Dinner Rush

Dinner Rush (2001): Here is another low budget New York based flick. Danny Aiello plays the owner of a popular TriBeCa (lower Manhattan, near the village) Italian restaurant who has a bookmaking past. The entire movie takes place in the eatery (shot in the directors own restaurant) and the film is populated by a wide assortment of interesting characters. I first thought this was going to be an arty out of focus, plot by the numbers type of movie but was pleasantly surprised to find the characters took precedence over the plot which is a bit thin. One of his cooks is a compulsive gambler in debt to dem guys from Queens. The son is the talented and egocentric chef who wants to take over the place. Dem guys come to the restaurant to collect da debt and do a little leanin on da management if you get my drift and you betta or youse could get hoit. Throw in an interesting concoction of customers, wait staff and cooks and you get a very interesting 99 minutes. This is a bit like ‘Big Night’ another very good food/restaurant movie but with a little bit of ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover’ thrown in for garnish. By the end of the night, everything works out but the constant interplay between the cast is outstanding. Acting is excellent across the board and the score fits into the movie very well. Diner Rush is highly recommended for a rental option. You can even admit to friends you saw this movie and not have to leave town. The movie is rated R for: excessive garnish, spilled tomato sauce, blood splatter, lack of fire exits, exit wounds, stiff pasta, lobster deaths, art critics, excessive intellectuals, clueless police, and for too much creamy sauce.