Last weekend, we went to see Kings of Pastry at a local theater. Unfortunately, it wasn't playing (despite the information to the contrary on their website), so we ended up seeing Today's Special. This is a movie centered around a young Indian man named Samir, who is a sous-chef at a high-end New York City restaurant. His mom's mad at him because he's not married. His dad's mad at him because he's not a successful doctor like his deceased brother was. And then he loses out on a job as head chef because his cooking has gone stale. Just about then, he ends up in a cab with a driver who claims to have cooked for the Gandhis and who gives him a business card with nothing but the driver's name on it. Then his dad has a heart attack and can no longer run his own restaurant, a failing Indian place where the only attraction (apparently) it the free papadum. Instead of going to France as he planned Samir is forced to run Dad's place.
"Predictable" doesn't begin to describe this movie. Given the above, you could maybe come up with some plot twists that would add interest, but the writers here made a concerted effort to avoid anything of the kind. The conflict between Samir and his dad is nothing you haven't seen before. When a cute blonde co-worker appears in an early scene, she doesn't have to say a word for you to know that she and Samir will be an item by the end of the flick. When the taxi driver gives Samir his card, you know that he will end up being the fairy godfather who changes Samir's life. Indeed, he teaches Samir how to cook "from the heart", using his sense of smell and taste rather than relying only on recipes, thus singlehandedly rescuing Samir's career, his dad's restaurant, and the relationship between Samir and his father. This brings up another criticism: How could Samir have risen to the level of sous-chef of a prominent NYC restaurant without understanding how ingredients go together from an intuitive standpoint? This struck me as being even more contrived than the rest of the film.
That's not to say the movie is without its good points. Aasif Mandvi is charming in the role of Samir and Naseeruddin Shah is very charismatic as Akbar the Magic Cab Driver. There are some colorful supporting characters and we didn't walk out of the theater feeling depressed or unhappy (except possibly at the thought of spending $9 to see this). If you're stuck on an airplane and just need to watch something brainless to pass the time, you could do much worse.