Fri, Aug 24, 2007 - Page 16 News List

If you can't stand the analysis, get out of the kitchen

When a top chef becomes the guardian of her niece, life turns upside down

By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ  /  NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

Make no mistake: No Reservations is a factory-sealed romantic comedy. It embraces dark emotions in early scenes showing Kate and Zoe's grief, then moves on quickly, perhaps out of fear that viewers will deem it a downer. There's never any doubt that Nick has Kate and Zoe's best interests at heart, or that they all will find happiness on its own sweet terms.

But the emotional details of Kate, Nick and Zoe's journey are surprising, honest and life-size, and the film's determination to present their predicament sympathetically, without appealing to retrograde ideals of femininity and motherhood, makes it notable, and in some ways unique.

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