Primo and Secondo, two brothers from Italy, have a restaurant in New Jersey in the 1950s which is failing. Primo (Shalhoub) is a wizard of the kitchen, an artist with the highest standards; Secondo (Tucci), who does more of the table waiting, realizes the importance of meeting the clientele partway. Rival businessman Pascal (Ian Holm) gives the people what they want in his highly successful but mediocre restaurant, thereby earning the brothers' envy and disdain, but he volunteers to help them out by telling his friend, the popular jazz musician Louis Prima, to drop by their place. The brothers gamble the fate of their entire business on this "big night." Minnie Driver and Isabella Rossellini have small supporting roles as girlfriends (of Secondo and Pascal, respectively), and Allison Janney (CJ on "The West Wing") may also be glimpsed in a small role. This truly lovely film -- gentle and bittersweet -- was a sleeper hit among film connoisseurs in 1996-97.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
