Themes: Cooks and Chefs, Looking For Love, Opposites Attract
Main Cast: Anthony Ruivivar, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sean Patrick Flanery, Patricia Clarkson, Dylan Baker, Christopher Durang
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
An airy romance in the tradition of classic Hollywood comedies of the Depression Era, Simply Irresistible (1999) also presses into service the food-obsessed magical realism of Like Water for Chocolate (1992). Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Amanda Shelton, the chef at Southern Cross, a trendy Tribeca restaurant she inherited from her legendary mother. Not the most inspired of culinary artists, Amanda is running the establishment into the ground, until a cab-driving, Cupid-like guardian angel (playwright Christopher Durang) intervenes with a magical crab that puts Amanda in the path of slick spin master Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery). Tom is opening a restaurant for his boss Jonathan Bendel (Dylan Baker), who wants to assure the eatery is no less than a four-star affair, but the temperamental French chef is giving fits to Bartlett and his secretary Lois (Patricia Clarkson). Enter Amanda, who falls head over heels for Tom, love suddenly bestowing upon her the gift of infusing her dishes with powerful amorous emotions that overwhelm diners with a rapturous ecstasy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. - Nolan Traynor; Betty Buckley - Stella; Amanda Peet - Chris; Anthony Ruivivar
Credit
Caty Maxey - Art Director, Beth Khun - Art Director, Hopkins-Smith-Barden - Casting, Brian Maas - Co-producer, Katherine Jane Bryant - Costume Designer, J. Miller Tobin - First Assistant Director, Tom Reilly - First Assistant Director, Mark Tarlov - Director, Paul Karasick - Editor, Arnon Milchan - Executive Producer, Elizabeth Robinson - Executive Producer, Gil Goldstein - Composer (Music Score), William Barclay - Production Designer, John Kafarda - Production Designer, Robert M. Stevens - Cinematographer, Jon Amiel - Producer, Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Producer, John Fiedler - Producer, William Sarokin - Sound/Sound Designer, Judith Roberts - Screenwriter
Amanda Shelton (Sarah Michelle Gellar) inherits her late mother's restaurant, but lacks her mother's ability to cook. The restaurant is failing when Amanda meets a mysterious and possibly magical man at the local market. He introduces himself as Gene O'Reilly and claims to be an old friend of her mother's. He sells her crabs, one of which (Lauren E. Woods) escapes cooking to become her personal mascot. This special crab is magical and it casts spells, with a wave of its claw. Amanda meets her love interest at the market, Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery), a department store manager opening an ambitious new restaurant inside his store. It is never explicitly explained why, but this eventful day transforms Amanda into a miraculous food witch; people who now eat her impressive new dishes fall under her accidental spells (for example, when a teardrop falls into one of the dishes the people eating it end up in tears). These are inspired by her emotions and created with the help of her magic crab (Lauren E. Woods). Amanda saves her restaurant overnight, and her relationship with Tom blossoms just as fast. However, Tom, being a career-minded control freak, panics when he realizes that not only could she be a witch who could be casting spells on him, but that his own emotions are getting the best of him, and he promptly dumps her. When Amanda goes to confront Tom one last time at his office, she witnesses the violent tantrum and resignation of a celebrity French chef hired for the opening of Tom's new restaurant. When it is discovered that Amanda is in fact the hot new chef in town everyone is talking about, she is hired on the spot, despite Tom's protests. Once Amanda overcomes her self-doubts and insecurities, she reaches her full potential as a chef, and the opening is a complete success. Though Tom refuses to taste Amanda's food during the opening, he eventually admits to himself he was wrong to reject Amanda because she made him feel emotional. He finally decides to embrace his feelings for her and goes after her. At the last minute, he reaches her with his own personal magic (a paper airplane), and the two reconcile on the dance floor.
1. Little King - The Hollowbodies
2. Busted - Jennifer Paige
3. Falling - Donna Lewis
4. Got The Girl (Boy From Ipanama) - Reiss
5. Angel Of The Forever Sleep, The - Marcy Playground
6. Take Your Time - Lori Carson
7. Beautiful Girls - Chris Lloyd
8. Once In A Blue Moon - Sydney Forest
9. Parkway - The Hang Ups
10. Our Love Is Going To Live Forever - Spain
11. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - Katalina
13. Crab Rangoon- Tara-Saurus Rex
12. That Old Black Magic - Harold Arlen
The flooring which Flanery selects for his new restaurant is a copy of that used in the "Coffee Time" number.
Dylan Baker comments: "This looks like something out of an MGMmusical".
Shall We Dance (1937): Flanery's confusion when faced with multiple images of Gellar echoes Astaire when confronted with multiple masked versions of Ginger Rogers in the Shall We Dance finale.
Swing Time (1936): The layout of the restaurant at the end of the movie closely resembles the restaurant and night club, the "Silver Sandal."
Siskel's Last Review
Simply Irresistible was the last film reviewed by critic Gene Siskel. He died soon after on February 20, 1999 at the age of 53.
