It's pleasant enough if fairly unmemorable for the first ninety minutes, and then goes completely off the rails in the final act. The last couple of scenes were awful. Still though, it has its moments and Helen Mirren and the dad are both good. I wish the movie had been entirely about them because the two young leads are bland (and the female lead is a spitting image of Winona Ryder to the point where it's almost distracting). It's also very well-photographed even if a lot of it feels artificial. It's cheesy as hell, but older audiences are going to eat it up. C

Want a movie to treat you like a child? Then boy do I got the movie for you!

Pandering. That's the word that comes to mind. This movie feels like it's been programmed to hit every pleasure spot of the 45-90 crowd.

Scenic views of France? Check.

An insulting by the numbers plot featuring a dead mother and Indian magic? Check.

Food porn? Check.

An unnecessary character motivation in the third act that eventually gives us the lesson that "home is truly where the heart is"? Check.

Helen Mirren not naked? Check.

If you want to stimulate your brain in any way, just give this a pass and watch something, anything else.

(C)

In the past, Swedish director Lasse Hallström created a few films exploring the human condition in an astonishing and profound way. The coming-of-age drama My Life as a Dog is his masterpiece, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape is not far behind. In recent years, he has become a studio-film craftsman (or mercenary) specializing in a type of chic uplift. This style invites a cynical reaction, but I found it very hard to resist The Hundred-Foot Journey, a strongly acted and photographed romantic drama functioning as a sentimental ode to the sumptuous beauty of rural France and cuisines French and Indian. As far as latter-day Hallström goes, it is among the cream of the crop. The story turns on an itinerant family from Mumbai. Led by their boisterous and impulsive patriarch, now a widower, they open an Indian restaurant outside a hamlet in France. There is another restaurant, a luxurious French one with a coveted Michelin star, on the other side of the street, and its proud owner is not pleased by the exotic competition.

The beats of conflict (culinary and social) and reconciliation are largely predictable, yet there are so many distinct pleasures to savor. The way, for instance, the camera glides through the restaurants, capturing the excitement and showmanship implicit in the proper operation of such establishments, not to mention the aforementioned camera's vivid, borderline pornographic adoration of eggs and sauces and other delicious treats. There are a couple engaging lead performances on display, too. Helen Mirren and Om Puri, both seasoned pros, are well-cast as the respective restauranteurs: she is guarded and magisterial, he irascible and madcap. Their shared trajectory—from outright contempt to a guarded respect and onward—is bound to and driven by an old-fashioned formula, yet there is a spirited pop to their barbed interaction, and she nails her French accent. And the Montreal-born Charlotte Le Bon is an enchanting find as an ambitious sous-chef who becomes a central player in the storyline. On the whole, is this an authentic and hard-edged examination of race in contemporary Europe? Of course not. Is it, beneath the above-average acting and high-toned aesthetic, lightweight escapism relatively short on depth and almost entirely devoid of grit? Yes, sure. Damn it, though, it summertime, and I reserve the right to savor a bit of lightweight escapism, particularly when it is presented with such aplomb and finesse.

B

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Too long, a little boring, and uninteresting. But well enough acted. I disliked the Indian-French romances which were not believable at all. The cinematography was obviously nice when showing the beautiful French countryside. Forgettable film which could so easily have been very funny. The humour just wasn't present enough and when it was it was very safe. I felt the film didn't really know which string to use so it used them all in equal parts less than just going full blown with one.

The young French girl is a top tottie.

C

B

I made a terrible mistake. I went to see that film, while I was hungry. This is 100+ minutes of food porn at its finest. It was almost painful to watch for me at times.

That aside, it is exactly the kind of mellow, feel-good film, dipped in warm colors with genial protagonists that Lasse Hallström seems to have completely specialized in by now. The way this film is presented is little different from Chocolat or Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Not that there is anything bad about it, but I kinda feel like he is letting himself go and stays behind his potential.
Helen Mirren excels here and, as said above, the food imagery is delicious-looking, but the film itself wanders well-trodden paths, never deviating at all and gladly simplifying things. It's nice Sunday afternoon entertainment, no more, no less.