Semplicemente irresistibile

Honestly, I think this is an awful movie... but I can't help but love it! It has a cheesy plot, unrealistic characters, a bit of magic that adds to the unbelievability and about everything else that a bad movie has. And yet, this is one of my favorite movies to watch when I'm in the mood to watch something light and fun. I'm almost embarrassed to say I love it! I don't know what it is about this movie that makes it so enjoyable to me. The basic plot... Sarah Michelle Gellar is a rather unsuccessful chef who wants to become better and save her family's restaurant. After buying a crab at a local market her luck begins to change. Suddenly she is able to cook amazing food that is sort of hypnotic and magical. She's offered a job as head chef at a posh new restaurant by a gorgeous guy who (wouldn't you know it) she ends up falling in love with. Give it a try. Maybe you'll love it too. I think it's the whole food idea that gets me....

This film represents nothing truly exceptional. It has no exceptional acting, messages, faces (maybe Sarah M Gellar, but looks aren't everything), or lines. I didn't spend $7.50 on it to see it in the theater, nor will spend $3.00 at the rental store to see this. But why is it that when I see it on TV (I got cable) 9 out of 10 times I stop to watch it? Maybe because this movie speaks to the little romantic in all of us. We know or will learn that relationships don't make Emeril dishes appear at will or having odd gases spew from deserts but it's still a cute flick with two of the romance and a happy ending.

While a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters might never write a play like Shakespeare, any ten of them could have cranked out the lines for this one. It is at best a romantic comedy for the Barbie and Ken doll set, with a script so trite and corny as to be unintentionally amusing. Gellar is suitably appealing in her role as Amanda, a likeable and intelligent young woman, but it is "she" who becomes bewitched by a character with no more depth than a paper cutout, having to his credit only lots of money and conventional good looks. Then the plot revolves around her obsession with catching him, when it is painfully obvious that he isn't worth running after.

The title implies that it is "she" who is irresistible, except that she is always chasing after him. In other words, if she is so irresistible, why would she need "magic" to catch such a dolt? Her character is a hundred times more interesting than his, bothering to be concerned about others and such, while he is too in love with "himself" to care about anyone else. The deepest thought he can contemplate is the perfect paper plane! If there is a prince to this farce of a fairy tale, it might come closer to her buddy the cook, who is at least a fairly good friend. But this is a shallow and embarrassing story, tediously boring, with no better message but that money and glamour are more worth having than imagination and character.

This is Sarah Michelle Gellar's best movie! Unpretentious, genuine young lady battling the reality of small business and about to see her whole world go down the kitchen drain when she is saved by wonder.

And that is what this story is about wonder.. and food.

For me the details are everything. The plot is simple and that is probably what disturbs a number of the reviewers.. but they admit it themselves.. and they can't put their finger on it. Here we finally have a story where everything suddenly goes right. And wouldn't you like that to happen to you at least once! The movie has name players but not A-listers. The story features a great deal to do with savouring the taste of food, and who would go to see a movie based on food? Yet.. there are few pictures I enjoy more than this one. I am not a SMG fan, but in this motion picture Sarah is absolutely perfectly cast. It is her 13 Going On 30 role!

I was surprised how much I enjoyed "Simply Irresistible."

I went because I like the leads from TV shows and I like magic realism .

I didn't mind that it rips off "Like Water for Chocolate" but I did mind how cheaply it was done with really lousy cinematography and poor lighting.

The cute script had the teens in the audience laughing out loud so it's too bad there was no directorial imagination. Bring on the fantasy scenes, please.

It also badly needed a choreographer, but it had nice music here and there.

Not the best romantic movie of the year.

(Originally written 2/13/1999)