Today's Special (2009)

Undescribable Perfection

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I don't think I've seen quite so many trite clichés of food based rom coms packed into a single movie, or at least noticed them so badly. They've got a decent case against the 2014 movie Chef http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2883512/reference which pretty much stole the vibe of this movie on the food side of things. The Cliché family aspects we've seen so many times, the formulaic food as art tropes, standard rom com touchstones, they're all here exactly as they have been in many other movies before and obviously after (see aforementioned Chef 2014). They were just so damn strong in this film, overpowering, overwhelming to the point of it making me feel irritable and uncomfortable. The only saving graces here were the original Indian soundtrack and some of the Indian culture insights, which did go deeper than standard Hollywood tokenism. The production values as far as cinematography and sound were fine, just the tired and pilfered template they pasted it all over was a waste of everyone's time. I wanted it to be over round about when it started.

Diane and I saw this enjoyable film last night and equally enjoyed the entire movie meaning that there were no slow spots anywhere in the film. Neither one of us knew any more about what we were to see accept that which was written on the back of the box containing the CD; therefore, the development of the movie was paced very well thanks to the director's sure grip on the progression of the film.The cast universally played their roles extremely well. The film revolves around the failure of an Indian restaurant in New York and is saved, improbably, by an Indian raconteur.Those wiser in the ways of movie scripting will say, quite correctly, that "Today's Special" is made up of "cardboard characters" with an easily anticipated script moves and I totally agree with those commentators; however, Diane and I, she of the much wiser movie critique ability, enjoyed the layout of this film very much. The characters were so good and as Indian film notables, so believable that any criticism can be deflected. Although there were only two major female roles it would be a definite must see "chic flic."

Over the years, I have noticed that most cooking movies are really great entertainment. "Babette's Feast", "Big Night" and "Bella Martha" are a few great cooking films I have seen and so I was looking forward to seeing "Today's Special". Fortunately, my expectations were met. While not quite in the same league as these three films, it was very close--and a film I can heartily recommend.Aasif Mandva plays Samir--an Indian-American who is classically trained and has dreams of going to France to further his culinary education. Unfortunately, just before he leaves, his father has a heart attack and Samir is forced to stay and run his family's horrible Indian restaurant. I say horrible because the place is filthy, the chef is a filthy pig and the food is wretched. Truly Samir has his work cut out for him--particularly because he knows nothing about Indian cooking. By chance, he happens to meet a cabbie who claims he knows how to cook well and Samir hires him to work in the restaurant. What's next? See the film as there is so much more to the movie--such as Samir's very problematic relationship with his father, Samir's pathetic dating life and his father's plans to sell the restaurant! Why did I like this film? Well, it had a wonderful ensemble cast. So many of the supporting characters were very cute and likable. Additionally, Naseeruddin Shah did a lovely job as the cabbie cook--which was a very important foundation for the film. Well worth seeing, a bit funny and with a lot of heart.Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, another wonderful film about cooking is "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman". If you can think of any others let me know--I am always in the mood for a good food film.

i love having recently discovered director David Kaplan and this movie only confirmed my belief that he is one of the best film directors in today's cinema.this film is as appealing and as fun as a visit to a trendy new Indian cuisine restaurant. it's one of those kind of low budget, feel good movies about overcoming obstacles much the way the original 'Rocky' was some thirty or more years ago. 'Rocky' was thought highly enough to be best picture material and i don't find this movie any less notable. it's definitely top ten, best film material and a must see for feeling good and thinking smart.David Kaplan is truly a "top chef" filmmaker with a real gift for traditions and folklore and he explores ethnic themes in America quite well as he did in this film and in his Asian American fantasy "Year of the Fish".i would recommend this culinary delight to everyone and couldn't imagine anyone not liking it, but then again there are always those with permanent indigestion. fun and smart movie.