It was a nice film but I’m sorry to say that to me it was brought down by Vaughn’s expression, in the way that he had just one, the ‘impassive way’. I liked all the others though.
It’s based on a true story apparently, and this restaurant is still open, they say, so basically this movie is just a huge commercial…
It starts showing Joe as a kid, with his Italian mom and grandma cooking (although they have American coffee and not moka…)
Now Joe is an adult, and has to deal wiht the death of his mom. They don’t really talk about it, but I think she was the last one he had, other than friends. He was very close to her and took care of her, and now it hurts, of course.
His best friend Bruno and his wife Stella urge him to do something, go out and find a hobby, something, other staying at home mourning.
He makes a trip to Staten Island, remembering his time there with his mom, and meets Olivia again, a girl he knew in school, but that now has a wedding ring on her finger
Then he sees a sign, of a restaurant up for sale, and buys it. Bruno is not equally excited, because he can clearly see all the difficulties, and he’s right, he’s being realistic, but Joe has alreadybought it so Bruno helps him with all the renovations, and there’s a lot to do. Without telling Joe, Bruno sells his beloved car that belonged to his father when he was a kid.
He does it to be able to help, to pay the men working on this renovations.
For the food, Joe personally asks Roberta, who was his mother’s best friend, and also asks Gia, who was his mother’s hairdresser, but also a friend. Gia is really good with cassate and cannoli, generally desserts.
Olivia wants Antonella to join, and forces her a little, a friendly push, thinking it will be good for her, and indeed one of the nicest scenes is when Olivia comes back to get her at the end of her first day there, but before opening the door she looks through the window and she sees Antonella laughing, that’s touching.
Olivia said she’d do anything for Antonella and we soon learn why: Olivia lost her husband, he died, and Antonella was a great help for her, she didn’t leave her alone, she was a huge huge help.
Now, what makes the difference between succeeding or failing? Talent, working hard, yes yes, all these things are important and necessary, but the key factor in this world is the same everywhere: Luck. And money and connections, but luch is first. The man doing the inspection fails the restaurant, and with no permit they can’t open, and the man says that it’ll take up to a year before he can make another inspection. it seems like the end, desperation leads Joe and Bruno to a bad fight. As a last resort, Joe asks for Olivia’s help, she’s becoming a lawyer or something, and she finds out that the man has a habit of failing his inspections so that people will pay him to have another one soon. To appease Olivia, the man comes back and gives Joe his permit, so now he can open.
The first night there is a big storm, but the following nights are the same: nobody comes. Antonella is quite angry with a man at the market when she learns that he’s sabotaging the restaurant, in the way that he’s been telling people not to go there because for years it was a local man’s restaurant and they don’t like the idea of someone else, especially one not from Staten Island, taking his place.
The women talk and get to know each other, and they also urge Joe not to give up before he’s tried everything. So he personally shows up at a food critic’s office, it’s quite late and he finds all doors open for him and not one soul to stop him, how lucky.
This critic Durant won’t go to Enoteca Maria because he only goes to fancy restaurants. Joe brought the food to him though, and leaves it there after he’s said his piece, and Durant will try it and send a woman to review the place.
Joe has one last night, a party, to use all the food stored in the kitchen before closing the restaurant, not knowing about the critic of course.
It’s a wonderful surprise when Bruno and Stella show him a paper with an excelent review, and of course after that he won’t close.
The place is a huge success, so he can buy Bruno’s old car back for him.
Olivia is now ready to move on and starts a relationship with Joe.
There’s also Teresa, a retired nun from the Bronx who wanted a chance at another life, and she got it.
The end.
I liked how they didn’t say anything esplicitly about their relationship, but they showed Olivia’s hand without her wedding ring, the clear signal that she was now ready to move on.
Vince Vaughn as Joe
Linda Cardellini as Olivia
Lorraine Bracco as Roberta
Susan Sarandon as Gia
Talia Shire as Teresa
Brenda Vaccaro as Antonella
Joe Manganiello as Bruno
Drea de Matteo as Stella
