This is an excellent little movie which looks like it's about food but is actually about the search for success, the striving for excellence in a crass and uncaring world, and brotherly devotion. Two Italian brothers run a little restaurant serving superb food as a labor of love, but it's failing, in contrast to the wildly successful spaghetti emporium down the street with execrable food but which is raking in the big bucks. The story line - set in the late 50's U.S.A. - is paper thin, but the movie is populated with interesting, likable people and the tale is lovingly told with an excellent script and superb acting all around, especially from the two brothers and from Ian Holm, the British actor, who does an unexpectedly great job as the owner of the red sauce place (Ian Holm playing an Italian? Yes, stunningly). Caring seriously about food does help one to appreciate this flick; I have never seen the preparation and serving of food presented so beautifully and lovingly in a movie. The final, wordless scene, in which a simple omelette is prepared and the brothers express their reconciliation, is, for me, one of the most eloquently poetic codas I have ever seen. This is a warm-hearted movie with a great deal of humor that rates an A+.
122 Reviews
Very touching, slowburning portrait of 2 Italian cooks who can only express their love for family through cooking. Forgotten gem!
imseeg24 November 2018
The story seems simple at first sight: an Italian restaurant is going under in debt. 2 Italian brothers excell at cooking, but are disastrous at selling their delicous food to the customers, who arent interested in culinary exotics. The further we stroll into the story however, the more we realise as viewers that this movie is more about the love and hate for family bonds. And cooking for your family is equal to showing your love.
There is a natural laid back rythm to this story, that is very mesmirizing. Some of the best moments are those in which nothing is said, when we only see 2 brothers eating and cooking together, in complete silence, symbolising their unspoken love for each other. That is a definite sign of great craftmanship, because there are very few directors who master this kind of story telling without using words.
The end credits mention special thanks to director Robert Altman. That credit goes to show that this movie is a bit more then just an amusing portrait about Italian family bonds. "Big Night" is a director's gem!
There is a natural laid back rythm to this story, that is very mesmirizing. Some of the best moments are those in which nothing is said, when we only see 2 brothers eating and cooking together, in complete silence, symbolising their unspoken love for each other. That is a definite sign of great craftmanship, because there are very few directors who master this kind of story telling without using words.
The end credits mention special thanks to director Robert Altman. That credit goes to show that this movie is a bit more then just an amusing portrait about Italian family bonds. "Big Night" is a director's gem!
Eat first!
Boyo-216 February 1999
This movie is fantastic. You feel like you are on the Jersey shore and can smell the sauce being cooked. Even Minnie Driver is great! Eat something first because the food consumed and prepared during the movie will have you drooling.
Such an ode to cuisine has never been this fun.
Mr-Fusion20 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
"Big Night" is sure to make you hungry, but that's just scratching this otherwise deceptively quiet little film's surface. The "art v. commerce" debate rages between Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci as they struggle to save their failing little Italian restaurant. But for such a modest affair, it's surprising how immersive this movie is in its period setting. The supporting cast is great, the dialogue is a blast, and the big meal is undeniably festive and infectious. Rossellin's bombshell towards the end still stings, while the showdown on the beach is just heartbreaking. But the final scene is just powerful enough to hit you right where you live.
And my god, the food. To watch these guys work is mesmerizing.
7/10
And my god, the food. To watch these guys work is mesmerizing.
7/10
A truly great "small" film...
tberardi127 January 2004
I can't even begin to explain how much I love this film. First, it may be one of the great "food movies" of all time. Anyone who considers him/herself a lover of good food and doesn't drool over the "timpano" alone should check their pulse... And the performances are remarkably restrained, yet lively. Stanley Tucci is sublime, Tony Shalhoub is, as always, a marvel. Truly interesting camerawork that draws one in, yet doesn't detract (or distract) from the story or the characters. Because, at its heart, this is a character-driven piece -- about the love and mutual respect shared by two strong-willed siblings. Someday I will take part in a feast like that shared by the characters in this film, and on that day, I will be an extraordinarily happy man. Until then, I'll watch this movie again and again.
A comedy about food
faraaj-114 September 2006
Big Night was one of the sleeper hits of 1996. A comedy starring an ensemble cast including the two directors Tucci and Campbell Scott, this is very much an actors movie. The script is funny at times and slow at others. All the scenes involving food and especially the ones with the chef Primo are great. The only let-down was the last twenty minutes where everything seemed to fall apart. The entire cast (especially the vastly underrated Campbell Scott) does a great job. There's a great scene with Minnie Driver in the sea coming out all wet - hot! Another great food movie I recall is Babette's Feast. That was more religion-drama and not comedy though. The style of this film is faintly reminiscent of Woody Allen. This film will appeal to all Louis Prima fans.
A great "little" film
Nog28 March 2006
After having looked over my reviews on IMDb, I noticed that only one of them was enthusiastic. That should be rectified, since I consider myself a big fan of cinema, and I choose as my second enthusiastic recommendation Big Night. This is one of those films that doesn't have to show off. It's a slice of life sort of thing going on here, with an assortment of people with strengths and faults, but who all value life's simple pleasures, like good food. It's a story about the underdogs , and their hopes and dreams and struggles -- some within reach, some not. It's got a good cast too. They all make it look easy, but they have a charming script and careful direction. I think Billy Wilder would have approved. At turns funny and touching, and the last scene -- several minutes without a word of dialogue -- is pure gold.
Little Movie with a Big Heart
evanston_dad17 June 2009
A low-key and highly entertaining indie comedy about two brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) trying to make a go of their Italian restaurant without losing their cultural identity in the process.
Shalhoub is the chef stuck on tradition, who refuses to compromise his culinary integrity for whiney customers; Tucci is the more reasonable and business savvy brother who understands the need to change with the times. The acting is good all around, and the the food in the film looks so good I guarantee you will be starving before it is over.
Also with Minnie Driver, Ian Holm and Isabella Rossellini.
Grade: A-
Shalhoub is the chef stuck on tradition, who refuses to compromise his culinary integrity for whiney customers; Tucci is the more reasonable and business savvy brother who understands the need to change with the times. The acting is good all around, and the the food in the film looks so good I guarantee you will be starving before it is over.
Also with Minnie Driver, Ian Holm and Isabella Rossellini.
Grade: A-
Beautiful film that has it all.
thehumanduvet1 March 2000
This is just amazing, quite unlike any other "american" film I ever saw; a gentle, bittersweet tale of frustrated dreams and artistic integrity, an hilarious comedy of manners performed by an outstanding international cast, a touching blend of awkward romance and the central relationship between the two brothers, brilliantly portrayed by co-creator Tucci and Hollywood's "every-foreigner", the sublime Tony Shalhoub. Big Night dragged me through wider range of emotions than any other movie, it made me want to dance and sing during the party scene (Mambo Italiano), made me laugh out loud at the wacky characters sprinkled throughout, made me angry with the philistines and money-grabbing capitalists who spoil the brothers' dream, made me want to hug Shalhoub's shy gastronomic genius Primo as he tried so clumsily to chat up his flower-girl; the food looked simply amazing, Minnie Driver splashing around in the sea was at her most gorgeous, every actor played their brilliantly scripted part to perfection and the scene at the end with the omelette is the most beautiful and poignant ending I could ever hope to see. All in all this film is one of the best ever made and everyone in the world and especially in Hollywood should be forced to watch it every week until they get some humanity back in them. But not on an empty stomache, get some snacks in first eh.
a food-porn interspersed with fraternal clashes
lasttimeisaw4 October 2017
Little seems to know that our beloved screen-chameleon Stanley Tucci has a low-profile director career, with five features under his belt to this day, which all started with BIG NIGHT, a food-porn interspersed with fraternal clashes, co-directed with his high-school friend Campbell Scott.
Tucci is a formidable triple-threat in the picture, apart from taking credit in the script department, he plays the central character Secondo ("second" in Italian), an Italian immigrant in New Jersey in the 1950s, he opens a restaurant called Paradise with his perfectionist elder brother Primo (for sure, it means "first" in Italian, played by Shalhoub), who is a chief par excellence but cannot deign himself to accommodate the eclectic American taste, for him, it is the "rape" of the love of his life. Therefore, the business is gloomy, as the manager, Secondo is equipped with street smart and intent to sink his teeth into making good in the promise land. The titular "big night" is game- changer vouchsafed by their benevolent competitor Pascal (Holm), who runs an eponymous restaurant nearby with success (first you cook what the customers want, and after that you can teach them what to eat!). Financially strapped, the brothers go for broke and organize a lavish banquet to entertain the popular singer Louis Prima as their last resort, but, there is a catch, is Pascal's deed really altruistic, does he have an axe to grind?
Although both Tucci and Shalhoub's strained American accents cannot escape a born-and-raised Italian ear (not this reviewer anyhow), the performances are barnstorming: Tucci turns head in his no-holds-barred incarnation of someone who is at once aspirant and frustrated, self-deceiving and delectably sympathetic (albeit his bed-hopping habit and an eye-rolling treatment of being caught red-handed near the end); Shalhoub, on the other hand, constrains himself to evince a more ambivalent timber of Primo, whose presence is often waffling between being stubbornly selfish (claiming he is unable to make a sacrifice, but the truth is, he just doesn't want to do something degrading his bloated ego, it is never about Italian gastronomy, he is too afraid to be a fish out of water) and so ineptly reticent (with his capacity of English lexicon wavering implausibly in between different scenes, and a bonhomous Allison Janney is criminally underutilized as his possible love interest); but the true unsung hero in the movie is Ian Holm, who gives a fantastically Janus-faced impersonation peppered with either effervescence or stolidness. Unfortunately, the film fails to pass the Bechdel test, yet between Minnie Driver's lackadaisical girlfriend and Isabella Rossellini's sultry lover, Secondo's two-timing subplot cannot outstrip the consanguineous squabble and affinity.
By and large, BIG NIGHT is an effusive ethnographic study of Italians in America garnished with a profusion of music, gusto and humor, also gets to the bottom of the soi-disant American Dream with a bitter-sweet introspection, although with its closing long-take brazening out the life-goes- on truism, the ending seems to make a virtue out of necessity, why not leave us something more concrete to chew over after the rolling credits, or are the filmmakers simply running out of ideas to consummate a less self-aware culmination? The jury is out there.
Tucci is a formidable triple-threat in the picture, apart from taking credit in the script department, he plays the central character Secondo ("second" in Italian), an Italian immigrant in New Jersey in the 1950s, he opens a restaurant called Paradise with his perfectionist elder brother Primo (for sure, it means "first" in Italian, played by Shalhoub), who is a chief par excellence but cannot deign himself to accommodate the eclectic American taste, for him, it is the "rape" of the love of his life. Therefore, the business is gloomy, as the manager, Secondo is equipped with street smart and intent to sink his teeth into making good in the promise land. The titular "big night" is game- changer vouchsafed by their benevolent competitor Pascal (Holm), who runs an eponymous restaurant nearby with success (first you cook what the customers want, and after that you can teach them what to eat!). Financially strapped, the brothers go for broke and organize a lavish banquet to entertain the popular singer Louis Prima as their last resort, but, there is a catch, is Pascal's deed really altruistic, does he have an axe to grind?
Although both Tucci and Shalhoub's strained American accents cannot escape a born-and-raised Italian ear (not this reviewer anyhow), the performances are barnstorming: Tucci turns head in his no-holds-barred incarnation of someone who is at once aspirant and frustrated, self-deceiving and delectably sympathetic (albeit his bed-hopping habit and an eye-rolling treatment of being caught red-handed near the end); Shalhoub, on the other hand, constrains himself to evince a more ambivalent timber of Primo, whose presence is often waffling between being stubbornly selfish (claiming he is unable to make a sacrifice, but the truth is, he just doesn't want to do something degrading his bloated ego, it is never about Italian gastronomy, he is too afraid to be a fish out of water) and so ineptly reticent (with his capacity of English lexicon wavering implausibly in between different scenes, and a bonhomous Allison Janney is criminally underutilized as his possible love interest); but the true unsung hero in the movie is Ian Holm, who gives a fantastically Janus-faced impersonation peppered with either effervescence or stolidness. Unfortunately, the film fails to pass the Bechdel test, yet between Minnie Driver's lackadaisical girlfriend and Isabella Rossellini's sultry lover, Secondo's two-timing subplot cannot outstrip the consanguineous squabble and affinity.
By and large, BIG NIGHT is an effusive ethnographic study of Italians in America garnished with a profusion of music, gusto and humor, also gets to the bottom of the soi-disant American Dream with a bitter-sweet introspection, although with its closing long-take brazening out the life-goes- on truism, the ending seems to make a virtue out of necessity, why not leave us something more concrete to chew over after the rolling credits, or are the filmmakers simply running out of ideas to consummate a less self-aware culmination? The jury is out there.
Culturally Rich Slice of Life
jzappa13 May 2007
Big Night is a peaceful joy to watch because its themes and the overall feeling of the film is so normal. The characters, so beautifully rich, are realistic and so are their problems. The characters are mainly wonderfully, infectiously bombastic Italians, and entire scenes are sometimes constructed of the process of making Italian food from scratch. The subtlety and unaffronting reality of these qualities are so endearing to me. In fact, the scene that leaves an imprint on me more than any of the others, despite how fun it is to see the actors have a blast playing fiery, thick-mustachioed men with heavy Italian accents, is a scene that hardly has a connection with any of the others. An Italian ballad is playing over the soundtrack through the previous scene and continues into this scene, wherein Marc Anthony, playing a low-level restaurant bus boy, a small, quiet, incidental character, begins dancing with himself as he mops the floor of the restaurant. When other characters enter, the music, coming from nowhere but the film's soundtrack itself, cuts off and he continues mopping the floor as if the dancing never happened. It's so touching for that scene to have been slipped in, giving a person who is only against the background of everyone's lives a dreamy, sensitive personality that he keeps to himself.
The focal point of the film is the chemistry between the characters of Stanley Tucci, playing a hard-working, pleading, frustrated restaurant owner, whose head carries only logic and a goal for success, and Tony Shalhoub, his brother, whose aggressive passion is for the food he cooks and the mystery and subtext within it, yet his interaction with people is painfully shy. Their clashes of pride, their battles with each other's completely different perspectives, and yet their sharing of the same dream are what drives the story.
A lot of the film's humor comes from the hilarity of Ian Holm. Ian Holm, a stiff-limbed Englishman, plays here a loud, very animated, hot-tempered Italian entrepreneur with a seamless and wonderfully entertaining delivery of an Italian accent and Italian movements. It's my favorite performance of his because I had never before imagined that he would play a role like this.
Big Night is not a masterpiece nor do I think it was even meant to be one, but what it is is subtle and interesting for purely human reasons. It's soundtrack is also a fantastic celebration of Italian music.
The focal point of the film is the chemistry between the characters of Stanley Tucci, playing a hard-working, pleading, frustrated restaurant owner, whose head carries only logic and a goal for success, and Tony Shalhoub, his brother, whose aggressive passion is for the food he cooks and the mystery and subtext within it, yet his interaction with people is painfully shy. Their clashes of pride, their battles with each other's completely different perspectives, and yet their sharing of the same dream are what drives the story.
A lot of the film's humor comes from the hilarity of Ian Holm. Ian Holm, a stiff-limbed Englishman, plays here a loud, very animated, hot-tempered Italian entrepreneur with a seamless and wonderfully entertaining delivery of an Italian accent and Italian movements. It's my favorite performance of his because I had never before imagined that he would play a role like this.
Big Night is not a masterpiece nor do I think it was even meant to be one, but what it is is subtle and interesting for purely human reasons. It's soundtrack is also a fantastic celebration of Italian music.
A multiple course feast for the film fan
homefan3 January 2003
A multiple course feast for the film fan. A great cast. A simple story that leaves just enough unsaid. A great soundtrack. Beautiful cinematography. Some great lines. 7.5/10. This was my 2nd viewing of the movie, with the first viewing quite a few years ago.
Warning - don't watch this movie if you're hungry. Anyone that loves Italian food, will love the talk and images of the meals that are created throughout the movie. If only we had the technology to truly capture the aromas of the food, then the only thing missing would be to actually be on the set and taste it all.
I also found it also rather sexy. I won't comment on the appeal of the suave Italian lead men, but the ladies were just beautiful. A couple of my favourites Isabella Rossellini and Minnie Driver grab lots of sexy shots and the early role from Allison Janney is a pleasant surprise. Like other movies centered around food, the food itself adds to the sex appeal of the movie.
Best line of the movie - "what's the matter?...my Mother was such a terrible cook". The small part of the car salesman played by Campbell Scott contributes more than its fair share of great lines, incl..."beautiful place though, Italy...yes it is, have you been?...no, never".
I've had the soundtrack for quite some time and I use it to accompany activity in the kitchen or dinner music, but I got a better appreciation of it seeing it in the context of the movie again.
The movie conjures up feelings of passion, perseverance, love and pride, as well as providing glimpses of a deeper understanding and appreciation for the human heart. Great movie, probably a keeper.
Warning - don't watch this movie if you're hungry. Anyone that loves Italian food, will love the talk and images of the meals that are created throughout the movie. If only we had the technology to truly capture the aromas of the food, then the only thing missing would be to actually be on the set and taste it all.
I also found it also rather sexy. I won't comment on the appeal of the suave Italian lead men, but the ladies were just beautiful. A couple of my favourites Isabella Rossellini and Minnie Driver grab lots of sexy shots and the early role from Allison Janney is a pleasant surprise. Like other movies centered around food, the food itself adds to the sex appeal of the movie.
Best line of the movie - "what's the matter?...my Mother was such a terrible cook". The small part of the car salesman played by Campbell Scott contributes more than its fair share of great lines, incl..."beautiful place though, Italy...yes it is, have you been?...no, never".
I've had the soundtrack for quite some time and I use it to accompany activity in the kitchen or dinner music, but I got a better appreciation of it seeing it in the context of the movie again.
The movie conjures up feelings of passion, perseverance, love and pride, as well as providing glimpses of a deeper understanding and appreciation for the human heart. Great movie, probably a keeper.
Uh, oh. It's one of *those* movies
pappythesailor8 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
About 45 minutes into this movie, you start to realize this is one of *those* movies. It's one of those movies that never really gets started, then you realize, it's not going to tell you the story you want. Then you realize, it's not going to tell you any story whatsoever. You care about the characters; you want them to succeed, you'd even be willing to see them fail but in the end you're left with questions about what it all means. What happens now? It's all very unsatisfying. Sort of like smelling the food but never getting to eat it.
Why did they open a restaurant across from another, wildly successful Italian restaurant?
Why did they open a restaurant across from another, wildly successful Italian restaurant?
The crisis of immigration
Corail13 March 2002
I just need to mention that this is my friend's review that I wanted, with his permission, to share with you. I believe his meticulous view has discovered a veiled aspect which most of us have missed.
MR
********
`Big Night' is a movie not so much about food and Italian cuisine but rather about cultural encounter and identity crises that most immigrants face upon their arrival in the new homeland.
The story cleverly unfolds the multi-personalities of an immigrant's character in a metaphorical representation. A character that is overwhelmed in a fierce inner struggle, constantly striving to reach a desired compromised. The big night is a milestone in an eventful and often chaotic journey. It's a moment for close encounter with reality.
The movie is about two brothers, Italian immigrants, trying to run ` Paradise' a gourmet restaurant. Primo is an uncompromising chef, who wishes to educate Americans to appreciate `The Real Italian Food'. Despite the obvious failure of their business, he stubbornly defies his customers' conception of Italian food. He simply cannot stand it when, a customer wants her risotto, painstakingly prepared seafood, with spaghetti and meatballs, and he calls her a `Philistine'.
While the brothers are battling for survival, Pascal, another Italian immigrant one generation older, runs a busy restaurant that fulfills the American conception of Italian food. Pascal is the kind of immigrant who has a clear mission statement. He is here to do business.
Secondo, the younger brother, who is in charge of management and accounting tries to convince his brother to give in and accept the business realities. He is in favor of changes to save the `Paradise'.
Primo the gifted chef, Secondo the manager who wants to run his business with the Rules of the Game, and finally Christian that mysteriously and quietly is there for the brothers in times of need, all are three aspects of the same person. A person lost and exhausted in the `Paradise'. Torn apart between Pascal who runs an enormously successful Italian restaurant across the street and Alberto the isolated barber who preserved his old social values.
The Movie begins with a scene that shows Christian in deep thought looking at the sea. We will see him often around the brothers throughout the movie. He hardly says anything. However, his presence has a mysterious significance yet unrevealed. Perhaps, an aspect of the immigrants' character that is more fundamental than the ones affected by cultural differences.
Primo represents that side of the immigrant that's terrified by the might of the new culture and the impending changes that eventually unravel. He is reserved, strongly opinionated and scared that he may lose it all in this journey and end up `eaten up' by the new culture.
Secondo shows us the willingness of the immigrant for discovery, understanding and adaptation to the new social values. He looks up to Pascal for advice and, as Gabriella (Pascal's mistress) puts it, sees him as a `lighthouse' in a raging sea.
The night of the feast is an important milestone in this evolutionary process. It is an opportunity for Primo to show us what he possesses and how precious those possessions are. At the same time, it's a moment to face the reality that `Paradise' is in trouble and without a compromise it won't make it.
The film ends with Secondo, Christian and Primo eating three scrambled eggs the morning after the big night. Scrambled eggs and bread, a basic food in both cultures, implying a retreat to a common ground, for further evaluation and perhaps some adjustments. The movie, quite appropriately, doesn't reveal the direction that our immigrants will take. However, it beautifully displays the quiet coexistence of three personalities in a more persuasive journey!
I wonder if `the Big Night' is an adaptation of Freudian Psychoanalysis. If so could you identify `Id', ` Ego' and `superego'?
SR
MR
********
`Big Night' is a movie not so much about food and Italian cuisine but rather about cultural encounter and identity crises that most immigrants face upon their arrival in the new homeland.
The story cleverly unfolds the multi-personalities of an immigrant's character in a metaphorical representation. A character that is overwhelmed in a fierce inner struggle, constantly striving to reach a desired compromised. The big night is a milestone in an eventful and often chaotic journey. It's a moment for close encounter with reality.
The movie is about two brothers, Italian immigrants, trying to run ` Paradise' a gourmet restaurant. Primo is an uncompromising chef, who wishes to educate Americans to appreciate `The Real Italian Food'. Despite the obvious failure of their business, he stubbornly defies his customers' conception of Italian food. He simply cannot stand it when, a customer wants her risotto, painstakingly prepared seafood, with spaghetti and meatballs, and he calls her a `Philistine'.
While the brothers are battling for survival, Pascal, another Italian immigrant one generation older, runs a busy restaurant that fulfills the American conception of Italian food. Pascal is the kind of immigrant who has a clear mission statement. He is here to do business.
Secondo, the younger brother, who is in charge of management and accounting tries to convince his brother to give in and accept the business realities. He is in favor of changes to save the `Paradise'.
Primo the gifted chef, Secondo the manager who wants to run his business with the Rules of the Game, and finally Christian that mysteriously and quietly is there for the brothers in times of need, all are three aspects of the same person. A person lost and exhausted in the `Paradise'. Torn apart between Pascal who runs an enormously successful Italian restaurant across the street and Alberto the isolated barber who preserved his old social values.
The Movie begins with a scene that shows Christian in deep thought looking at the sea. We will see him often around the brothers throughout the movie. He hardly says anything. However, his presence has a mysterious significance yet unrevealed. Perhaps, an aspect of the immigrants' character that is more fundamental than the ones affected by cultural differences.
Primo represents that side of the immigrant that's terrified by the might of the new culture and the impending changes that eventually unravel. He is reserved, strongly opinionated and scared that he may lose it all in this journey and end up `eaten up' by the new culture.
Secondo shows us the willingness of the immigrant for discovery, understanding and adaptation to the new social values. He looks up to Pascal for advice and, as Gabriella (Pascal's mistress) puts it, sees him as a `lighthouse' in a raging sea.
The night of the feast is an important milestone in this evolutionary process. It is an opportunity for Primo to show us what he possesses and how precious those possessions are. At the same time, it's a moment to face the reality that `Paradise' is in trouble and without a compromise it won't make it.
The film ends with Secondo, Christian and Primo eating three scrambled eggs the morning after the big night. Scrambled eggs and bread, a basic food in both cultures, implying a retreat to a common ground, for further evaluation and perhaps some adjustments. The movie, quite appropriately, doesn't reveal the direction that our immigrants will take. However, it beautifully displays the quiet coexistence of three personalities in a more persuasive journey!
I wonder if `the Big Night' is an adaptation of Freudian Psychoanalysis. If so could you identify `Id', ` Ego' and `superego'?
SR
Enjoyable family drama that has aged well
BigJimNoFool29 June 2020
First can i say the film must be applauded for letting us witness a man make an omlette in real time.....an astounding piece of cinematic history surely.
Anyway the film is very enjoyable look at the relationship of two Italian immigrant brothers who are in the food trade and are struggling. Excellent performances all round and well realised characters.
Anyway the film is very enjoyable look at the relationship of two Italian immigrant brothers who are in the food trade and are struggling. Excellent performances all round and well realised characters.
Brotherly love
rosscinema14 May 2003
Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci are good friends in real life and together they made this delicious gem. Tucci plays Secondo who along with his brother Primo (Tony Shalhoub) run a restaurant named the Paradise. Primo is a genius as a chef but they are on the verge of going out of business so Secondo goes down the street to a very popular place run by an acquaintance named Pascal (Ian Holm) and Secondo asks for a loan. Pascal doesn't give it to him but decides to help him by having singer Louis Prima come to their restaurant with the press knowing he's coming also. Their restaurant will become famous when its mentioned in the paper so the two brothers plan a big night with special meals. Secondo invites his girlfriend Phyllis (Minnie Driver) and Primo wants to invite the flower shop woman Ann (Allison Janney) but is to shy. Secondo helps him out by inviting her. This is another enjoyable film where food is the common component that enables them to communicate. The food and its preparation is the art of the film. Watching Primo prepare meals is a real spectacle to behold. He really does come across as a great chef, there is no doubt as you watch this. But at the core of this film is the love and respect of Secondo and Primo as brothers. Even when they argue it is done with mutual respect. Yes, they get furious but at no real time do we get the feeling that they will walk away from one another. Scott and Tucci have created a wonderful blend of food and love and its the relationship between the two brothers that is the key here. Secondo is having problems committing to Phyllis and while its an important part of the film, its not the main focus. Janney adds just the right touch as Ann and you can understand the awe that she feels when she watches Primo at work and can witness his skill first hand. Tucci and Shalhoub shine in their roles and together they bring a very good film up another notch! This film also does a believable job of recreating the time period that the film is suppose to take place in. When people ask me for a good film to rent I always think of this one. Its a real gem.
A Gourmet Italian Feast For the Eyes
EmperorNortonII29 December 2005
"Big Night" could be called a gourmet movie. It's the story of two Italian brothers, Primo and Secondo, who run a failing restaurant in New Jersey. The food is excellent, but it's too sophisticated for the locals' taste. They might have to close their doors, but first, they plan a huge dinner, expecting Louis Prima and his band. It's a movie with lots of heart. Many scenes are rich in emotion, even when the characters have no dialogue. Tony Shalhoub gives an intense performance as Primo, the chef who always strives for perfection in haute cuisine. The food seems to become a character in itself, particularly the pasta colossus, the timpano. "Big Night" is the kind of movie you wish you could taste!
The Movie IS the Meal
noodlesalad-953-36141324 March 2018
Why write a review for a movie that's over twenty years old? Primarily because of the number of reviews that don't seem to appreciate what the movie really is. Even many of the positive reviews unwittingly consign it to the purgatory of "food movie," warning potential viewers not to watch it on an empty stomach, but this quiet, deceptively simple film contains the layers, complexity, and hidden surprises of a timpano, the grand, stuffed main course of the meal at the center of the picture.
Layer One: Food. Even though it is more than a food movie, let's not rush past that part too quickly. The central event of the story is a meal prepared for celebrity guest Louis Prima, whose anticipated presence promises to save the struggling restaurant of the brothers we know simply as Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci). Primo takes his food seriously and so should we. Every shot of it is beautiful and fills the viewer with longing and desperation at not being able to smell and taste every enticing course, even when another bite doesn't seem possible! Layer Two: Fraternity. The relationship between Primo and Secondo is anything but easy, and as is often the case with those closest to us, the thing each brother values in the other is the very thing that drives him crazy. Primo's uncompromising commitment to his art is, at least in aspiring businessman Secondo's view, the reason why they are struggling, in comparison to nearby competitor Pascal (Ian Holm) whose circus of Italian culinary cliches is full every night. Tucci's ability to capture that quiet desperation of a man torn between family and success rings true with anyone who's felt the competing pressure to succeed and remain true to oneself. Layer Three: Creativity. How does one whose only goal is to make something beautiful succeed in this world? What if no one else appreciates that beauty? What if the compromises one must make to produce that art risk the soul of the artist? There aren't a lot of interviews about this movie wandering around the internet, but I suspect that for Tucci, who co-wrote and directed the picture with Campbell Scott, this was a driving passion behind the movie in the first place. Primo's commitment sets up much of the movie's comedy-from railing against a patron who wants a side of spaghetti with her risotto to mocking his brother's suggestion of removing said risotto from the menu altogether. But here too is the bitterness of the picture. The older brother is free to pursue his art, generally unencumbered by concerns about how well it sells, but we see the cost of such purity in his brother's humiliating visit to their lender and the frantic, last-ditch attempt to save the restaurant via the titular event. Layer Four: American Culture. On one level Primo's is the quest of every artist, but the promise of the American dream drives-at some points, literally-the whole movie. We never see the two brothers leaving behind the old world (although it is present in the movie). We never see them getting off the boat or hear the discussions that motivated the trip in the first place, although we get the distinct impression that this was Secondo's project from the beginning. But the promise of America that the film suggests seems to be one where the only path to success is to become the version of you that the culture is prepared to accept-the stereotype, the cliche, who serves meatballs with all spaghetti and doesn't blink twice placing a plate of risotto alongside.
Without divulging too much, there is another meal after the main one. But what's most striking about it is its simplicity-both in content and in form. It was on my second viewing that I got a sense of the thought behind the film and the injustice that it doesn't have a bigger following, but maybe that's just the cost of art in America.
N.B. There was another reason for the timing of this review: the impending release of Tucci's The Last Portrait. If it's anything close to the quality of Big Night, we should all be buying a ticket.
Layer One: Food. Even though it is more than a food movie, let's not rush past that part too quickly. The central event of the story is a meal prepared for celebrity guest Louis Prima, whose anticipated presence promises to save the struggling restaurant of the brothers we know simply as Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci). Primo takes his food seriously and so should we. Every shot of it is beautiful and fills the viewer with longing and desperation at not being able to smell and taste every enticing course, even when another bite doesn't seem possible! Layer Two: Fraternity. The relationship between Primo and Secondo is anything but easy, and as is often the case with those closest to us, the thing each brother values in the other is the very thing that drives him crazy. Primo's uncompromising commitment to his art is, at least in aspiring businessman Secondo's view, the reason why they are struggling, in comparison to nearby competitor Pascal (Ian Holm) whose circus of Italian culinary cliches is full every night. Tucci's ability to capture that quiet desperation of a man torn between family and success rings true with anyone who's felt the competing pressure to succeed and remain true to oneself. Layer Three: Creativity. How does one whose only goal is to make something beautiful succeed in this world? What if no one else appreciates that beauty? What if the compromises one must make to produce that art risk the soul of the artist? There aren't a lot of interviews about this movie wandering around the internet, but I suspect that for Tucci, who co-wrote and directed the picture with Campbell Scott, this was a driving passion behind the movie in the first place. Primo's commitment sets up much of the movie's comedy-from railing against a patron who wants a side of spaghetti with her risotto to mocking his brother's suggestion of removing said risotto from the menu altogether. But here too is the bitterness of the picture. The older brother is free to pursue his art, generally unencumbered by concerns about how well it sells, but we see the cost of such purity in his brother's humiliating visit to their lender and the frantic, last-ditch attempt to save the restaurant via the titular event. Layer Four: American Culture. On one level Primo's is the quest of every artist, but the promise of the American dream drives-at some points, literally-the whole movie. We never see the two brothers leaving behind the old world (although it is present in the movie). We never see them getting off the boat or hear the discussions that motivated the trip in the first place, although we get the distinct impression that this was Secondo's project from the beginning. But the promise of America that the film suggests seems to be one where the only path to success is to become the version of you that the culture is prepared to accept-the stereotype, the cliche, who serves meatballs with all spaghetti and doesn't blink twice placing a plate of risotto alongside.
Without divulging too much, there is another meal after the main one. But what's most striking about it is its simplicity-both in content and in form. It was on my second viewing that I got a sense of the thought behind the film and the injustice that it doesn't have a bigger following, but maybe that's just the cost of art in America.
N.B. There was another reason for the timing of this review: the impending release of Tucci's The Last Portrait. If it's anything close to the quality of Big Night, we should all be buying a ticket.
Good, but not as good as I expected
Rumples14 January 1999
I was a bit disappointed in this movie, I guess my expectations had been built up a bit by what I'd heard and read about this film. It is a clever, well produced movie - no question. However, it is also quite slow, and has no real resolution. In the end, all I can say is that it feels like a waste - of a clever idea, of good writing, of a very talented cast - because nothing really happened. Worth a watch but not worth the 7.8 or so it's currently rated at. My vote: 7/10
A feast
SKG-219 March 1999
When the British film magazine Sight & Sound had one of their periodic times of asking critics to list what they thought were the best films ever made, there was a book which collected articles by several of them, one of whom said that if you were the type of person who didn't tear up at THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S, he didn't want to know you. I try to avoid that philosophy, but if I endorsed it, BIG NIGHT would be that type of film for me, a litmus test. This is a wonderful movie, and I usually am not a big fan of food movies. I thought BABETTE'S FEAST was too full of whimsy, and whimsy also bogged down the often good TAMPOPO(EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, it could be argued, was a relationship movie which happened to be set in the world of food, where the others are inextricably food movies). But this was wonderful.
Tucci and Scott said they studied a lot of film masters, and it shows here; there's nothing that screams "first film." Instead, they take their time telling the story, and setting up characters we care about, even Pascal, the rival restaurant owner. And a lesser movie wouldn't have had the scene between Isabella Rosellini and Minnie Driver which is quiet yet moving, like the rest of the movie. The food scenes live up to the hype, and that final scene is moving.
Tucci and Scott said they studied a lot of film masters, and it shows here; there's nothing that screams "first film." Instead, they take their time telling the story, and setting up characters we care about, even Pascal, the rival restaurant owner. And a lesser movie wouldn't have had the scene between Isabella Rosellini and Minnie Driver which is quiet yet moving, like the rest of the movie. The food scenes live up to the hype, and that final scene is moving.
Big fan of Big Night, the filmic equivalent of a thoroughly satisfying three course meal at an authentic local restaurant.
johnnyboyz12 August 2010
Big Night is a wonderfully well observed independent American film, from the mid 1990s, about identity; apparent class; honour; perseverance and the struggles in trying to integrate one's self to a foreign culture whilst desperately attempting to balance what you simultaneously are at heart. The film is a wonderful character piece; a film documenting cultures clashing and basic conventions of a particular field of culture, in this case: food, at the very forefront. Where the goal of the central characters is to attain the American Dream to a degree, the film covers the hardships in having to apparently let go one's traditional methods and forge new identities in a foreign territory as the supply and demands take on different forms.
The film documents the troubled times of two immigrant brothers from Italy, both of whom own a restaurant in 1950s New Jersey, and their misadventures in keeping the business afloat as the manifestation of their presence has an affect on those in and around the local area. The brothers are Primo (Shalhoub) and Secondo (Tucci), their food joint is named Paradise and proudly sells the best of local Italian cuisine of the home shores from whence they both come, local dishes as well as special ingredients that produce special dishes known only to their family name. They dress smartly and the interior of the restaurant is magnificent, our first meeting with Primo sees him make sure the individual chopping the garlic gets it spot on so as to slice it to a finely tuned degree, getting the most possible out of the exercise. The film's primary point of interest is the clash in cultures these Europeans find themselves at odds with when held up against the American standards of eating, epitomised early on by a Secondo jibe at the American's eating habits of whom he accuses of preferring hot-dogs, a supposedly cheap and nasty source of replenishment, over the glorious Risotto.
The brothers have very few customers, a local American couple early on sit in an empty restaurant and there is generally a sense of the couple getting mixed up in what they want; what they're ultimately ordering and the changes the female participant of the couple feels ought to be made to the dish she wants, thus highlighting the apparent ignorance the Americans possess as to what is considered by the central characters and the film itself as cuisine of a genuinely high order. Nearby lies Pascal's (Holm) restaurant, a place named after the man himself and as the brothers' business lies dormant in steady decline; Pascal serves all the junk food both parties seem to agree is as such, but said produce is what the Americans keep coming back for and is keeps Pascal's afloat. Primo and Secondo's own feeling is that buckling to the masses is unthinkable, and that serving such inadequate meals ought to be a crime against fine cuisine. We feel Holm's character shares similar sentiments and undergoes a degree of pain in his ultimate decision, but the temptation to be lead into submission to local demands thus eliminating any strain was apparently too great.
Whatever parallels you'd like to draw in relation to this very European and very foreign presence in America, and both the antithetical process and attitudes towards something that can be very fine, goes without apology. The Americans, whom seemingly can only appreciate complete crap in what they choose to venture out and indulge in, only come across as naive and dumbed-down as much the two brothers come across as stubborn and flawed themselves. Secondo maintains a relationship with Phyillis (Driver), but has an affair with the wife of Pascal himself named Gabriella (Rossellini) but the film is more about the relationship between two brothers and two cultures. The text might be read into as being anti-American in its labelling of them as idiots whom persistently seek the lowest form of whatever said cultural item; only rarely does an example break out of said cycle, in doing so the film portraying them as just hopelessly ill at ease with their now new surroundings. This, as the Europeans whom are humorously represented by way of the perfectionist; life-loving; life-affirming; intelligent and well dressed Italians, struggle to comprehend the mindsets of their newly acquainted neighbours and cousins after having been brought up on supremely nourishing, now apparently elitist, items. The restaurant itself sits perched on a precipice between a welcoming beach plus promise of the ocean and a bog-standard urban street full of stores, further highlighting how easy it is as to sway either side of the line in what you get in regards to beauty or more something commonplace; the brothers even have an artist come regularly to their place, the fact the man's an artist sees the film allow each party to share the same apparent 'elitist' space in the brother's restaurant, as the fact either of their roles to produce fine items around supposedly more main stream tastes is highlighted.
The big night from whence the title derives is the event the film builds to, Pascal proposing the visiting of a famous musician he's regularly in contact with to 'Paradise' might provide it with the leg-up in cash intake the place needs. The brothers gamble, producing all the specialised dishes they know for the huge crowd expected to turn up for the musical event; the food still taking second place to the event, remember, as the guarantee of razzmatazz and entertainment gets them in on a primary level just so that they may be able to have the opportunity to come to realise that finer, lesser mainstream things can be just as, if not more, enjoyable when given the chance. The cast do an immaculate job as these emotionally torn, financially struggling individuals with bonds to one another; their girlfriends; customers and rivals with the film displaying some wonderful writing in what is a wonderfully played out film.
The film documents the troubled times of two immigrant brothers from Italy, both of whom own a restaurant in 1950s New Jersey, and their misadventures in keeping the business afloat as the manifestation of their presence has an affect on those in and around the local area. The brothers are Primo (Shalhoub) and Secondo (Tucci), their food joint is named Paradise and proudly sells the best of local Italian cuisine of the home shores from whence they both come, local dishes as well as special ingredients that produce special dishes known only to their family name. They dress smartly and the interior of the restaurant is magnificent, our first meeting with Primo sees him make sure the individual chopping the garlic gets it spot on so as to slice it to a finely tuned degree, getting the most possible out of the exercise. The film's primary point of interest is the clash in cultures these Europeans find themselves at odds with when held up against the American standards of eating, epitomised early on by a Secondo jibe at the American's eating habits of whom he accuses of preferring hot-dogs, a supposedly cheap and nasty source of replenishment, over the glorious Risotto.
The brothers have very few customers, a local American couple early on sit in an empty restaurant and there is generally a sense of the couple getting mixed up in what they want; what they're ultimately ordering and the changes the female participant of the couple feels ought to be made to the dish she wants, thus highlighting the apparent ignorance the Americans possess as to what is considered by the central characters and the film itself as cuisine of a genuinely high order. Nearby lies Pascal's (Holm) restaurant, a place named after the man himself and as the brothers' business lies dormant in steady decline; Pascal serves all the junk food both parties seem to agree is as such, but said produce is what the Americans keep coming back for and is keeps Pascal's afloat. Primo and Secondo's own feeling is that buckling to the masses is unthinkable, and that serving such inadequate meals ought to be a crime against fine cuisine. We feel Holm's character shares similar sentiments and undergoes a degree of pain in his ultimate decision, but the temptation to be lead into submission to local demands thus eliminating any strain was apparently too great.
Whatever parallels you'd like to draw in relation to this very European and very foreign presence in America, and both the antithetical process and attitudes towards something that can be very fine, goes without apology. The Americans, whom seemingly can only appreciate complete crap in what they choose to venture out and indulge in, only come across as naive and dumbed-down as much the two brothers come across as stubborn and flawed themselves. Secondo maintains a relationship with Phyillis (Driver), but has an affair with the wife of Pascal himself named Gabriella (Rossellini) but the film is more about the relationship between two brothers and two cultures. The text might be read into as being anti-American in its labelling of them as idiots whom persistently seek the lowest form of whatever said cultural item; only rarely does an example break out of said cycle, in doing so the film portraying them as just hopelessly ill at ease with their now new surroundings. This, as the Europeans whom are humorously represented by way of the perfectionist; life-loving; life-affirming; intelligent and well dressed Italians, struggle to comprehend the mindsets of their newly acquainted neighbours and cousins after having been brought up on supremely nourishing, now apparently elitist, items. The restaurant itself sits perched on a precipice between a welcoming beach plus promise of the ocean and a bog-standard urban street full of stores, further highlighting how easy it is as to sway either side of the line in what you get in regards to beauty or more something commonplace; the brothers even have an artist come regularly to their place, the fact the man's an artist sees the film allow each party to share the same apparent 'elitist' space in the brother's restaurant, as the fact either of their roles to produce fine items around supposedly more main stream tastes is highlighted.
The big night from whence the title derives is the event the film builds to, Pascal proposing the visiting of a famous musician he's regularly in contact with to 'Paradise' might provide it with the leg-up in cash intake the place needs. The brothers gamble, producing all the specialised dishes they know for the huge crowd expected to turn up for the musical event; the food still taking second place to the event, remember, as the guarantee of razzmatazz and entertainment gets them in on a primary level just so that they may be able to have the opportunity to come to realise that finer, lesser mainstream things can be just as, if not more, enjoyable when given the chance. The cast do an immaculate job as these emotionally torn, financially struggling individuals with bonds to one another; their girlfriends; customers and rivals with the film displaying some wonderful writing in what is a wonderfully played out film.
Delicious
grantss30 March 2018
New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers, Primo and Secondo, run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food.
Wonderful movie. Warm, engaging drama with great character depth and development.
Great work by Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci in the lead roles. Good supporting performances, especially by Minnie Driver.
However, it is the food that steals the show. Looks fantastic and makes you hungry just looking at it.
Wonderful movie. Warm, engaging drama with great character depth and development.
Great work by Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci in the lead roles. Good supporting performances, especially by Minnie Driver.
However, it is the food that steals the show. Looks fantastic and makes you hungry just looking at it.
"To eat good food is to be close to God."
classicsoncall5 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It's not made clear in the story when it's all taking place, but going by Alberto's (Pasquale Cajano) barbershop prices of a quarter for a shave and seventy five cents for a haircut, I would guess around the 1960's. Hard to imagine how someone could make a living doing that, but those were different times. I had to wonder why the brothers opened an Italian restaurant right across the street from an established rival doing a brisk business, and if you think about it, it's not much of a surprise that Seco Pascal (Ian Holm) would give Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) a bum steer about Louie Prima showing up at their restaurant's big night. Most of the time Shaloub offers a quirky but likeable performance in his film portrayals but his character here struck me as mostly annoying, in as much he refused to see the practicality of his brother's approach to running a successful operation. I mean really, if he couldn't understand that three varieties of risotto as the main course on their menu might be a turn-off for the average customer, he shouldn't have been in the business. I don't mean to strike such a harsh tone because generally I liked the movie and the ancillary characters who flitted in and out of the story as the situations required. Secondo was a bit of a creep for cheating on his girlfriend (Minnie Driver) the way he did, which leaves me to consider that the most appealing character might have been Cristiano (Marc Anthony), the quiet and unassuming kitchen helper at the restaurant who found romance in dancing with his broom and being a support to the conflicted brothers. He managed to cheerfully stay above the fray through thick and thin.
Leaves a bland taste in your mouth
BradLacey2 February 2006
Ostensibly, there's nothing at all wrong with this film. It's nice enough - characters that you can (mostly) identify with, a wonderful sense of forgiving family that we all either have or wish we had, and some predictably humorous fish out of water moments as we watch our two Italian protagonists struggle to get along in the States.
But there's nothing really beyond that - the problems faced by the two brothers, Stanley Tucci (who also directed) and Tony Shalhoub, are the same we've seen time and time again. Tucci, playing the self-centered but occasionally "adorable" (well I think that's what he's aiming for) Secondo, cheats on his girlfriend and paces around depressingly, presumably too hung up on the monetary problems he faces when he and his brother's restaurant looks like going bottom up to care about much else. And his brother Primo, played by Shalhoub, is so little more than a device to elicit more sympathy for the familial pains that they must all surely be feeling - unfortunately, it's hit and miss at the best of times.
Instead, the film's only moments of real resonance come in the humorous asides of the communal gatherings in the restaurant itself, relying not on the chemistry of the two brothers, but instead on the audience's preconceived notions of family and community and the occasional joke that actually hits its target.
The film isn't bad for a lack of trying, and it credit is due for the fact that it manages to come together at all. But the more subtle moments - like the silent final shot of the film - tend to say far more than the scenes which are overwritten to do exactly that. Big Night is a reasonable time waster and its occasional moments of humour do enough to relieve the boredom that might otherwise set in, but for the most part it is as dull as its horribly unimaginative title forebodes.
If you want a real feel-good film that focuses on food but doesn't leave such a bland taste in your mouth, try Ang Lee's superb Eat Drink, Man Woman.
But there's nothing really beyond that - the problems faced by the two brothers, Stanley Tucci (who also directed) and Tony Shalhoub, are the same we've seen time and time again. Tucci, playing the self-centered but occasionally "adorable" (well I think that's what he's aiming for) Secondo, cheats on his girlfriend and paces around depressingly, presumably too hung up on the monetary problems he faces when he and his brother's restaurant looks like going bottom up to care about much else. And his brother Primo, played by Shalhoub, is so little more than a device to elicit more sympathy for the familial pains that they must all surely be feeling - unfortunately, it's hit and miss at the best of times.
Instead, the film's only moments of real resonance come in the humorous asides of the communal gatherings in the restaurant itself, relying not on the chemistry of the two brothers, but instead on the audience's preconceived notions of family and community and the occasional joke that actually hits its target.
The film isn't bad for a lack of trying, and it credit is due for the fact that it manages to come together at all. But the more subtle moments - like the silent final shot of the film - tend to say far more than the scenes which are overwritten to do exactly that. Big Night is a reasonable time waster and its occasional moments of humour do enough to relieve the boredom that might otherwise set in, but for the most part it is as dull as its horribly unimaginative title forebodes.
If you want a real feel-good film that focuses on food but doesn't leave such a bland taste in your mouth, try Ang Lee's superb Eat Drink, Man Woman.
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