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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
No Reservations
Warner Bros.
 |
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG for some sensuality and language
Starring
Catherine Zeta-Jones,
Aaron Eckhart,
Abigail Breslin,
Bob Balaban,
Jenny Wade,
Brian F. O'Byrne,
and
Patricia Clarkson
Master chef Kate Armstrong lives her life like she runs her kitchen at a trendy Manhattan eatery with a no-nonsense intensity that both captivates and intimidates everyone around her. Kate's perfectionist nature is put to the test when she "inherits" her nine-year-old niece Zoe, while contending with a brash new sous-chef who joins her staff. High-spirited and freewheeling, Nick Palmer couldn't be more different from Kate, yet the chemistry between them is undeniable. Rivalry becomes romance, but Kate will have to learn to express herself beyond the realm of her kitchen if she wants to connect with Zoe and find true happiness with Nick.
(Warner Bros.)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Carol Fuchs
Sandra Nettelbeck
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Scott Hicks
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 12, 2008
Theatrical: July 27, 2007
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / Australia |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
By far the best thing about it is Zeta-Jones.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
The romance, which commences rather gradually, is tender, but not graphic. Humor is interspersed throughout, but there also is sadness, handled seriously. Actually, it is as much a family saga as it is a romantic comedy.
75
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
See it after you've eaten dinner. And don't see if you've recently been to "Ratatouille."
75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
No Reservations may not be a modern day classic but, despite the relatively small budget, it has more heart than nearly anything currently playing in multiplexes.
70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Agreeably prepared and attractively presented, this remake of the tasty 2001 German feature "Mostly Martha" bears too many earmarks of Hollywood packaging and emotional button-pushing, but doesn't go far wrong by closely sticking to the original's smart story construction.
70
Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
The cynic would like to write this off as empty grown-up hooey, "Baby Boom" without an ounce of bang. But you can't do it, because the thing's so charming and frothy and delightful and sentimental and beautifully shot and well-acted and sincere that it takes a good couple of hours before you start craving real nourishment.
70
The New York Times
Matt Zoller Seitz
The emotional details of Kate, Nick and Zoe’s journey are surprising, honest and life-size, and the film’s determination to present their predicament sympathetically, without appealing to retrograde ideals of femininity and motherhood, makes it notable, and in some ways unique.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
A passable romantic dish, a good-looking, old-fashioned date movie set in an idealized Greenwich Village, evocative of the better Woody Allen films.
63
TV Guide
Ken Fox
It's handsomely shot by Stuart Dryburgh and nicely acted, and if it tastes a bit bland, you'll soon forget that, along with just about everything else about it.
63
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The movie's pleasant and light, though, and its emotional crises are the crust on an acceptably edible crème brulee.
63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
It takes its plot from the 2001 German film about a workaholic chef, dumbing down the original slightly and inserting a couple of phony crises. You're spared not only subtitles but subtlety.
63
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
Fails to offer a single moment you don't see coming but its cast is appealing, and it provides a welcome respite from young wizards, talking robots that turn into trucks and other staples of this long, hot, boy-focused summer.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Alas, not even Eckhart and Breslin can get Zeta-Jones to simmer.
60
Film Threat
Stina Chyn
I generally wince at the thought of a foreign film receiving a Hollywood do-over, but No Reservations satisfactorily Americanizes its German predecessor by taking an originally more serious story and adding to it a lighter, more comedic tone.
58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
It's fun to see the glamorous actress turn down her movie-star flame, but it's a pity she's stuck with so many trite gestures on Kate's journey to fulfillment.
50
Wall Street Journal
Joanne Kaufman
It's plain old lousy timing, this chronicle of a dedicated, exacting chef being released in the wake of the kitchen-centered "Ratatouille" and "Waitress." Alongside those two charmers, which beautifully demonstrate the transformative powers of food and love, No Reservations is strictly cordon blah.
50
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
The film feels miscast. Neither Zeta-Jones nor Eckhart look the least bit comfortable in a restaurant kitchen. More troubling, they look downright uncomfortable with each other.
50
Slate
Dana Stevens
Five years from now, this bland and forgettable throwaway will be remembered only for Breslin, who will by then be a poised and gifted 16-year-old actress.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
No Reservations succeeds as well as it does (kinda sorta) by virtue of Zeta-Jones' performance.
50
Washington Post
Hank Stuever
There's already a crazy behind-the-scenes restaurant movie out this summer, and it's got a better story, and it's a cartoon, and it stars a rat.
50
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
After seeing No Reservations you'll be hungry for a really top-flight meal. And, to go with it, a better film.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is focused on two kinds of chemistry: of the kitchen, and of the heart. The kitchen works better.
50
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
The kitchen action here is pretty diverting -- everybody involved seems to have boned up on their Bourdain and Buford, and having done so, sanitized what they've gleaned with Hollywood polish.
50
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
Too bad director Scott Hicks and screenwriter Carol Fuchs didn't look more closely at their source material, a 2001 German film called Mostly Martha. That film used the same basic premise but injected real conflict into the mix, in ways sexual, culinary, even ethnic. That film tried to do something, even while it was entertaining us.
50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Even the food - usually the centerpiece of a restaurant movie - is oddly uninspired. Despite Zeta-Jones' best efforts, barely a moment here feels organic, or fresh.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A soufflé of a romantic and family comedy that stubbornly refuses to rise.
42
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
The romance is boring. Everything is blandly good-looking. The emotional beats are so programmed, you can predict the entrance of every single note of the Philip Glass dirge of a score. And the title means nothing beyond its double-entendre.
42
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
No Reservations is pretty much the dramatic equivalent of a burger and fries, however pretty the presentation.
40
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
The movie feels stubbornly, resolutely disingenuous and one-dimensional. Everything in it isdesigned to make you feel better, so why does it feel artificial and palliative in that really depressing way?
40
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Sometimes movies make sense in a logical way; sometimes they make only emotional sense. No Reservations makes no damned sense at all.
40
Empire
Angie Errigo
It’s sufficiently well done to qualify as cute, quite the thing for a girlie outing with grub after, but it’s utterly phoney baloney.
30
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
I don't believe in fixing things that aren't broken. Sandra Nettelbeck's wholly accessible "Mostly Martha" (2001) is one of the most delightful comedies of recent years, so the idea of a remake with English instead of German dialogue is already pretty dubious, an insult to the capacities of both audiences and the original filmmakers.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
It takes a winning recipe and adds some distinctly Hollywood flavors...The result is a botched job.
 The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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