''Simply Irresistible'' is a 1999 American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film directed by
Mark Tarlov and was written by Judith Roberts, starring
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
and
Sean Patrick Flanery
Sean Patrick Flanery (born October 11, 1965) is an American actor, author, and martial artist. He is known for playing Connor MacManus in ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) and its sequel ''The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day'' (2009), Greg Still ...
. It is
Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises (commonly referred to as Regency onscreen and copyrighting as Regency Entertainment (USA), Inc. in the U.S. and Monarchy Enterprises S.á.r.l. overseas) is an American entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was foun ...
' first film to be released by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, instead of
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
.
Plot
Amanda Shelton inherits her late mother's
restaurant, but lacks the
ability to cook. The restaurant is failing when Amanda meets a mysterious and possibly magical man at the local market. He introduces himself as Gene O'Reilly and claims to be an old friend of her mother's. He sells her
crabs, one of which escapes cooking to become her personal
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
. While chasing the crab, Amanda meets Tom Bartlett, a
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
manager at
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...
on
Fifth Avenue, who is opening an ambitious new restaurant inside his store. Though they are clearly attracted to each other, Tom is involved with a clingy but beautiful woman named Chris.
Later that day, Tom and Chris are on their way to lunch, where Tom plans to break up with Chris, but the cab driver drops them at the wrong location— Amanda's restaurant, the Southern Cross. Tom sees Amanda outside, and decides they should have lunch there instead.
For unclear reasons, Amanda begins cooking her feelings into her food, and she miraculously becomes an impressive, creative chef. She makes a crab dish for Tom that is so delicious he's unbothered. Chris, driven by Amanda's negative feelings toward her cooked into her own food, breaks up with Tom and begins smashing plates in the restaurant.
Amanda visits Tom at Henri Bendel so that he can replace the plates that Chris broke. When he shows her the space where the new restaurant will be, they have a shared fantasy wherein they dance flirtatiously and they begin a romance.
Meanwhile, Tom's assistant Lois begins romancing Jonathan Bendel, the owner of Henri Bendel, seducing him after feeding him
eclairs from Amanda's restaurant, which Amanda baked her passion for Tom into.
As a result of her food improving overnight, the Southern Cross becomes increasingly successful. One night, Tom visits Amanda after the restaurant has closed and after tasting a dish of hers, they begin to kiss and start floating. Tom panics and breaks things off with Amanda, believing she is some kind of
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
who is manipulating his feelings with
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
.
When Amanda goes to confront Tom one last time at his office, she witnesses the violent
tantrum
A tantrum, temper tantrum, lash out, meltdown, fit or hissy fit is an emotional outburst, usually associated with those in emotional distress, that is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence, defiance, angry ranting ...
and
resignation
Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
of a celebrity
French chef hired for Tom's new restaurant. When Jonathan realizes that Amanda cooked the eclairs Lois had fed him, he demands that Tom hire her for the opening, despite his protests.
On opening night, Amanda is initially shunned by the snobbish French staff and that, coupled with her continued
heartbreak over Tom, causes her to unknowingly cook her sorrow into one of the first courses, causing the entire restaurant to sob uncontrollably. She eventually overcomes her
self-doubt
Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them.
Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may invo ...
and reaches her full potential as a chef, and the opening is a complete success.
Stunned but enchanted by the remarkable effect Amanda's food has had on the guests, Tom goes after Amanda as she's leaving the opening. He convinces her to come back and admits his love for her, and the two reconcile on the dance floor, not noticing Gene is gleefully conducting the orchestra behind them, implying the magic that sparked in Amanda came from him.
Cast
*
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
as Amanda Shelton
*
Sean Patrick Flanery
Sean Patrick Flanery (born October 11, 1965) is an American actor, author, and martial artist. He is known for playing Connor MacManus in ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999) and its sequel ''The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day'' (2009), Greg Still ...
as Tom Bartlett
*
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades in ...
as Lois McNally
*
Dylan Baker
Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), '' Spide ...
as Jonathan Bendel
*
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang (born January 2, 1949) is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
...
as Gene O'Reilly
*
Larry Gilliard Jr. as Nolan Traynor
*
Betty Buckley as Aunt Stella
*
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in '' Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in '' The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) bro ...
as Chris
*
Gabriel Macht
Gabriel Swann Macht (born January 22, 1972) is an American actor and film producer, known for portraying Harvey Specter in the USA Network series '' Suits'' (2011–2019) and the title character in the 2008 superhero film ''The Spirit''.
Earl ...
as Charlie
Production
According to Mark Tarlov, the director, the conception of the film arose from "intersection of eating and drinking and romance
..part of my interest with the movie was this idea of being able to bend reality. How food and wine actually bends time and space
..the whole
Einsteinian view of bending time and space based on your position relative to the events that are happening."
Tarlov's wife, Judith Roberts, wrote the screenplay based on a story co-developed by Roberts and Tarlov.
[ According to Tarlov, "the script was about a middle-aged young woman ..who had never found romance before because she never found her passion. And when she found her passion—which was cooking—romance followed."][
The director pitched the film to ]Holly Hunter
Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
, who he intended to play the lead role, but the studio did not want her to play the part. Sarah Jessica Parker was then wanted, but the studio felt she was too old for the part. The character was then rewritten to a 20 year old woman with Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...
landing the role. The studio wanted to cash in on her success from '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''.
Reception
Critical response
''Simply Irresistible'' was poorly received by critics. Though the acting has received praise, the screenplay has received criticism. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rating of 16%, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 3.95/10. The site's consensus states: "''Simply Irresistible'' is simply not." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a score of 27 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B−.
Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' gave the film three out of four stars, and stated "Old-fashioned and obvious, yes, like a featherweight comedy from the 1950s. But that's the charm". John Petrakis from the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' gave the film a negative review: "Falls prey to the all-too-contemporary problem of complicating the tale until the ending is not only obvious, but prayed for between yawns". Tom Meek
Tom Meek (born 1956) is an American columnist and author of "Another Day In Cyberville" published weekly in The Gainesville Voice, a New York Times regional newspaper, beginning in October, 2000 in The Gainesville Sun
''The Gainesville Sun'' ...
from '' Film Threat'' described the film as "Insipid, maudlin mush".
Box office
The film opened at #9 at the North American box office making $2.2 million USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
in its opening weekend.
Soundtrack
# "Little King" – The Hollowbodies
# "Busted" – Jennifer Paige
Jennifer Paige ( Scoggins; born September 3, 1973) is an American singer best known for her international number one pop hit " Crush" (1998), as well as other charted songs including " Sober" (1999) and " Always You" (1999), from her debut alb ...
# "Falling" – Donna Lewis
Donna Lewis (born August 1959) is a Welsh singer. She is best known for the 1996 pop hit single "I Love You Always Forever", which peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, and also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Aust ...
# "Got the Girl (Boy from Ipanama)" – Reiss
# "The Angel of the Forever Sleep" – Marcy Playground
Marcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak (lead vocals, guitar), Dylan Keefe (bass), and Shlomi Lavie (drums). The band is best known for their 1997 hit " Sex and Candy".
History
Early ...
# "Take Your Time" – Lori Carson
# "Beautiful Girls" – Chris Lloyd
# "Once in a Blue Moon" – Sydney Forest
# "Parkway" – The Hang Ups
# "Our Love Is Going to Live Forever" – Spain
# "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" – Katalina
# "That Old Black Magic" ( Harold Arlen) – Jessica
Astaire references
The film contains references to four musical films of Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history.
Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...
:
* '' The Belle of New York'' (1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
): Flanery and Gellar's floating to the ceiling evokes similar scenes involving Astaire and Vera-Ellen.
* ''Yolanda and the Thief
''Yolanda and the Thief'' is a 1945 American Technicolor MGM musical- comedy film set in a fictional Latin American country. It stars Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, and Mildred Natwick, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Arthur ...
'' ( 1946)
** The flooring which Flanery selects for his new restaurant is a copy of that used in the "Coffee Time" number.
** Dylan Baker comments: "This looks like something out of an MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
musical".
* '' Shall We Dance'' ( 1937): Flanery's confusion when faced with multiple images of Gellar echoes Astaire when confronted with multiple masked versions of Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
in the ''Shall We Dance'' finale.
* '' Swing Time
In music, the term ''swing'' has two main uses. Colloquially, it is used to describe the propulsive quality or "feel" of a rhythm, especially when the music prompts a visceral response such as foot-tapping or head-nodding (see pulse). This sens ...
'' (1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
): The layout of the restaurant at the end of the movie closely resembles the restaurant and night club, the "Silver Sandal."
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1999 romantic comedy films
1999 films
20th Century Fox films
American fantasy comedy films
American romantic comedy films
Cooking films
Films set in department stores
Films set in New York City
Regency Enterprises films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films