Director: Stephen Chbosky
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Linda Cardellini, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, Lorraine Bracco
Running Time: 114 minutes
Synopsis: Raised in a food-loving Brooklyn-based Italian family, transit worker Joe (Vince Vaughn) decides to honor his deceased mother by opening a restaurant and having the food prepared by actual Italian grandmothers, or nonnas. Joe's buddy Bruno (Joe Manganiello) helps with renovations, and Joe recruits his mother's best friend Roberta (Lorraine Bracco), hairdresser Gia (Susan Sarandon), former nun Teresa (Talia Shire), and Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro) to run the kitchen. He also reconnects with Antonella's neighbour Olivia (Linda Cardellini), who was his high school prom night date. Despite good intentions, transitioning from an idea to a successful business will not be easy.
What Works Well: Based on actual events, this is a heartwarming dream-turns-real story. Nostalgia, love of family, homeland traditions, and some spiky humour (the nonnas don't all necessarily always like each other) underpin Joe's unlikely aspirations to build and run a business from scratch. A glorious group of veteran actresses brings quality to the stovetops, and the script takes care to round the nonnas into real women with backstories, struggles, and disappointments worth sharing.
What Does Not Work As Well: This is an ultimately small-scale story that marches to familiar against-the-odds beats, with a foregone conclusion. The attempts to wring admittedly humorous tension out of Bologna versus Sicily hostilities and Joe's clashes with Bruno are never more than obvious narrative speed bumps.
Key Quote:
Teresa: We are strong women with Italian blood in us.
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