The Hundred Foot Journey (2014)

An Indian family emigrates to Europe after their restaurant in Mumbai is set on fire by a mob. Settling in France, they open an Indian restaurant across the road from an elegant French restaurant owned by a vindictive woman (Helen Mirren) who resents their presence. The father (Om Puri) declares war but it is his son (Manish Dayal) whose culinary skills will bring peace. Based on the novel by Richard C. Morais, the film is produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg and the combination of those two names should alert you to the kind of film it is. It's a feel good movie in which food unites everybody so they can get all lovable and live happily ever after. That being said, it's more enjoyable than it has any right to be. You can see the mechanisms at work here just as clearly as if the face has been removed from a clock. The director Lasse Hallstrom (MY LIFE AS A DOG) is shameless in his manipulation but since it works for the most part, one can't begrudge him his methods. After all, he accomplished what he set out to do. It's the kind of film out to capture the BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (a film I've mercifully managed to avoid) crowd and apparently it worked ... the theater I saw it in was packed solid! It's heart is in the right place so I don't want to dump on it especially since I'd be a hypocrite because I enjoyed myself except for the more unforgivably sentimental moments. With Charlotte Le Bon and Michel Blanc.