No Reservations (Blu-ray Disc)

It goes without saying No Reservations is not a great movie. More to the point, this remake of the truly splendid German picture Mostly Martha is probably even an unnecessary one. But that doesn't make it bad, or not worth a person's time, because as star-driven romantic melodramas are concerned this one isn't all that hard to sit through. Heck, at times it is even borderline adorable, and for anyone that likes to say critics don't have a heart or are unwilling to let a film's sentimentality get to them ladies and gentlemen I give you this.

The basic thrust is as familiar as Bette Davis descending a stair case or Joan Crawford stirring up trouble as if she were lighting up a cigarette. Master chef Kate (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is forced to take care of her 9-year-old niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) after he beloved free spirit sister is killed in a tragic car accident. The woman must mix trying to learn about being a mother for the very first time with the added headache of a charming idiosyncratic sous-chef named Nick (Aaron Eckhart) elbowing his way into her kitchen. Needless to say, romantic sparks start to fly and everyone lives happily ever after.

It's all fairly straight forward stuff. Driven career woman, sexy high-spirited new coworker, frightened child looking to be loved; add all three of these things together and I'm pretty positive you already know the outcome. This movie is as obvious and as routine as they come, and as Kate, Nick and Zoe cook their way towards something special I can't exactly say I was shocked by a single moment of their journey.

Yet this isn't near as huge a problem as you'd probably think it would be. Sure director Scott Hicks (Shine) resorts to tired pop song montage clichés a time or two (unfortunately drowning out Philip Glass' excellent score), and yes I could have done without Bob Balaban's therapist character spelling everything out in sickening food analogies, but as far as problems go these are actually relatively minor. While Zeta-Jones probably wouldn't be my first choice to play this character she's still awfully strong, while both Eckhart and Breslin are so winning it's exceedingly difficult not to root for the trio to become a family.

Warner's Blu-ray release of No Reservations looks and sounds stunning. As much as I love my HD DVD Player (and will probably refuse tooth and nail to give it up), even though I'm loathe to admit the movies on this format are just starting to look better and better. Sony's recent release of Across the Universe might just be the most visually stunning disc I've ever seen, and while this one isn't quite to that high standard it still looks good enough to earn nothing less of an unqualified rave.

Can't say the same for the special features. There are two of them, and neither is anything you're going to watch more than once. Both of these Food Network excerpts are decent, nothing more (and certainly nothing less), and for a film featuring stars of this caliber the fact this disc is as bare-bones as it is has to be seen as something of a surprise.

Listen, I'm not saying No Reservations is the greatest picture in the world, but it is a pleasantly diverting and emotionally captivating love story full of smooth enjoyment pretty much all the way through. While I wouldn't urge anyone to buy it as far as rentals go a person could do a heck of a lot worse. The film is certainly more than the sum of its tasty parts, director Hicks cooking a meal I'm sure most undiscriminating viewers won't mind savoring.