metacritic.com: Nina's Heavenly Delights

Nina's Heavenly Delights

Starring Shelley Conn, Laura Fraser, Ronny Jhutti, Veena Sood, Raji James, and Art Malik

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content

Regent Releasing
Comedy | Gay/Lesbian
94 minutes | Color
UK
Released In Theaters November 21, 2007

Nina's Heavenly Delights is a surprising love story where Scottish humor meets Bollywood spectacle! It follows the mixed fortunes of a Glaswegian family, the Shahs and their award winning Indian restaurant, The New Taj. The story is told through the eyes of Nina Shah, a young Scottish Asian woman. Nina had left home under a cloud after an argument with her father but when he dies suddenly, Nina is forced to return. Her return reunites her with her childhood friend Bobbi, a wannabe Bollywood drag queen, and brings her face to face with Lisa, a charismatic young woman who now owns half the restaurant. Then Nina discovers her father's secret – The New Taj has been selected for The Best of the West Curry Competition. In the turbulent, but exhilarating days that follow, Nina, with Lisa's help, embarks on a personal mission to win the trophy for the third time. But Nina's feelings are thrown into turmoil when she realizes that she is falling in love. Can her feelings ever be reciprocated? And, if they are, what will this mean for Nina and her family? (Regent Releasing)

WRITTEN BY
Pratibha Parmar (story)
Andrea Gibb

DIRECTED BY
Pratibha Parmar

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

44 / 100

Critic Reviews

63	TV Guide Light and sweet, comfort food dressed up with a dash of exotic spice.
60	Variety Stereotypes abound, dialogue is conventional and pace scattered. Still, resulting stew is pleasant.
50	Village Voice Abigail Deutsch "A difficult choice, between perfection and heavenly delight," crows the announcer at an Indian-cooking contest during this movie's climax. Sadly, Pratibha Parmar's Nina's Heavenly Delights offers neither.
50	Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona There are a few surprising flavors in Nina's Heavenly Delights, but it's more of a samosa than a meal. The ceiling is set pretty low when characters start exhorting each other to "follow your heart." Which they do, early and often.
50	The New York Times A lesbian-foodie fairy tale that keeps its appetites well under control. The title may hint at naughty pleasures, but the director, Pratibha Parmar, is more interested in pappadams than passion.
25	New York Post This movie's heart is in the right place, which is one way of saying it's terrible.
25	San Francisco Chronicle A lightweight and sentimental exercise that succeeds at little except maybe inspiring the viewer to go out and find a decent curry.

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