No Reservations vs. Mostly Martha

I recently sat down to watch No Reservations not on its own merit, but because I had heard that it was based on one of my favorite movies of all time - Mostly Martha, a German film that came out in 2001. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Abigail Breslin star in No Reservations, and the plot is extremely close to the plot of Mostly Martha.

In both movies, the action starts with the main character (Catherine Zeta-Jones) describing a pheasant/pigeon dish to her psychiatrist. In the process, we begin to see an intelligent and talented chef with no social skills. She is obsessed with her work, because it is controllable. Enter tragedy. Her sister is driving to visit her and bringing her niece (Abigail Breslin). But they never make it, there is an accident, the chef’s sister is dead, and she is the new guardian of her nine year old niece. Needless to say drama is inevitable. In addition to this her soux chef at work is nine months pregnant, and the owner finds another chef (Aaron Eckhart) to come in to help. Her new chef is a free-spirit, and upsets her perfect existence. But through the sadness and hardship, you see the woman begins to embrace life though a love story and parenting.

Both movies were wonderful, No Reservations is active and vibrant, while Mostly Martha is more subtle and contemplative. My personal favorite is still Mostly Martha, but I don’t mind subtitles. For most of the people I would suggest No Reservations, there are slight changes to the plot, but mainly the way the movie is filmed is lighter and more palatable for most Americans.

Either one is a great girl movie, both are reasonably clean - there is only kissing shown, but more is implied so if you don’t want to explain to your kids why the man was at breakfast the next morning, don’t let them see the movie, otherwise its very harmless and fun.

Purchase No Reservations or Mostly Martha.

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