Restaurant

Restaurant takes on a lot, and succeeds. Various story lines are carefully interwoven as the film takes on issues of race relations and day-to-day life in small town NJ. Genuinely humorous throughout, "Restaurant' is a beautifully written tale of twenty-something artists struggling to grow up. Adrien Brody and Elise Neal co-star in their roles as interracial lovers, and put similar relationships depicted in movies such as "Jungle Fever" to shame. Supported by a cast of top-notch actors, what could be a lot to take on in the confines of one film ends up feeling like the perfect mix of elements. "Restaurant" is a touching, heartfelt rendition of the lives of young artists working to overcome the confines of their 9 to 5 jobs.

"Restaurant" is your basic boy-meets-girl movie, with emphasis on "basic" - it operates on autopilot throughout. It has the basic feel of a made-for-TV schmaltzfest, and it handles racial issues with the same level of intellectual vigor.

The main character of "Restaurant", a playwright who considers his work "beyond great" (what we see of it looks pretty silly and shallow), finds himself unable to finish his most recent production. I can only assume this was semi-autobiographical, since this movie has no clear ending in sight throughout, and the ending it does bring about for us is clumsy and completely incongruous with the rest of the story.

RESTAURANT (2000) *** Adrien Brody, Elise Neal, David Moscow,Simon Baker-Denny, Catherine Kellner, Malcom Jamal Warner, John Carroll Lynch, Jesse L. Martin, Sybil Temchen, Vonte Sweet, Lauryn Hill. Brody gives a great performance as a struggling playwright who works in a trendy Hoboken eatery as a bartender and is trying to juggle a new promising relationship with waitress/singer wanna be Neal (equally good) while coming to terms with his ex (pop superstar Hill) as well as living his life with his co-workers, each with their own charming eccentricities.

Novice filmmaker Eric Bross and screenwriter Tom Cudworth combine to make a memorable little gem of a film with funny, adroit dialogue and its strong message of racism underplayed without pandering to the audience.

As recovering restaurant workers, we looked forward to a little more reality. There were flashes of insight (like maybe the film-makers had actually worked in a restaurant), and we liked the truthfulness of the racial mix, although the racial tensions seemed a little too 1960s ... could really be that far behind?

The frustration and disappointment comes from the film being SO close to getting things right, and missing so consistently.

This one is in a rare but important tradition of movies based on real storytelling. The characters are fleshed out and warm, and the story is satisfyingly complex.

You don't have to be from Hoboken to love this flick, but if you are from Hoboken, you will. I recommend this one heartily.