No Reservations is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Scott Hicks. Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart and Abigail Breslin, the screenplay by Carol Fuchs is an adaptation of an original script by Sandra Nettelbeck, which served as the basis for the 2001 German film Mostly Martha, and revolves around a hard-edged chef whose life is turned upside down when she decides to take in her young niece following a tragic accident that killed her sister. Patricia Clarkson, Bob Balaban and Jenny Wade co-star, with Brian F. O'Byrne, Lily Rabe and Zoe Kravitz—appearing in her first feature film—playing supporting roles.
The film received a mixed reception by critics, who found it “predictable and too melancholy for the genre”, resulting into an 41% overall approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Upon its opening release on July 27, 2007 in the United States and Canada, No Reservations became a moderate commercial success: The film grossed $12 million in its opening weekend, eventually grossing over $43 million at the domestic box-office and over $92 million worldwide. Breslin was nominated for a Young Artist Awards for her performance.
Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is the head chef at the trendy 22 Bleecker Street Restaurant in Manhattan, New York, and one of the bests chefs of New York.
She is obsessed with the kitchen, with the preparation and presentation of the dishes, and she's an exaggerated perfectionist. Her therapist (Bob Balaban) can see this during their sessions. Kate's boss Paula (Patricia Clarkson) says she will fire Kate unless she goes to theraphy, so when Kate goes to theraphy she can't stop talking about dishes and cooking. In a session, her therapist asks her why she thinks she needs therapy but Kate is obvlibious about her obssesion.
Kate is the best at her work. She runs her kitchen at a rapid pace as she coordinates the making and preparation of all the fantastic meals, and personally displays the food to perfection on every dish. She intimidates everyone around her, Kate hates to leave the kitchen when a customer wants to compliment her on one of her special dishes, however she is ready to leave the kitchen in an instant when a customer insults her cooking.
But personally Kate has no life since her whole world is centered on the kitchen.
When Kate's sister is killed in a car accident, Kate's nine-year old niece, Zoe (Abigalil Breslin), must move in to live with her as it was Kate's sister wishes of something happened to her. Kate is devastated by her sister's death and with all of her problems, Paula decides to give Kate a week off.
During this time, Paula hires a new sous chef to join the staff, Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart), who is a rising star in his own right and could be the head chef of any restaurant he pleased. Nick, however, wanted to work under Kate since he's an admirer of her work. Kate meets him while one of her visits at the restaurant.
When Kate returns to work, the atmosphere in the kitchen is somewhat chaotic as Kate feels increasingly threatened by Nick as time went on due to his style of running her kitchen. Nick loves to listen to opera while he cooks and he loves to make the staff laugh. And Kate finds herself strangely attracted to Nick, whose uplifting personality has not only affected her staff but Zoe as well, who has been coming to work with Kate.
With all that is happening in Kate's life, the last thing she would want is to fall in love with this man, as she has pushed away all others prior. However, there is some kind of chemistry between the two of them that only flourishes with their passion for cooking. Yet life hits her hard when Paula decides to offer Nick the job of head chef and Kate's relationship with Nick turns a sour note due to Kate's pride.
In the end, Kate allows herself to become vulnerable and tear down the walls she has built throughout her life so that she and Nick could start fresh. The movie concludes with Zoe, Nick and Kate having opened their own bistro.
17. Rockers Hi Fi (Love and Insanity Dub)- Kruder and Dorfmeister Sessions
18. Ascent (An Ending)
Release
Box office performance:
Traffic was given a limited release on December 27, 2000 in four theaters where it grossed USD $184,725 on its opening weekend.
It was given a wide release on January 5, 2001 in 1,510 theaters where it grossed $15.5 million on its opening weekend. The film would make $124.1 million in North America and $83.4 million in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $207.5 million, well above its estimated $48 million budget.
Critical response:
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 92% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based on a sample of 154, with an average score of 8/10, and the consensus being "Soderbergh successfully pulls off the highly ambitious Traffic, a movie with three different stories and a very large cast. The issues of ethics are gray rather than black-and-white, with no clear-cut good guys. Terrific acting all around." At Metacritic the film has received an average score of 86, based on 34 reviews.Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and wrote, "The movie is powerful precisely because it doesn't preach. It is so restrained that at one moment—the judge's final speech—I wanted one more sentence, making a point, but the movie lets us supply that thought for ourselves". Stephen Holden, in his review for The New York Times, wrote, "Traffic is an utterly gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Or rather it is several interwoven thrillers, each with its own tense rhythm and explosive payoff". In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "Traffic marks [Soderbergh] definitively as an enormous talent, one who never lets us guess what he's going to do next. The promise of Sex, Lies and Videotape has been fulfilled".
Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" rating and praised Benicio del Toro's performance, which critic Owen Gleiberman called, "haunting in his understatement, [it] becomes the film's quietly awakening moral center". Desson Howe, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "Soderbergh and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, who based this on a British television miniseries of the same name, have created an often exhilarating, soup-to-nuts exposé of the world's most lucrative trade". In his review for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers wrote, "The hand-held camerawork – Soderbergh himself did the holding—provides a documentary feel that rivets attention". However, Richard Schickel, in his review for Time, wrote, "there is a possibly predictable downside to this multiplicity of story lines: they keep interrupting one another. Just as you get interested in one, Stephen Gaghan's script, inspired by a British mini-series, jerks you away to another".
Top ten lists:
Traffic appeared on several critics' top ten lists for 2000. Some of the notable top-ten list appearances are:
The film won Academy Awards in the categories Best Director (Steven Soderbergh), Best Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro), Best Film Editing (Mirrione) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Stephen Gaghan).
Benicio Del Toro won an Oscar for his role in "Traffic"
It was also nominated for Best Picture, alongside another Soderbergh film, Erin Brokovich, but lost to Gladiator. Traffic was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture - Drama, Soderbergh for Best Director, Del Toro for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Catherine Zeta-Jones for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture and Steven Gaghan for Best Screenplay. Both Del Toro and Gaghanwon in their respective categories.In addition, Del Toro won Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. He went on to win BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role along with Gahan, who won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Steven Soderbergh receiving his Oscar for Best Director for Traffic
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Traffic won the Screen Actor Award for Best Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture
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