Today's Special

                My mother loves to cook and she enjoys watching others do it as well.  She has a group of movies, all centered on food, that show the characters not only eating great meals, but creating them.  Many of these movies I have not seen or only watched in parts.  Today’s Special is different.  This film I watched from start to finish.  I truly enjoyed it and developed a severe craving for Tandoori chicken.      

           Samir is a sous chef in a New York City restaurant.  He has held this position for years and is convinced he is going to get the big upcoming promotion.  When his boss gives the job to someone else, and criticizes his cooking, Samir quits.  Not fully sure what to do now, Samir decides to go to Paris and study cooking with the great French chefs.    

Before he is able to leave, Samir’s father falls ill.  No longer able to fulfill his Paris dream, Samir takes over the family’s failing Indian restaurant.  His heart is not in the family business and he does not have the desire to save it.

           Then Samir meets a taxi driver named Akbar.  This man claims to be an incredible chef.  At first Samir brushes him off, but then he realizes Akbar is just the man he needs.  With only the man’s name, Samir works with an incredible network of people to track Akbar down.  Once he does, Samir convinces Akbar to be the chef of the restaurant.  Rapidly the business grows, bringing the restaurant back to life.  As wonderful as this is, the truly important thing Akbar does is teach Samir how to cook, and live, with passion and feeling again.

           This is a sweet movie.  Some may object to it being called that, but this is how I saw the film.  Samir is a really good character.  All he is trying to do is live the life he wants and be a good son at the same time.  His mother is hilarious.  Throughout the movies she tries to set Samir up with every available young woman she can think of.  While we can see this drives Samir crazy, she is well intentioned and in the end just wants her son to be happy.  The frustrating person in this cast of characters is Samir’s father.  In many ways still full of grief over the death of another son, Samir’s father is upset that Samir is a chef and not a doctor.  He spends the majority of the movie hassling Samir over his choices.  Of course everything gets wrapped up nicely.  Much of the credit for the happy ending needs to be placed at the door of the very funny and wise Akbar.  Without him, if would have taken a lot longer for everything to come together, if it ever did at all.