Big Night (1996)

No movie has ever loved food as much as Big Night, and since food is a passion of mine, it's not hard to see why this is my favorite movie. It's like it was made just for me, with themes of art vs. commerce, immigrants trying to make it in a new place, sibling rivalry, relationship drama, and much more. It touches on a lot of things I find fascinating. I especially enjoy the showing of little things like the fact that spaghetti and meatballs is something that doesn't exist in Italian culture, so it's not on the menu at the real Italian restaurant, but go to the much more successful Italian-American joint up the street and literally every table has spaghetti and meatballs on it because it's a popular Italian-American dish.

It's an underseen movie, but one whose reputation grows year after year, with good reason.

Fmovies: Why write a review for a movie that's over twenty years old? Primarily because of the number of reviews that don't seem to appreciate what the movie really is. Even many of the positive reviews unwittingly consign it to the purgatory of "food movie," warning potential viewers not to watch it on an empty stomach, but this quiet, deceptively simple film contains the layers, complexity, and hidden surprises of a timpano, the grand, stuffed main course of the meal at the center of the picture.

Layer One: Food. Even though it is more than a food movie, let's not rush past that part too quickly. The central event of the story is a meal prepared for celebrity guest Louis Prima, whose anticipated presence promises to save the struggling restaurant of the brothers we know simply as Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci). Primo takes his food seriously and so should we. Every shot of it is beautiful and fills the viewer with longing and desperation at not being able to smell and taste every enticing course, even when another bite doesn't seem possible! Layer Two: Fraternity. The relationship between Primo and Secondo is anything but easy, and as is often the case with those closest to us, the thing each brother values in the other is the very thing that drives him crazy. Primo's uncompromising commitment to his art is, at least in aspiring businessman Secondo's view, the reason why they are struggling, in comparison to nearby competitor Pascal (Ian Holm) whose circus of Italian culinary cliches is full every night. Tucci's ability to capture that quiet desperation of a man torn between family and success rings true with anyone who's felt the competing pressure to succeed and remain true to oneself. Layer Three: Creativity. How does one whose only goal is to make something beautiful succeed in this world? What if no one else appreciates that beauty? What if the compromises one must make to produce that art risk the soul of the artist? There aren't a lot of interviews about this movie wandering around the internet, but I suspect that for Tucci, who co-wrote and directed the picture with Campbell Scott, this was a driving passion behind the movie in the first place. Primo's commitment sets up much of the movie's comedy-from railing against a patron who wants a side of spaghetti with her risotto to mocking his brother's suggestion of removing said risotto from the menu altogether. But here too is the bitterness of the picture. The older brother is free to pursue his art, generally unencumbered by concerns about how well it sells, but we see the cost of such purity in his brother's humiliating visit to their lender and the frantic, last-ditch attempt to save the restaurant via the titular event. Layer Four: American Culture. On one level Primo's is the quest of every artist, but the promise of the American dream drives-at some points, literally-the whole movie. We never see the two brothers leaving behind the old world (although it is present in the movie). We never see them getting off the boat or hear the discussions that motivated the trip in the first place, although we get the distinct impression that this was Secondo's project from the beginning. But the promise of America that the film suggests seems to be one where the only path to success is to become the version of you that the culture is prepared to accept-the stereotype, the cliche, who serves meatballs with all spaghetti and doesn't blink twice placing a plate of risotto alongside.

When the British film magazine Sight & Sound had one of their periodic times of asking critics to list what they thought were the best films ever made, there was a book which collected articles by several of them, one of whom said that if you were the type of person who didn't tear up at THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S, he didn't want to know you. I try to avoid that philosophy, but if I endorsed it, BIG NIGHT would be that type of film for me, a litmus test. This is a wonderful movie, and I usually am not a big fan of food movies. I thought BABETTE'S FEAST was too full of whimsy, and whimsy also bogged down the often good TAMPOPO(EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, it could be argued, was a relationship movie which happened to be set in the world of food, where the others are inextricably food movies). But this was wonderful.

Tucci and Scott said they studied a lot of film masters, and it shows here; there's nothing that screams "first film." Instead, they take their time telling the story, and setting up characters we care about, even Pascal, the rival restaurant owner. And a lesser movie wouldn't have had the scene between Isabella Rosellini and Minnie Driver which is quiet yet moving, like the rest of the movie. The food scenes live up to the hype, and that final scene is moving.

Big Night fmovies. Big Night is a peaceful joy to watch because its themes and the overall feeling of the film is so normal. The characters, so beautifully rich, are realistic and so are their problems. The characters are mainly wonderfully, infectiously bombastic Italians, and entire scenes are sometimes constructed of the process of making Italian food from scratch. The subtlety and unaffronting reality of these qualities are so endearing to me. In fact, the scene that leaves an imprint on me more than any of the others, despite how fun it is to see the actors have a blast playing fiery, thick-mustachioed men with heavy Italian accents, is a scene that hardly has a connection with any of the others. An Italian ballad is playing over the soundtrack through the previous scene and continues into this scene, wherein Marc Anthony, playing a low-level restaurant bus boy, a small, quiet, incidental character, begins dancing with himself as he mops the floor of the restaurant. When other characters enter, the music, coming from nowhere but the film's soundtrack itself, cuts off and he continues mopping the floor as if the dancing never happened. It's so touching for that scene to have been slipped in, giving a person who is only against the background of everyone's lives a dreamy, sensitive personality that he keeps to himself.

The focal point of the film is the chemistry between the characters of Stanley Tucci, playing a hard-working, pleading, frustrated restaurant owner, whose head carries only logic and a goal for success, and Tony Shalhoub, his brother, whose aggressive passion is for the food he cooks and the mystery and subtext within it, yet his interaction with people is painfully shy. Their clashes of pride, their battles with each other's completely different perspectives, and yet their sharing of the same dream are what drives the story.

A lot of the film's humor comes from the hilarity of Ian Holm. Ian Holm, a stiff-limbed Englishman, plays here a loud, very animated, hot-tempered Italian entrepreneur with a seamless and wonderfully entertaining delivery of an Italian accent and Italian movements. It's my favorite performance of his because I had never before imagined that he would play a role like this.

Big Night is not a masterpiece nor do I think it was even meant to be one, but what it is is subtle and interesting for purely human reasons. It's soundtrack is also a fantastic celebration of Italian music.

Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci are good friends in real life and together they made this delicious gem. Tucci plays Secondo who along with his brother Primo (Tony Shalhoub) run a restaurant named the Paradise. Primo is a genius as a chef but they are on the verge of going out of business so Secondo goes down the street to a very popular place run by an acquaintance named Pascal (Ian Holm) and Secondo asks for a loan. Pascal doesn't give it to him but decides to help him by having singer Louis Prima come to their restaurant with the press knowing he's coming also. Their restaurant will become famous when its mentioned in the paper so the two brothers plan a big night with special meals. Secondo invites his girlfriend Phyllis (Minnie Driver) and Primo wants to invite the flower shop woman Ann (Allison Janney) but is to shy. Secondo helps him out by inviting her. This is another enjoyable film where food is the common component that enables them to communicate. The food and its preparation is the art of the film. Watching Primo prepare meals is a real spectacle to behold. He really does come across as a great chef, there is no doubt as you watch this. But at the core of this film is the love and respect of Secondo and Primo as brothers. Even when they argue it is done with mutual respect. Yes, they get furious but at no real time do we get the feeling that they will walk away from one another. Scott and Tucci have created a wonderful blend of food and love and its the relationship between the two brothers that is the key here. Secondo is having problems committing to Phyllis and while its an important part of the film, its not the main focus. Janney adds just the right touch as Ann and you can understand the awe that she feels when she watches Primo at work and can witness his skill first hand. Tucci and Shalhoub shine in their roles and together they bring a very good film up another notch! This film also does a believable job of recreating the time period that the film is suppose to take place in. When people ask me for a good film to rent I always think of this one. Its a real gem.

This is just amazing, quite unlike any other "american" film I ever saw; a gentle, bittersweet tale of frustrated dreams and artistic integrity, an hilarious comedy of manners performed by an outstanding international cast, a touching blend of awkward romance and the central relationship between the two brothers, brilliantly portrayed by co-creator Tucci and Hollywood's "every-foreigner", the sublime Tony Shalhoub. Big Night dragged me through wider range of emotions than any other movie, it made me want to dance and sing during the party scene (Mambo Italiano), made me laugh out loud at the wacky characters sprinkled throughout, made me angry with the philistines and money-grabbing capitalists who spoil the brothers' dream, made me want to hug Shalhoub's shy gastronomic genius Primo as he tried so clumsily to chat up his flower-girl; the food looked simply amazing, Minnie Driver splashing around in the sea was at her most gorgeous, every actor played their brilliantly scripted part to perfection and the scene at the end with the omelette is the most beautiful and poignant ending I could ever hope to see. All in all this film is one of the best ever made and everyone in the world and especially in Hollywood should be forced to watch it every week until they get some humanity back in them. But not on an empty stomache, get some snacks in first eh.