What's Cooking? (2000)

Director:

Gurinder Chadha

Writers:

Gurinder Chadha (written by) &
Paul Mayeda Berges (written by)

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (Norway)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Families. Fights. Feasts. A holiday tradition.

Plot:

In LA's Fairfax district, where ethnic groups abound, four households celebrate Thanksgiving amidst family tensions...

Plot Keywords:

Family | Interracial Romance | Lesbian | Thanksgiving | Video Store

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Mercedes Ruehl	...	Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Avila
Victor Rivers	...	Javier Avila
Douglas Spain	...	Anthony 'Tony' Avila
Maria Carmen	...	Sofia Avila
Isidra Vega	...	Gina Avila
Elena Lopez	...	Grandma Avila
A Martinez	...	Daniel 'Danny'
Richard Yniguez	...	Robert Avila
Lorraine Perez	...	Auntie Delores
Eva Rodriguez	...	Auntie Eva
Adrian Armas	...	Avila cousin
Caz	...	Gordo, the Avila's dog
Joan Chen	...	Trinh Nguyen
François Chau	...	Duc Nguyen (as Francois Chau)
Will Yun Lee	...	Jimmy Nguyen

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality, brief language and a perilous situation.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Vietnamese | Yiddish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:M | Norway:7 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Because Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References "Bonanza" (1959)

Soundtrack:

Wipeout

a delicious comedy

This movie is a comedy about the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. It follows four families (black, Latino, Jewish, and Vietnamese) during their holiday celebrations, with all the messes that crop up during big family gatherings. Each of the families has its own problems, which are to some extent intertwined.

An example of one of the family messes: A young man in the Latino family bumps into his father (who had moved out some time earlier) at the grocery store, and invites him to Thanksgiving dinner. His mother is furious, because she doesn't want anything to do with her estranged husband, particularly during a big holiday event.

The acting and directing are very good, but the writing and editing are really wonderful. The cast is huge, but the editing manages to make it easy for the audience to keep track of everyone. It's full of laughs (and some light drama), but aside from some stereotyping, mostly realistic. Even though there are quite a number of name actors, the screen time is divided among the cast to fit the story, not to fit the actors' egos -- an impressive balancing act for the director and producers.

The food scenes, aside from a few kitchen disasters, were enough to inspire quite an appetite. It's a good thing the Seattle International Film Festival scheduled the screening in the afternoon, so I could have dinner right after the movie.

This is one of the best recent comedies I've seen.