama set in a fashionable Manhattan restaurant. Danny Aiello exudes understated charm as the prosperous owner, who's dismayed that his family trattoria is forgoing traditional food for the flashy nouvelle cuisine that is the trademark of his talented chef son (star-in-the-making, Edoardo Ballerini). We join Aiello for one fraught night, during which he and his staff must deal with mobsters wanting a piece of the action, a demanding food critic (played by an irresistible Sandra Bernhard), a lengthy power cut and various other diversions. Filmed in Giraldi's own restaurant, this finely polished gem boasts impeccable ensemble acting, complemented by slick camerawork which gives us the best seat in the house and a plot hiding a few secret ingredients.
Enjoyable movie which uses food as an indicator of changing tastes and moral values, though everyone here gets their just desserts.
One of the most overlooked and underrated films of all time includes perhaps THE MOST SATISFYING ENDING to any movie I've watched (with the exception of The Prestige and The Usual Suspects).
Firstly, let me start of with a word of caution: once you have watched this movie, you may find yourself looking for the nearest Italian restaurant, because one thing this movie will do is give you a hankering for some Italian food.
The Movie itself is entertaining, with some excellent performances from the key actors and actress. The story is nothing new; a bit of mafia, family tension; life struggles and romance triangles thrown together with a pretty good flowing script.
The camera spends just as munch time on shots of food preparation in the kitchen as it does on the characters themselves, hence the possibly of a rumbling stomach looking for some linguini.
Overall, an enjoyable movie for a winter evening in front of the TV.
It was in Breakfast of Champions that Kurt Vonnegut imagined life on a planet devoid of all plants and animals save humanoids. These humanoids took pleasure in (to our minds) an exotic, even aberrant form of pornography. It wasn't the sexual act that repelled and transfixed them. It was images of food and eating. For an hour and a half, the movie camera barely strayed from close ups of lips, teeth, and bobbing Adam's apples as a family pigged out over a simulated meal. At the film's climax,... Read more