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The film, Toast, is based upon the autobiographical book, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, written by English food writer, journalist and broadcaster, Nigel Slater. It is a memoir of Slater's early years and his memories of his mother who died when he was just 9 years old.

The book/film is entitled Toast as that was the ONE food his mother was able to successfully cook ... and he tells us that a person will always love the one who prepared slices of the warm, crunchy, buttery goodness to you as a child. The young Nigel must've held true to this mantra even in childhood, as he never accepted or trusted his father's new "cleaning lady", Mrs. Potter (Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd, The King's Speech, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), who won her way into his father's heart with her culinary expertise ... much to Nigel's chagrin.

As Nigel was already interested in food (he'd drool over the exotic cheeses at his local grocer or sneak a flashlight into his bed to look at the mouth-watering pictures in the family cookbooks), he eventually becomes highly competitive with Mrs. Potter in hopes of winning-over his always-distant father.

Toast takes place over a span of ten years and so Nigel is played by two different actors. Young Nigel is played by a remarkable Oscar Kennedy who is making his feature film debut (!!!) while the older, teenage Nigel is played by Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, The Spiderwick Chronicles). Highmore is a great, young actor; but it is surprising to admit that the younger, less-experienced Kennedy outshines him in this film as Kennedy's Nigel does more of the grieving and Highmore is scripted to do more of the pouting.

Toast isn't as boring as the title makes it sound; nor is it overly compelling as it turns into a most-conventional, lite-biopic. Bonham Carter is always good and her scheming, competitively outrageous behavior here is the butter on this piece of toast. The film is about Nigel Slater (kind of a blank page as he gets older) but he wouldn't have become who he is without the provocation of this film's Kitchen Queen, Mrs. Potter ... nor would the film be what it is without Bonham Carter.

I LOVE Helena Bonham Carter, so I thought 'how boring could it be?' even though I found the description less than compelling. I had never heard of Freddy Highmore at this point tbh. Long story short... I was captivated by the personalities, and thoroughly entertained.

The British always seem to have such interesting faces, and because of that their movies seems to have more depth and feeling than American movies. Toast is no exception. This movie contains little dialogue and relies much on visual communication, which could easily have turned it into one of those movies that makes you glance at your watch every twenty minutes. But the casting of such physically unique individuals makes it riveting.

The dynamics of family. I know, I know. Do we really need to go there again? Yes we do, and Toast puts it out there in a raw, you-are-scarred-for-life way that we can all relate to. It hurts to watch the way Nigel Carter, the British food writer on whose biography the movie is based, hurl insults at his dying mother, knowing this behavior will haunt him in the end. It's equally hard to watch the miscommunication between father and son—this could be any home in America where parents and children seem to speaking foreign tongues to each other, tearing the already weakened fabric of parent-child relationships. It's a wonder anyone survives.

But Nigel was a survivor. I liked how he listened to the voice inside him, ignoring society's pressure to fit in. In school he was the only male who chose to take home economics over shop, and he stood at his father's wedding by the cake he'd made so carefully, even though the wedding represented everything that would alienate him even further from his father. Our Nigel did it his way. I half-expected to to hear that Frank Sinatra song at some point during the film.

I loved the reference to toast. "Soft inside the toasted shell, where the butter nestles in…" or something like that. I loved toast when I was growing up, and I think it is the only comfort food that doesn't have a sugar base. My personal favorite was cinnamon toast, but hey, to each his own. I have never met anyone who doesn't like toast, and it was a perfect metaphor.

Which leads us to wonder, is it possible Nigel's mother was that bad a cook? Is it possible that someone could boil cans for dinner and burn them? Go see Toast. Then cook something. Feed those you love with culinary delights you enjoy making and let the sweet and savory fetes roll.

Nice film.

The casting choices were very good in my opinion; very individual characters who you really feel as if you get to know. Freddie Highmore came in too late unfortunately. The sudden switch lost my sense of attachment to Nigel, and it was too near to the end to have it rebuild. I loved Oscar Kennedy. I thought he was amazing.

The ending was such a letdown, I was still waiting for the 'real ending' when it happened. Nigel's sexuality wasn't really emphasized, nor was it not mentioned. It was just 'there'. It wasn't played into the plot line or Nigel's character development. Probably the most anticlimactic bit after the ending.

Good. But could have been a lot better.

A very fine little movie. And a good exhibition for the actors, who have plenty to work with here. Helena Bonham Carter has a lot of fun and she is cast perfectly. The young actor is really good too. And while I am not always fond of the "based on ...", this feels rather like a movie then say a biopic.

It is light and has a lot of comedy to it, so it is not heavy drama. On the other hand, I don't think it is good for any recipes. I certainly don't remember anything much from that part of the movie. But you know it is called Toast for a reason, of course. A very nice and decent little movie, that is worth your time :o)

The film is quite good. However, if Nigel is this big of a c*** in real life, I wish him nothing but the most tortuous suffering he deserves. Horrible human.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting something this good when I tuned in to watch Toast. While it doesn't quite make my favourite dramas of all-time list, it is for me one of the better programmes airing over the Christmas season. Is Toast sentimental? Yes, in a way I suppose it is. But it is also warm, gentle and tender, not to mention evocative and multi-layered. Toast looks wonderful certainly, as the production values and period detail are really quite pleasing. The photography is very skillful, while the scenery and costumes are beautiful. In general, I did like the music. It did occasionally get a tad over-bearing, but in its more subdued moments it was quite charming and quaint, very like the drama itself. The script is always touching, honest and funny, while the story is engaging throughout and the pacing and direction are also spot-on. The acting is perfect across the board. Oscar Kennedy is wonderful as young Nigel Slater, and while Freddie Highmore as his teenage self is good Kennedy was better. Ken Stott is also winning as his father, and Victoria Hamilton is very touching. Helena Bonham Carter also gives one of her better performances of late. All in all, this is a very absorbing and beautifully done drama. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I saw this movie without knowing who Nigel Slater is. The trailer made it out to be a humorous coming-of-age story about a boy with a passion for cooking.

The young Nigel never gives Mrs. Potter a chance - because she works as a house cleaner, is a bit vulgar and lives in public housing, he looks down on her and puts her down in front of his father whenever he can. He wins sympathy points for the emotionally abusive father and the dying mother, but ultimately he himself is not a likable character. And that is the main drawback of the movie. It seems to have been created mainly to vilify the stepmother that Nigel never liked.

Otherwise there is nothing wrong with it. In fact I think Helena Bonham-Carter delivers a great performance as Mrs. Potter.

Despite the synopsis being "The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain," that's not an accurate description of what this movie is about. It's less about food and more about Nigel's relationship with his family, particularly his mother and how he deals with changes in his family over the years. The movie poster is also deceiving, as Freddie Highmore's version of Nigel doesn't appear until the last 30 minutes. Most of the movie follows Nigel when he was a little boy.

Anyway, there were some nice, genuinely tender moments in this film that made my eyes tear up. I also love seeing a gay person in a movie that isn't about him being gay. Nigel's romantic inclinations are briefly touched on as a natural snapshot of him growing up and discovering who he is. And as a gay person myself, that is very refreshing to see.

Overall, this is a touching little story of a particular childhood that surprisingly explores many different themes. To be metaphorical, it packs many ingredients into a single dish to give it a more complicated flavor than what you'd expect.

A good story of a dysfunctional family, with an interesting view of the sixties.

• Eat that bloody pie!

With the same script writer as "Billy Elliot" it's easy to see they have tried you make some of the same with "Toast", except this is much more of a comedy. A strict father, not very understanding of a sons needs and dreams. The film is almost Wes Anderson'ish in it's feel. Think "Moonrise kingdom", with a dash of "Chocolat" and you're there, in the same kind of tasty childhood universe.

This is based on memories of the childhood of Nigel Slater, a famous British cook and cookbook writer. He appears as a chef in the final scene of the film as a cameo.

Young Nigel grows up in Wolverhampton, and as 9 years old, writing 1969, he no longer can stand his life home, with his parents. His grumpy uptight dad and his hopeless cook of a mother, suffering from bad asthma (probably due to her never eating any vitamins). Nigel has the tinned food mom put on the table, but loves her for her toasts with butter. When his father sacks the gardener dye to him damaging Nigel with the love for freshly grown veggies, he's had enough. Nigel's fantasy helps him survive. His longing for some real tasty food, and fresh vegetables and fruits makes him want to become a cook. The takes the long way to get there, as he don't even have a little encouragement back home. But the death of his mother, which he still misses after her demise, and the wise word of his young friend, "The way to a mans heart, is always through his stomach", changes everything.

It's a cute story, though maybe a bit sugar coated for my taste. Still, if you can overbear that, you'll enjoy this. Cute and lovely, though quite slow. Well done 60'ies portrait, as always when it comes to British films. Helena Bonham Carter really does her best role ever here, I think. She's very strong, and very unlike other roles she's had lately, even if it's some of the same comic demands.

Main character Nigel, played by Oscar Mennedy, might annoy some, but then he wasn't very loved as a child, but the older, played by amazing Freddie Highmore makes it all come right. Highmore is a real charmer. The casting of Oscar Kenbecy was impossible to fill Freddue Highmores shoes here, making some of the films main problem. Not due to him, because he does his best, but more to the extreme talent of Highmore. Not only the father, but also Nigel changes when he gets the right food. They can be used as the excuse for the change in character.