This is one of those movies I think of as aimed squarely at the PBS demographic. Telltale signs:
- Helen Mirren
- France
- Multiculturalism. In this case: Indian, as in "from India".
- The resulting cultural clash. In this case:
between the frogs and the wogs.
- Attractive ethnic young person struggling against the odds to
achieve personal and professional success. In this case: Hassan
is a gifted chef, but will he be able to break into the
tradition-bound restaurant scene, and also get the girl?
- Metaphorical title. It's the distance between the Indian restaurant
run by Hassan's dad and the traditional hoity-toity French
restaurant across the road. But—wow, man—the real distance
in terms of culture and effort is much longer. I mean, think about it,
man.
- Lines of dialogue meant to be inspirational, but come out wooden.
("Five mother sauces. You must find them in your heart. Then, bring them
to your pots. That's the secret.")
-
Hugging. Lots of hugging.
You might think I didn't like it. Mostly, I did! But this genre's components are nearly as predictable as your average romantic comedy, slasher flick, or superhero blockbuster.
Anyway: if you have a foodie PBS watcher in the house, you could do worse.