The Hundred-Foot Journey

December 31, 2016 - When a family from India opens a restaurant in a French village, a food fight ensues – at least for a little while. Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg produced this film. Helen Mirren stars, along with Om Puri, Manish Dayal, and Charlotte Le Bon.

Puri heads a family forced to leave their home and restaurant in Mumbai following a tragic act of political terrorism. They seek asylum in England but soon look for a new home on the continent. When their vehicle breaks down near a village in France, Puri spies a rundown restaurant for sale. Sometimes there's a reason brakes break! He decides to open a new restaurant there even though it's right across the road (100 feet, to be exact) from a high-class French restaurant run by Helen Mirren.

Mirren and Puri quickly declare war on each other. Meanwhile, his son, Hassan (Dayal), and her sous chef, Marguerite (Le Bon), secretly share cooking secrets and longing looks. But, all that soon changes and Mirren hires rising star Hassan away from the family restaurant. Hassan makes the hundred-foot journey to help his career, but will he be the one who ends up getting hurt?

Overall review: ** In the movie, Hassan's big cooking secret is to add Indian spices to classic French dishes. While the food may be good, the movie itself is surprisingly bland. Strong performances and lush sets can’t overcome a predictable story. It's not a bad movie, but it's also nothing that you haven’t seen before.