‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ Not Worth the Trip

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Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “The Hundred-Foot Journey” is as manufactured and flavorless as a frostbitten Lean Cuisine. However as the impresario of a Michelin-starred Restaurant in the south of France, Helen Mirren implores her staff that food is not an old tired marriage, it is a passionate affair. It’s ironic that the film containing that speech is such a limp, forgettable piece of Oprah endorsed uplift with not one genuine emotion to be had.

Director Lasse Hallstrom aims for the sort of light middlebrow European feature that goes down easy. He throws a little bit of everything into the mix, a dash of tragedy here, a pinch of love story, and the swelling music that goes along with those tugs on the heartstrings – but instead of creating a symphony of surprising flavors, his concoction never quite comes together.

At the center of it all is the Kadam clan, an Indian family of restaurateurs who leave their home in Mumbai after a personal tragedy and decide to start over in Europe. Their van breaks down in a small French village and they decide to open a restaurant right across the street from Mirren’s highbrow eatery. This sets off a culture clash between the loud, and proud Indian immigrants and the snooty French townspeople led by Mirren’s upper class restaurateur.

Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) and Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) in ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

Things really get saucy when Puri’s son Hassan (Manish Dayal) falls for Mirren’s sous chef (Charlotte Le Bon). She teaches him how to cook French food, and tells him the secrets of Mirren’s kitchen while he and his family struggle to change hearts and minds and open up the taste buds across the street. This eventually leads up to the film’s single silliest scene, and one of the silliest scenes of the year. It shows Hassan, his hands bandaged after a severe burn, sensually instructing Mirren how to make an omelet. The camera lingers on them as though they were Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp in Hallstrom’s previous food related feature “Chocolat.” Soon she takes him into her kitchen, sensing the kind of talent that could finally help her achieve the second Michelin star that has long been her goal.

Both Mirren and Om Puri – as the Kadam family patriarch – manage to fashion actual characters out of their underwritten roles, but Hallstrom frequently breaks up the proceedings with stunningly tin-eared attempts at comedy. The Kadam family itself seems imported from some other broad feature called “My Big Fat Indian Restaurant.” Hallstrom and screenwriter Steven Knight also seem to think it’s inherently funny to watch old people act like selfish children. Characters will fight over cell phones, or other objects like 2-year-olds reaching for the same toy and pratfalls arrive at almost mechanical intervals to break up whatever dramatic tension might have been built up.

Hassan (Manish Dayal) and Marguerite Are Cooking in ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

The characters also often speak in hushed reverence about the power of food, and there’s no doubt a special meal can awaken strong memories, strong personalities, and associations that go along with them. A curry, for instance, is said to contain the ghosts of the ingredients inside it, and the memories of those who have shared it with you – plus the food itself is lovingly and beautifully photographed. The main problem is that each and every plot point feels like it came out of a how-to-adapt-Oprah screenwriting manual. Even casual moviegoers know exactly what is around every turn.

The film’s rapid tonal shifts are enough to give you whiplash as it goes from romance in one moment, to pratfalls in another – with just a dash of a message about xenophobia sprinkled in for good measure. While Mirren and the rest of the cast never cease to be watchable, the romances never generate any real heat. The soggy sentiments are about as limp as an overcooked asparagus that’s been stuck in the kitchen too long.

By SPIKE WALTERS Contributor HollywoodChicago.com spike@hollywoodchicago.com