‘NONNAS’ REVIEW: VINCE VAUGHN, SUSAN SARANDON AND LORRAINE BRACCO BRING The RIGHT SEASONING TO NETFLIX’s Comfort-FOOD Comedy

Like The Old-School Cooks in His New Movie, Stephen Chbosky Understans the Importance of Good Ingredients. To Tell The Story of A Middle-Agged Man’s Impulsive Leap Into Restaurant Ownership, He’s Gathered An Accomplished Cast Wielding Effortless Charm. Nonnnas is home-style all The Way, Forgoing Jaw-Droping Playing for Something More Reliable and Predictable. It Will Strike A Nostalgic Chord or Two for Many Viewers, and at Any Rate Offers a Welcome Change of Pace from Netflix’s True-Crime and Action Offers.

VINCE VAUGHN BRINGS an unFORCED SINCERITY TO THE ROLE OF INEXPERIENCED ENTREPRENEUR JOEY SCARAVELLA, AND The FoUR nonnnas (Grandmothers) Who Join Him in his unconventional culinary enterprise are played by lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon, Talia Shire and Brenda Vacarro – Heavy Hitters Moving Nimbly. Thought the Movie Unabashedly Celebrates Women in Their 70s and 80s, It Hasn’t the Strained Sensivity of Those “Ain’Te Old Gals Something?” Comedies that have become a subgenre unto themselves. Essentally an Up-With-People Optimist, Director Chbosky (The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Wonder, Dear Evan Hansen) KEPS The LAUGS IN A SILLY BUT GROUNDED VEIN, AND the EMOCAL MOMENTS UNFOLD COMPLETE OF THE SAME UNDERSTATED BELIEVality.

Working from a screenplay by liz maccie that teells a movie Version of the origin of eeoteca Maria, The Helmer and His Cast-with Spot-on Design Contributions from Leder Up a consnning portrait of Middle-Class Italian-Emerican New York (Played by New Jersey, with A Shuttered Restaurant, Spirito’s, Providing The Central Location).

Nostalgia Courses Through NonnnasAlong with a strong Sense of Community Through Food; The Feature’s Mantra Is “One Does Not Grow Old at The Table.” This Core Idea Is Vividly Evoked, with A Fluent Kid’s-Eye-View Energy, by DP Florian Ballhaus in the Flashback Sequace that Opens the Movie) Boisteus Family Gathering – A typical Sunday in his brooklyn home – While His Mother (Kate Eastman) and Grandmother (Karen Giordano), Bathed in the Golden Glow of LOVE

Alone in his Childhood Home After his Mother’s Death 40 Years Later, Joey (Vaughn) Finds Comfort in Re-Creating The Family Dyshes As Best He Can From Memorry. A Longing Awakened, He Makes A Trip to The Statin Island Farmers’ Market WHERE HIS MOTHER AND NONNA USED TO BUY PRODUCE. (Given that joey doesn’t have a car, this is the first of the Film’s Severaral Opportunities for Picturesque Views of the Ferry Crossing. Classmate and the one who hot away, he happers UPON A Run-Down Restaurant for Sale and Uses His Inheritance As A Down Payment.

This wasn’t exactly what his best friend, bruno (joe manganiello), and his his wife, stola (drea de matteo), meant WHEN, concerned that joey woold. New. But Joey, A Mechanic Working for the Mtau in a Job That Clearly Means Little to Him Beyond a Paycheck, Is Propelled by a Vision and Won trained chefs, do the cooking. The First of Many Challenges He Doesn’T Foresee Is The UnwelComing Small-Toown Insularity of Some Statin Islanders, Encapsulated in the Surly Suspicions of a Market Vendor (Michael).

The four nonnnas he enlists (they’re all of a grondmotherly age, but two of them have no children) include two friends Kvetch) and Hairdresser and Dessert-Maker Extraordinaire Gia (Sarandon, Exuding Hard-Won Equanimity). The Two NewComers Are Olivia’s Elegant Neighbor Antonella (Vaccaro), Still Devoted to Her Long-Decedated Husbanda, and Former nun teresa (shire) Calming Wisdom WHEN The FOOD FIGHTS Take on a Regional Fervor and Sicily (Roberta) Squares Off Against Bologna (Antonella).

YES, they’re types with a capital t, but they’re played by actors with personality to spare and no need to go big. By the Time The Quartet Sit Down to Share Limoncello-Fueled Confessions, They Can Do So With Few Words and Little Fuss. With Complimentary Concision, Vaughn Conveys Something SHellsConed About Joey and, No Le less Nonna’s Sunday “Gravy,” Aka Tomato Sauce.

The Supporting Performances All Click, Especialy Those by Manganiello and de matteo, delivering a terrific rendition of marital affarming, as well as Worry Fray. Cardellini is the essence of Warmth and smarts, and Campbell Scott Offers A Commanding Cameo As a Snooty But Not Heartless Food Critic.

As to the Food porn – it isn’t. Ballhaus Captures the Dishes with a Straightforward that Matches the Lived-in Beauty of the Movie As A Whole, and there’s no indulgent Lingering by editor Anne McCabe. (The Food iself is Not Going to Pass the Vegan Test, the Capuzzelle especially.)

The screenplay by maccie, who grew up in an italian-american Family in New Jersey (She and Chbosky Are Married), HAS A DIRECTNESS THAT’S MOSTLY REFESHING, AND OCCACASIONALLY TOO MUCHING. The Story ‘Intended Surprises Are Telegrapphed, and Thought Joey’s Setbacks All Ring True-Bills Adding Up, Trouble with His Jerk of A Boss Bruno – The Resolutions Arethimes UnderCooked.

No Subtext Goes Unexplained, and at Times the Score Underlines What We Already Know. But The Actors Always The Grace Notes, and there are Sparks in the Way everyday exchanges Turn Sharp with Compassion. There Are Welcome Laughs Too, Particularly in Bracco’s Grump-Meister Line Readings. Nonnnas serves up someting that doesn’t make you work; Rater, It Invites You to Sit Down and Enjoy.