No Reservations stars Catherine Zeta Jones, who plays Kate, a professional culinary master (but without the foul language of Gordon Ramsay). Kate is a control freak. She is the head chef of a classy restaurant, and has an iron grip on all aspects of her kitchen, her employees, the food that goes out of the swinging doors, even the ingredients that go into the food (she gets up at 5.00am to select that day’s fish at the market). She is so impeccable, it’s untrue. (Quite literally untrue, if you have ever worked in a kitchen, you would know you cannot leave a shift in pristine chef whites!)
Then her iron grip is rendered utterly useless, as a tragic car accident leaves her as the custodian of her niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin). Having never married or had children of her own, she finds the unpredictability of Zoe’s bereavement a real challenge against the order of her workplace.
When she returns to work, with her emotions in turmoil, she finds her replacement, Nick (Aaron Eckhart), playing opera music, and her kitchen in disarray. Predictably, she is not happy, but her niece, who has ceased eating completely, warms to this messy stranger. There is a lovely scene – which shows how contrary kids can be – where Nick makes himself some pasta, leaving it on the side for the starving Zoe to pick up and nibble.
This difficult storyline is played beautifully by the excellent, heart-wrenching performance of Abigail Breslin, who also starred in the acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine. Although I do admire Zeta Jones, her hoarse whispering was slightly annoying. However, this was more than compensated for by the adorable presence of Nick, a lovely guy who is compellingly relaxed, as free as a bird, and as delicious to look at as some of the food that he creates! Look out for the African pizza buffet scene – my favourite in the film.
No Reservations is out in UK cinemas on 31 August.









