Today's Special

2009 "Life Has No Recipe"
6.6| 1h39m| R| en
Details

Young Manhattan chef Samir rediscovers his heritage and passion for life through the enchanting art of cooking Indian food.

Director

Producted By

Inimitable Pictures

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Reviews

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
sexwizardmoustache The main issue for me with this film was it was not believable in many respects. Firstly, the main character was totally uninterested in learning to cook his traditional cuisine, and we didn't see any training, progress or metamorphosis take place (there were only 2 scenes with him reluctantly learning from the cab driver but he mostly opposed/scolded him) and then magically he becomes a connoisseur of Indian cuisine just because a hundred people show up to the restaurant? I would have liked to see him learn from the master, and become skilled at cooking. We don't actually see him trying to cook at all in the whole movie and suddenly he's a genius with no training? He had no idea about cooking Indian food and the movie didn't show that he learned how to do so at any point. The focus was on the cab driver and the amazing food he created but then he just disappeared from the movie at the crucial moment when word got out about the restaurant and before we were really convinced as viewers that Samir learned anything from him. I also didn't buy the fact that a chef with a father who owns a restaurant has zero interest in the family restaurant or in his own cuisine. He said himself the first thing he learned to make were samosas but at the same time he was totally clueless and uninterested in Indian cuisine. You would think someone who is interested in food and cooking would be around the kitchen and especially if his father owns a restaurant, around the restaurant and watching/learning and mastering his own cuisine first. Basically, I didn't buy the main character as a chef at all because surely a chef would take some interest in his own traditional cuisine if his father owns a restaurant! Other than that, it was a pleasant enough movie but I didn't buy the story at all, and didn't feel the character bothered to grow or change throughout. It was just an instant transformation at the end where a room full of people who came to eat the cab driver's food were suddenly applauding Samir's food that he had no prior experience of making! The cab driver was a great character but I think there should have been more focus on Samir becoming an amazing Indian chef throughout the movie, then the conclusion would have had much more of an impact.
mkwc-99861 Maybe this show was good in 2009, but watching this in 2017 is a waste of time. It's not even worth my time to write a long review, but 20 mins in, I stopped watching. The 'star' is a loser chef who can't cook his own cuisine to save his life. His dad is a loser restaurant owner who hired shitfaced 'chefs' to run his kitchen. Apparently their saviour is a superstar Indian chef who has to drive a taxi for a living because life sucks like that.By today's standards, if he was a great chef, he wouldn't stand for his own father's restaurant being the dirty run-down place it was. The employees were stubborn and defiant - he should've fired them but no, he - a chef, mind you - was so scared when his dad's crap chef quit that he had to order Indian food from another Indian restaurant to serve his customers who were already waiting probably 10 mins in the restaurant. Seriously?I get it, 2009 was a very different world. This movie just isn't watchable in post-internet startupland 2017.
alan-51-111974 Yes this is a feel good movie and in some ways an adult coming of age movie but it's in no way stupid or trite.The performances of all are impeccable, even the smallest of characters seem real and fully formed. The soundtrack is also fabulous.Some of the plot I could see coming about a mile in advance but I really didn't care because I was enjoying it so much.The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi co-wrote and starred in this, this may put some more conservative viewers off but then they probably wouldn't watch the movie anyway because it's about Muslims in New York. I may be turning into Bill Maher.I guess there's really no reason why I should try to persuade conservatives to watch it... except... it's a gem. Warning... may contain brown people. It's sensitive, heartwarming, funny and uplifting without too many obvious clichés and as Aasif Mandvi's first movie, it's a triumph for him and a joy for us.
chuckbutler Today's Special is a movie with a great mix of humor, family, romance and humanity. It has nothing that I consider objectionable but I also think that it has very little that will appeal to kids. Although the end is a bit predictable and a bit slow at times (thus making it not a 10), it's one of the most entertaining films I've seen this year (and I've seen a lot of movies this year).I would like to know why I don't remember seeing Naseeruddin Shah (who plays the memorable character Akbar (the cab driver/chef))in a movie before. He's the best of an excellent cast. I found myself caring a great deal for the main character Samir (Assif Mandiv) which doesn't happen often in most movies I see (even the good ones). Today's Special centers entirely on the characters and the story. If your looking for a movie with lots of computer generated images (CGI) and/or other special effects and/or stunts and/or violence and/or action and/or sex, go see something else.It was nice to see a movie that doesn't stereotype Muslims as terrorists and that many in the audience clapped for when it was over. I think most adults who enjoy a few very good laughs and a good story will enjoy this movie a great deal.