''The Kitchen'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by

Ishai Setton Ishai Setton is an American film director, editor and producer. After graduating from the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City in 2002, he has worked both in cinema and television. Career Setton made his feature-length directorial debut in ...

and written by Jim Beggarly, starring

Laura Prepon Laura Helene Prepon (born March 7, 1980) is an American actress. She rose to fame with her role as Donna Pinciotti in the Fox sitcom ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006). She is also known for portraying Alex Vause in the Netflix comedy-drama ser ...

Bryan Greenberg Bryan Greenberg (born May 24, 1978) is an American actor and singer, known for his starring role as Ben Epstein in the HBO original series ''How to Make It in America'' as well as a recurring role as Jake Jagielski in the WB series '' One Tree ...

, and

Dreama Walker Dreama Elyse Walker (born June 20, 1986) is an American actress. She is known for her supporting role in the series ''Gossip Girl'', her lead role in the film '' Compliance'' (2012), and her lead roles in two short-lived television series, the c ...

. The film was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Plot

The film takes place during the 30th birthday of Jennifer Parker, an art curator who has recently quit her job in order to open her own art gallery. The story is viewed entirely within the confines of the kitchen and adjoining dining room of Jennifer's home which she shares with her roommate and friend Kenny. Jennifer is not looking forward to her birthday party, which is being planned by Stan, her friend who has unrequited feelings for her. Her longtime boyfriend Paul has confessed to her the night before that he has been cheating on her with multiple women. Her younger sister Penny is pregnant from a casual fling and is scheduled to have an abortion later in the week. As the party begins, Jennifer tells Penny she has invited Vladimir, an artist, in an attempt to poach him as the sole client of her gallery. As Jennifer goes to greet arriving guests, Kenny tells Penny he wishes to pursue a serious relationship with her after years of casual makeout sessions. Amanda and Kim, friends of Jennifer, arrive and Kim confesses that she slept with Paul and has purchased an expensive gift in order to apologize to Jennifer after telling her the truth. While Jennifer is discussing Paul with her best friend Pam, Kim and Amanda walk in and Kim awkwardly admits what happened, causing her to storm off. Pam then tells Amanda that she is aware Amanda is sleeping with Paul, as she and Paul are very old friends. Through conversation with friends Peter and Andre, Kenny finds out Penny is pregnant and says he wishes he could be the father. Jennifer laments to Penny about her status in life but decides to have fun and enjoy her party. Afterward, Stan talks about Paul and Jennifer's breakup, and Penny tells him this is his opportunity to be with her. As Kim and Amanda reenter the kitchen, Paul knocks on the dining room window and asks Kim to retrieve his laptop that he left behind, as he does not want to cause a scene. He pretends that he is interested in dating her in order to convince her, only to proceed to

finger A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers ( Pentadactyly). Chambers ...

and make out with Amanda as soon as Kim leaves the room. Stan walks in on the situation and notifies Penny, who sprays the Paul and Amanda with a fire extinguisher before throwing Paul's laptop out a window. After making out off-screen with Marco, an Italian exchange student who does not speak any English, Jennifer receives a call from Vladimir telling her that he will not be attending the party and has chosen to stay with Pace, leaving Jennifer worried about the fate of her art gallery. Kim carries Paul into the dining room after he hurt his ankle climbing a fence to retrieve his laptop. Jennifer yells at him after learning Kim believes that she and Paul are now dating, as well as the fact that Paul is involved with Amanda. Jennifer asks why he confessed about cheating the day before her birthday, and he admits he thought someone would tell her, so he came clean in the hopes she would not be mad at him. Kim and Paul leave while Penny drags Jennifer away. As rival bands begin brawling in the backyard, things come to a head when Stan tries to get Jennifer to blow out the candles on her birthday cake, which has had the name smeared off since it was spelled "Jenni" instead of Jennifer, which she hates. Frustrated and upset, Jennifer pushes the cake into Stan's shirt off-screen. As he goes to clean up in the kitchen, Penny proceeds to mock Stan's obvious crush, causing Stan to harshly criticize Penny as an attention seeker and make fun of her scheduled abortion. Penny ends the party and Stan leaves in frustration. The morning after, Kenny and Penny have finally gotten together and are choosing to keep the baby. As she begins to clean up the mess from the previous night, Jennifer finds the portfolio of Brent, an unstable photographer that Stan hired for the party, and finds that he has talent. She leaves him a message about showing his photos in her gallery and smiles optimistically about the future.

Cast

as Jennifer *

as Paul *

as Penny * Matt Bush as Stan *

Tate Ellington James Tate Ellington (born April 17, 1979) is an American actor. He portrayed Aidan Hall, the best friend of Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson) in the 2010 romantic drama film '' Remember Me''. Ellington starred as Oliver Hunt in ''The Elephant Kin ...

as Kenny *

Amber Stevens Amber Dawn Stevens West is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Ashleigh Howard in the ABC Family series ''Greek'' (2007–2011)'','' Maxine in the NBC sitcom ''The Carmichael Show'' (2015–2017), and Claire Davis in the CBS ...

as Amanda *

Pepper Binkley Pepper Binkley is an American actress, performer, writer, and director who works in film, television, theater, and commercials. She was a series regular in the fourth season of 1990s teen drama, '' Fifteen''. Career From 1992 to 1993, Binkley p ...

as Kim *

Catherine Reitman Catherine Marcelle Reitman (; born April 28, 1981) is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and writer. She is the creator, executive producer, writer, and star of the CBC comedy series ''Workin' Moms''. Early life Reitman was born in Los An ...

as Pam *

Baron Vaughn Baron Vaughn (born December 18, 1980) is an American comedian and actor, known for his portrayal of Nwabudike "Bud" Bergstein on the Netflix television series ''Grace and Frankie'' and Tom Servo on the 2017 revival of ''Mystery Science Theater 30 ...

as Andre *

Jillian Clare Jillian Clare (born July 25, 1992) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as pre-teen Abigail "Abby" Deveraux on ''Days of Our Lives,'' Hayley on ''Victorious,'' and her lead role as Lindsey Lou in the film '' Pretty B ...

as Nikki * Adam Chambers as Tony * Brittany Finamore as Julia

Release

Festivals

''The Kitchen'' premiered at the GenArt Film Festival on August 14, 2012. That same year, the film was also selected to screen at the BendFilm Festival, the

Tallgrass Film Festival The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas, specializing in independent films. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver. Gruver was raised in Wichita. He studied filmmaking at Brigham Young University. After c ...

, the Austin Film Festival, the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival, and the Daytona Beach Film Festival.

Theatrical

''The Kitchen'' had its Los Angeles theatrical premiere on March 14, 2013, at Laemmle's NoHo 7 in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchen, The 2012 comedy-drama films 2012 independent films 2012 films American comedy-drama films American independent films Films about birthdays Films shot in Los Angeles 2010s English-language films 2010s American films