No Reservations (2007) is a movie that has different aspects to it. It's ONE story with MANY layers. I personally consider it a family based drama above anything else, but it is also a romance, then, its sprinkled with some comedy here and there. And I love that this movie has many layers to it, I think it makes it stronger overall. There's a little something for everyone here. The cast handles their roles very well, I think every cast member was perfectly cast and they are all accomplished actors so it's no shocker that they give fine performances. Catherine Zeta Jones (Chicago, Mask of Zorro) was excellent, you can feel her pain and every single emotion her character is feeling through her performance. Just the same, you can do the same with Aaron Eckhart. Also, Abigail Breslin, who showed incredible talent at such a young age, does a great job with her role. Everyone's chemistry is so spot on too. Eckhart and Jones have electric romantic chemistry, I loved the well filmed somewhat love scene between the two. But their chemistry is not limited to the physical, their dialogue between one another and how they relate and form a connection is wonderful to watch. That's another thing, the film's writing. I found that the writing worked because it showed the audience what the characters were struggling with, it gave them depth, which made it so much easier to relate to them and to care about what happened to them. All in all, this is a lovely story to watch. 10/10! Highly recommend!

The plot is very solid as well as the storyline. Zeta-Jones and Eckhart did a good job in both their respective roles. The chemistry was pure rivalry and competition of who is the better chef, who cooks better, who has good presentation, whose food taste better, etc. The owner/ manager Patricia Clarkson (Paula) does not intervene on the rivalry nor competition but allow Eckhart to take full control of Zeta-Jones's puissance position. Zeta-Jones's character works hard at what she does for many years and crafted her signature dishes which the manager back stabs and double bind the puissance in the respective roles. Lesson learned in the real world: trust no one in any line of work or business. The relationship between Zeta-Jones and Eckhart characters later turns into love, romance and then business partners. Food is the international unspoken language as humans we need to eat to survive. Food binds people together. Majority of the scenes take place inside a restaurant kitchen as the master chef, cooks, Sous chefs, understudies cooks, assistants, etc. which NO ONE wear gloves or hair nets while handling food. This restaurant takes place in NYC and the NYC Health Department is very strict about handling food and food preparation. It appears the entire staff are bear hands which is a complete health code violation incurring loss of business license and hefty fines!! Filming a movie inside restaurant kitchens should appear realistic and close to authentic which means utilizing gloves and hair nets while handling food. Why Eckhart's wear ridiculous orange clogs in the kitchen and pajama-ish pants when he represents a professional Sous chef? The only chef kitchen attire are the staff wearing white chef robes as nothing else is in accordance to NYC Health Department standards.

A movie about a uptight chef, who faces a turmoil of emotions, happy, sad all at the same time. So tries to adapt to the new situations. That is a very strong script and yet the movie is boring as hell.When i looked at the trailer i knew it would be really fun and Catherina Zeta Jones is a able actor to pull this off. But no, this is extremely dismal performance for the actress. By far this is the worst performance and am not just talking about being a perfectionist in the kitchen, her love interest with Aaron Eckhart and a likable aunt with her niece she falls in all places and really low.The movie starts off in a very interesting note, and shows the actress in the kitchen and cuts back and forth with a therapist and then moves on to show the tragedy in her life and niece moving with her. It was very intriguing and i really thought this could go somewhere, but after all that am not sure what happened to all the flamboyance and grit that the movie had. It just fell apart and i was hoping despite this, the acting would be good enough to carry the movie and disappointment again.This movie confused me a lot, i understand the little girl was going through a really difficult time, but many times her anger was totally not needed. Running off in the road, going to her mom's grave for a reason which was beyond reason. Standing in freezing cold for no reason, the girl looked appallingly bad. And there was Aaron Eckhart, he was again at his lowest low, when he came in to the movie i was hoping a bonding issue with the actress would eventually turn into love and would have its fun moments.None of that existed, he was this exuberant and passionate guy and such a character will have to be fun in this uptight movie, he had no such moments. I don't even understand why was he fired in the first place and the chemistry between the characters was the worst. The aunt-niece was pathetic, lead actors chemistry was abysmal and the movie had lost all the finesse, passion and short did not have the heart to carry it through.The screenplay was really bad, dialogues were worse and the scenes in the trailer where Catherina Zeta Jones blows out on a customer complaint was split into 2 sections. One in the start and one right before the end, which totally doesn't make sense. The characters should grown into you, not go back and forth on the same emotions and insanely annoy you.The movie should have focused on the bonding between actress and little girl and build the story around it, it would be a really fun and interesting to watch, but instead goes in all different directions and loses our interests after the first 20 minutes which is a huge disappointment. Never seen such a wasted script and feel really for the sub-standard and lackluster attempt by the director on the script. A movie totally worth skipping.

What does it take to make one happy most of the time? A little bit of love and good food is what is perfectly required. "No Reservation" is exactly what it tries to convey, a perfect blend of both.The movie begins with an interesting conversation that sets up the whole story of the film until when something uncertain happens that changes the climate of the story. The story line is spot on. The characters in the movie (Catherine Zeta, Abigail and Aaron) have brought in their best, especially Catherine in most parts. It seems to be natural most of the time but yet, faints of over acting are also evident and shown.An obsessed chef finds a new beginning when she has to take care of her sister's daughter. She then gets to meet an interesting colleague who tears apart her thoughts and sets in a romantic feeling that she was unaware of for a very long time.The end is predictable but on the whole it is definitely worth to watch it once. When two important things such as love and food come together, the mix is definitely magical and yes it feels good!!