btbsite Reviews

American Cuisine (1998)

Movie in an identity crisis

[6/10 · 4 December 2006]

This movie doesn't know which way it should go. It is definitely not a movie about the art of cooking, although set in a restaurant and two brilliant chiefs it is hardly capable of transporting the idea of what is so great about the dishes they prepare. Instead you either believe it or you are set with the stupid critics. The only scene concentrating on cooking is when Jason Lee shows there's more to American cuisine than Roast Beef and apple pie. But if Food is the interest for you in watching the movie I would recommend Big Night with Stanley Tucci, where even the act of making an omelet tells a story or Dumplings with Bai Lin. This movie is not a love story either the chemistry with Jason lee and Irene Jacob is forced and does not show the similarities between the different cultures they depict, which is a shame since both are capable in the right movies. Better watch Kissing a Fool or The Two Lifes of Veronique when you are interested in the actors. This movie might at best be a Buddy Movie between the young upstart and the elder chief.

Jack of All Trades (2000)

Bruce Campbell's spectacle

[10/10 · 4 May 2006]

JACK OF ALL TRADES is mostly fun and spectacle, in the twenty minutes of each episode we have great slapstick as only Bruce Campbell can do, great swordfights, really bad ( but funny, often politically incorrect ) one-liners, talking parrots, jokes about the french and to summarize it, it can be very immature. But good executed. So a whole lot of fun. It's comparable to Brisco County in the fact that modern inventions are often used as deus ex machina, but it is not as emotionally. The whole setting reminds more of the Wild,Wild West Movie than of Brisco. The guests are great fun, for instance Verne Troyer as Napoleon goes where Mini-me of Austin Powers not even dared to.

Watch it for the fun of it.