Bitter Feast

This is a tough sell. A movie where both hero and antagonist are despicable (but not in that cute animated movie you may know). Of course some might have trouble choosing who the protagonist is for them. But it doesn't matter who you choose, you will have a hard time rooting or really feeling for one of them.

Of course, the movie will wake up feelings in most of the viewers. Because we all have been mistreated in one way or another. And most would have wished to get back at those who don't respect them or the work they've done. This concept can be put on many other section of life or art. Even commenting on movies, you could go like: well do it better, if you can.

The actors do their best (with an interesting cameo by chameleon Larry Fassenden), but the story does not seem to know where it is heading or what it really wants to tell us (a "side" story being part of that and the alternate ending confirming, that the test audience might have been confused too). The basic idea is stronger than the end product, it still might satisfy you, if you like small budgeted movies

An uptight cooking show host and head restaurant chef (LeGros)loses his jobs and takes his revenge on the critic (Leonard)that caused his downfall. After a scathing review from food critic JT Franks causes chef Peter Grey to lose his job at his restaurant, and the cancellation of his show, Grey kidnaps Franks and the torture begins. It sounds pretty cheesy but Grey reads reviews Franks has given and forces him to do better in order to eat the food he is preparing. The movie is slow moving in parts but overall a pretty good movie to watch. I was going to give it a B- mainly because the torture movie genre is all the same, but the last 20 minutes strayed away from the aspects that made this seem different and into "really, they are doing this??!".The ending brought the grade down, it could have been so much better. I give it a C.

Peter Grey is a pompous, talented chef whose life is about to take a turn for the worse after an unnecessarily horrible review by blogger JT Franks. Grey's already skewed world perspective changes drastically as he resolves to kidnap Franks, torturing him with a series of seemingly simple cooking tasks.

Bitter Feast gets points for originality and gloss. The film looks quite good for an independent effort and the actors really throw themselves into the roles. They actually hired actors, not faces, to flesh out the interesting script. James Le Gros especially never goes over the top but plays the role rather subtly and Josh Lucas is excellent, being sympathetic and unsympathetic all at once. The always reliable Larry Fessenden shows up as a slimy private eye trying to locate Franks.

Don't expect your life to change, but if you're looking for a movie with some originality and panache, then dig in!

First, I am a huge fan on Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, etc. I also consider myself quite the food snob. I love to cook, but would never, ever, consider doing it as a career.

All of that said, this movie is extremely clever. Not terribly original from a revenge and torture perspective, but I love the "challenges".

The low budget nature of the film makes it unlikely to ever get a major viewing; however, anyone that is a fan of food and Gordon Ramsey will truly enjoy this film.

Final thought, for a cost conscious film, the acting is actually quite good.

I dislike "blood and guts" movies, and only saw this one because I was channel surfing, thought it was about a guy and his cooking show, and was drawn in by the time I realized its genre.

For a low budget movie, I'm surprised at how good the lead actors were, and that even though both characters were impossible to like, they had strong chemistry together and there was palpable suspense over what would happen next.

Surprisingly, the dialog was well-written, and there was some very dark comedy in there. The tasks that the captor demanded were not complicated nor incredible, but rather simply creative ways to make the critic "eat his words." Some of the negative reviews in here lament that there was not enough blood and/or guts/gore, but there was enough intensity and thrills created, without having to show every bloody detail.

I found this to be a suspenseful, well-acted independent film.