Dinner Rush (2000) User Reviews

Tasty-looking food steals the show

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 12 January 2005]

The film is about a trendy family restaurant in New York. As one character says..."It's a joint with a buzz!" It's an apt expression, for the film surely buzzes non-stop as the characters crowd into this very popular restaurant noted for its delicious food. Down below the restaurant is the kitchen where the meals are prepared. This is the most stunning part of the film. Absolutely believable. Perfect cinema. Among the steaming saucepans and oiled fry pans there is the clatter of white plates on which the chefs and kitchen staff arrange the most surprising little temptations at lightning speed. The hand of the director is most noticeable here with superb choreographed movement of the actors in the confined space. There is clatter and chatter, laughter and fisticuffs.

The mood is different at the dining tables. Idle gossip among the clients and smart remarks to the staff about the appropriateness of hanging oil paintings in a restaurant. Then there is the presence of the food writers ready to criticize and gangster types insisting on a partnership with the management. It's all go...go...go...as the camera follows the dishes to the tables. There is a perpetual air of excitement.

The cameras constantly switch from dining room to kitchen and kitchen to dining room maintaining a lively feeling of urgency as the trays are carried up the stairs. The dialogue is fast too and I find it sometimes difficult to follow. The large cast requires some sorting out as well.

The ending comes unexpectedly with a surprising twist.

This film is really about revenge. Like some food preparations, revenge can simmer for a long time. One thing is made clear to me however. Revenge as a dish is best served cold.

A brilliant film!

[djhuckel · 7/10 · 4 July 2007]

This film crackles with authenticity. Danny Aiello is great in the lead role as the owner of this eatery, rushed off its feet in the evening rush after the day leading to it. He plays ironically opposite to his oft gangster roles. Well structured with an interesting mix of characters, showing their chemistry with each other, the boss, the son, the dish hands, the restaraunts patrons, and food critic, the lust, and the great character John Corbett plays.

Dinner Rush is well worth a look. I am sure you won't be disappointed if you like films that simmer at a medium temperature so it becomes cooked nicely at the end with a good surprise in the end how it turned out.

A masterpiece in execution

[=G= · 8/10 · 23 January 2003]

Fan a fresh deck of cards with the spots up and the coherence is immediately apparent. Shuffle the deck and coherence is lost...the purpose of the shuffle. In "Dinner Rush", Giraldi and company manage to shuffle a deck of plots, personal issues, and cuisine with the controlled chaos of a restaurant during the dinner rush while never losing coherence, building characters and stories, and wrapping everything up with a bow in just over 1.5 hours. Masterfully crafted, "Dinner Rush" has a story to tell, offers solid performances, works well in claustrophobic conditions, sports a cosmopolitan cast, and is imbued with gourmet cooking and an ever present taste of "the Big Apple". Not for everyone, this flick will appeal most to those who can appreciate a film as much for its execution and style as for its story. (B+)

Precious Like Some Rare Wine!

[demunfallopferseinefrau · 2 September 2003]

"Dinner Rush" has not been released in Germany --- which usually indicates a not very successful B-movie... In this case, it is a B-movie (shot in only 21 days!), but, uuhhh baby, it is one of the best B-movies ever made.

Elegant camera movements, a superb ensemble cast (Danny Aiello, John Corbett, Edoardo Ballerini, Vivian Wu, Sandra Bernhard, Mark Margolis, and beautiful Summer Phoenix), an intriguing story, marvelously directed ... they usually don't make movies like that anymore. Bob Giraldi did an excellent job with his actors, and production designer Andrew Bernard created a stunning atmosphere.

"Dinner Rush" ranks among my all-time favorite films. It might be not suitable for everyone, but then, what movie is? It's an entertaining, witty, thoughtful portrayal of New York of the millennium --- enchanting!

Dessert is a dish best written patiently.

[gainestillinger · 7/10 · 17 August 2009]

Imagine sitting in one of New York's up and coming Italian restaurants, sipping an espresso with some cracking jazz music playing, and watching a pretty damned interesting story unfold. At the main table sits Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello) with his personal assistant. Louis owns the joint and is being intimidated by Black and Blue, two highly contrasting gangsters (despite their names) who want a piece of this highly lucrative business, which is only making this much money in the first place because of Udo, Louis' son, played by Edoardo Ballerini, a super-talented fame hungry chef who is waiting to be given ownership by his father. Not only this, but the souschef chef, Duncan (Louis' favourite chef) is a gambler who owes Black and Blue money, lots of it. AND there's a strange guy at the bar who is watching all of this unfold.

We float around the restauraunt and share in each of the main characters' plights and observing some spectacular looking food being made by tense and lightening fast cooks. We watch through medium shots as if we are at a number of tables around the place, talking with the waitresses and laughing with the bartender as he plays some fun general knowledge games with punters. In fact, the waitresses' night is just as interesting as the main protagonists'. They get hassle galore from pretentious customers who treat them as second class citizens, one customer actually says 'Doesn't it bother you when they (waitresses) tell you their names?' in full earshot of a waitresses name that now escapes me. Nice. Still, it makes for compelling viewing. And of course, amidst and around all of this we still have Louis and Udo, Black and Blue and Duncan getting through the night in various ways. It is this toing and froing between the main plot and the waitresses' subplot that keeps this film vibrant and interesting. We don't mind being pulled away from the main action as it unfolds and are happy to be patient in waiting for the finale.

The end, where a man is shot in the basement toilets makes and nearly breaks the film. It is gratifying and yet badly planned. Considering that it is a professional hit, you would think that they would wait until the mark had left the place and then kill them in an alleyway or something. This does not kill the film by any stretch, but it does leave the end up in the air in more than one way. Still, don't let that stop you from finding out who dies and how and what for; it's a dessert worth waiting for.

Not bad for 21 days' filming!

Brilliant and charming, a bit like a fine restaurant

[claes-bertilson · 9/10 · 2 August 2005]

This is really a hidden gem that should have had a major impact at the cinemas everywhere. It truly is a loss to anyone who misses it.

The characters are charming, obnoxious, familiar, unexpected and with a great many stereotypes this offers a fascinating mix played out at a weird and wonderful pace that switches easily between relaxed and frantic. The character gallery on its own is reason to see this film but the various tracks of the story offers added value not seen as comfortably intertwined in other films for many years. The stories are steered by an amazing screenplay based on non-stop dialogue that places you right at the centre of affairs, or indeed inside the restaurant where 90% of the film is set.

If you enjoy the witty repartee of Smoke or Clerks (although nowhere near as vulgar) then you must see this film.

Danny Aiello is brilliant, so are the majority of the not so well known cast and the supporting role of John Corbett offers a new perspective on an otherwise strong stereotype, almost worth the ticket price itself.

Intelligent comedy

[stensson · 7/10 · 11 July 2002]

The people of New York have been ridiculed before; especially the intellectuals and most of all the art critics, going to flashy restaurants, being mean to everyone. This film is one of the nastiest attacks on these kind of people, but it's also an attack of the other New York clichées such as the Irish police captains, Queens' mobsters, chic waitresses and chefs de la cuisine, who are serving their poor guests unbelieveable (an probably uneatable) dishes, in the hope of getting mentioned by the most famous restaurant critics.

This is a New York to be laughed at, but the plot is interesting, intelligent and rather surprising in the end. What one remembers is the satire. It's not the first time you watch that, but definitely one of the most clever ones.

I absolutely love this film.......

[nitesr2long · 9/10 · 18 July 2005]

This is one the rare gems of independent cinema.

I wish more people had seen this when it came out. It is a beautifully shot film about the life of a restaurant on a busy night. But there is so much more to this film. It combines a fascinating mob element that you don't fully understand until the end with the delicate flair of a master chef combining ingredients in a meal. The ending is immensely surprising and gratifying. All the performances are believable, especially Corbett who is in his best film. It is the dynamic of a trendy restaurant dealing with a record-breaking night, however that makes this film superb. It takes so many lives and elements and brings them together with aplomb. This is one of the best films in recent years.

Feed the greedy

[timothyhilditch · 7/10 · 31 December 2021]

A New York Diner has a busy night, feeding the high class of society. As we follow different staff and patrons through the high and lows of the night. Excellent writing and the themes of the new replacing the old echo the dawn of the new century and the end of the Italian new Yorker. The night starts off slow but once I realised that tonights the night and everything was part of the build up I was all aboard for the 3 course dinner. The music is weird in the intro but once the night starts all is forgotten.

Danny Aiello Hits Again

[SmoothGrooves · 9/10 · 17 June 2005]

I found this gem in the bargain bin at Wal Mart. How it got there, I don't know. The film stars Danny Aiello (Do The Right Thing), Mike McGlone (The Brothers McMullen) and John Corbett (Sex and the City). Set in the fast paced New York Italian restaurant "Gigino", we follow a restaurant owner (Aiello) and his son, the head chef, on a busy Friday night. The film is comprised of witty banter from different tables in the restaurant, following a uptight art critic, a mafiosi from Queens, a food critic and a real mystery man in Corbett's character. The staff has to deal with a power outage, whiny tables and a line chef who is into a bookie 35 grand. The film carries itself with panache every second, and no matter how often I see this picture, be it on DVD or on IFC, I just can't get enough. Check it out!

Amiable performances, good nature, and well crafted drama mixed to a nice blend of a movie

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 29 September 2001]

That somewhat corny statement aside, Dinner Rush is a good movie. Not great, but certainly something to go to when you may feel tired of movies that leave a bad taste in your mouth (if at all, this film might encourage you to go to a fancy Italian restaurant). Anywho, the film weaves interconnecting plots involving a aging ex-mobster type (Danny Aiello in one of his better performances) who wants to get out of the numbers and restaurant businesses for good, a chef (Edoallero Ballerini) who wants to take over sed restaurant, and many other characters revolving on one night in the restaurant leading up to a surprising climax. Some flaws keep this from being a direct hit (Sandra Bernhard for one thing), but it is a pleasant enough dramedy to fulfil most people's entertainment values. B+

Dinner Rush goes straight into my all-time Top 10

[tenten76 · 10/10 · 4 October 2002]

I didn't think they made movies like this anymore.

The only thing wrong with this movie is the lack of marketing. Otherwise, it's superb on so many levels, and the ending (even though I knew what was coming) was a happy surprise.

Every single performance is good, with most of them actually great. The script is faultless, as is the plot, the pacing, and the directing. Even though it's a less-flashy style than in 99% or the movies these days, it's wonderful to be able to appreciate really good camerawork, clear dialogue, perfect editing..

I don't want to go into great detail, because the movie is such a pleasure to watch. I just hope this may convince you to see Dinner Rush, because it's quite possibly the best film of the year. I am now going to pester friends & colleagues to rent it, until I can actually buy it and then force them to watch.

Witty restaurant scenes can't help non-plot

[kylog · 6/10 · 7 January 2004]

The good of this movie is the generally fine acting from a large ensemble cast coupled with the realistic portrayal of life inside a fine-dining restaurant. On the latter, the witty quick-dialog scenes were often hilarious and we were wishing we had it on dvd to catch some stuff that flew by too quickly. The pompous art critic's table is hilarious, the kitchen scenes are terrific, the old world / new world clashes with Danny Aiello are fine, etc.

The bad of this movie is that the plot is incoherent; as the second half progresses we kept looking at each other, asking "why is this happening?". And then it lapses into ludicrous sentimentalism to end: the hip, quick indie dialog worked great, the "gee pop I love you" s*** at the end was just risible.

Probably worth a 6/10, not a bad rental if you're out of ideas but don't go out of your way to see it. People who've worked the fine dining restaurant biz may get a kick out of it, but my sister's comment was "god I feel like I'm at work!".

PS Someone asked about the title: a "rush" at a store means a lot of business, so dinner rush is what was going on that night. The place was "slammed".

Another gambling debt gone wrong movie

[filmfan-49 · 3/10 · 27 April 2001]

Although this film has a terrific cast and assured directing, it's just another take on the Italian mob life which we've seen ad nauseum. I wish they all had been given something better to work with. And you're left on your own to figure out the characters' motivations - which isn't difficult, since we're all too familiar with not only the story, but the characters, too.

I LOVED this movie!!

[Evedammit · 8 July 2003]

Excellent filmmaking and acting meshed so fine. Great character study of people too. Danny Aiello is wonderful as usual. Eduardo Ballerini ("Udo"), slammed such as impression on me! And Summer Phoenix is AMAZING as the patient but put upon waitress Marti. And I loved/hated the art critic jerk. Sandra Bernhardt as usual, a fun to watch bi*ch. I applauded John Corbett's character.As for the chefs' domain, the pace and stress in the kitchen's so palpable. (As someone who once got canned after 2 days in a nursing home kitchen of all places, I so appreciate the stress they endure!) Screw any mobster's presence, if I lived in NY, I'd wanna go down right now to a Tribeca restaurant like this after seeing Dinner Rush!

Average Restaurant Drama

[dromasca · 7/10 · 6 May 2003]

'Dinner Rush' (can someone explain me the title?) belongs to a genre that had some remarkable successes in the last few years - the restaurant drama. Yes, there is such a genre, and it had a few highs - especially in the Japanese and Taiwanese cinema. This one is located in Manhattan, in an expensive Italian restaurant. Almost all the action happens in one evening, which may be the result of an adaptation of a play (just guessing). A Mafia story, and a multitude of interesting and generally well articulated characters interfere. However, the whole story is never interesting and compelling enough, and while enjoying the good acting I was left with a feeling of lack of consistency. The action was not interesting enough, the directing was not stylish enough, and even the food did not seem tasty enough to justify an evening to this movie. 7/10 on my personal scale.

Delicious Slice of One Night of NY Restaurant Life

[noralee · 8/10 · 28 October 2005]

"Dinner Rush" will inevitably be compared to "Big Night," and other food preparation/restaurant movies, but I think it holds its own as a delicious slice of one night of New York life. As one character plotzes: "When did eating out become theater?"

The wonderful, winsome multi-ethnic ensemble of mostly New York actors --many born in Brooklyn according to the IMDb--who have done a lot of TV work are clearly enjoying making a movie as a coordinated team. Danny Aiello has his best, and somewhat similar, role since "City Hall."

Many of the references may go over the heads of those West of the Hudson or East of the East River, whether to Tribeca (as a newly trendy neighborhood) or Danny Meyer (restaurant entrepreneur). Or even the digs at Queens as the home of mobsters, which were greeted by silence by the Queens audience I saw it with.

The upstairs/downstairs of the kitchen scrambles vs. the dining pleasures and everyone's personal spices are lots of fun. The actors playing obnoxious customers, like Sandra Bernhard, do so with relish but not overplayed.

Keep your palate clear by not looking at the ad campaign or reading the reviews, as I think they give the plot away and I was totally surprised by the ending, er, the dessert.

(originally written 9/29/2001)

Too stereotypical

[rjc739 · 6/10 · 2 January 2005]

Why does every ethnic movie have to be so stereotypical? You have the tough, old, street-wise, Italian restaurant owner who's paid his dues, the young, hard-nosed restaurant chef who thinks he is nothing short of god, the insulting restaurant customer who demands special treatment because he's waited 45 minutes, the young mob thugs who only know how to eat, curse and threaten, the bartender who knows every bit of trivia on the planet, the handsome guy sitting at the bar, the young gay maitre'de, the young waiters/waitresses with insecurity issues, etc. Nothing much going on in this movie, just the workings one night in a restaurant. Camera goes back and forth to the owner, the kitchen, the irate customer, the restaurant critic, the mob thugs, the bartender and back again and again without a great deal happening: the director is trying to create the feeling in the restaurant by clogging your head. We get the point. I thought something good was going to happen when a restaurant critic (Sandra Bernhardt) walked in and sat down and the chef had to shift into high gear, but Sandra just sat there and slopped her food up and didn't say much. One of the chefs is a gambler and has to listen to the game as he cooks. Right away you can see what is going to happen. He loses all his money and flips out. Original. There are some attempts to create tension and suspense but they fall short. One of the cooks sneaks outside for a break with one of the girl tablesitters and they decide to have sex with their clothes on up against a wall in sub-freezing temperatures. Boring. Nothing in this movie will grab you. Albeit, Danny Aiello is one of my favorite actors and he does a good job here.

A table just for you

[Ed-Shullivan · 9/10 · 7 January 2014]

The only negative comment I could make about this superbly crafted (and casted) movie gem would be the movie's title DINNER RUSH. If I was the producer I would have re-titled the picture "A TABLE JUST FOR YOU". Why this title name change? Because I actually felt like I was sitting in the New York Tribeca area restaurant named Gigino's. What a fantastic job by Director Bob Giraldi to make everyone feel as if they were actually having a meal at this fine Italian eatery. (Apparently Bob Giraldi actually owns the restaurant where the film was shot.) So what makes this movie rate a 9 out of 10? Heck, I would have given it a 10 but the only thing Giraldi could not pull off was to provide me with just one of the hundreds of beautiful meals prepared throughout the movie. I could almost smell and taste the authenticity of the food all the cooks were preparing in the kitchen. mmmmmmmm

As for the acting I can't say enough about this all star cast. Danny Aiello, a personal thank you for bringing the character of Louis Cropa to life. As the owner of Gigino's, Louis Cropa loses his business partner early in the movie as a result of a cold blooded murder. Thus setting the stage for the criminal element to demand a table at Gigino's with the intent to extort a big piece of the ownership away from Louis Cropa the sole survivor owner.

Also wonderfully cast as Louis's son and his head chef Udo, is Edoardo Ballerini. Controversy and tension between father and son plays out due to the head chef's menu choices. Udo prefers to wow his dinner guests with flare and presentation whereas Udo's father Louis recognizes the traditional fare of tomato sauce and meatballs which made his restaurant a mainstay in the Tribeca area. Also coming between Udo and his father Louis, is the Sous Chef named Duncan, who is a habitual gambler, played to perfection by Kirk Acevedo. His performance stands out because of the challenges he faces between mentoring some of the new chefs, preparing the fabulous meals he is known for, his relationship with the hostess who he loves, and the demons that keep him gambling well above his means to pay his debt to the gangsters who are sitting upstairs waiting to devour more than just their freebie nine course dinner.

There are so many great characters in this film, too many to mention. The ending of the film is one of the best I have seen. I would hate it if someone spoiled it for me so suffice to say the ending "is a dessert best served cold."

This movie rates a 9 out of 10, but if Giraldi brings me a meal, I will give it a 10. Bon appetite! Enjoy!

One busy night in a Restaurant

[shashank_1501 · 7/10 · 31 August 2023]

A hidden gem I would say. Once you start watching this movie, you'll never notice how smoothly you've passed 100 mins of your life. Just some random conversations at various tables, kitchen and bar counter of an Italian restaurant at the mob hit streets of New York. A good blend of family drama with the spice of love, revenge and violence.

Danny Aiello as Louis Cropa fits perfectly to his role of a mob boss ready to leave everything behind.

Summer Phoenix looks stunning as a waitress.

And one can't say why they have John Corbett in this movie till the end comes.

Watch this when you are hungry!!!

Please eat something before you start watching this!

[imseeg · 8/10 · 4 May 2018]

"Dinner Rush" stars Danny Aiello as the lead character who plays a lauded chef close to retirement. He doesnt want to pass on his restaurant to his son however, and for the biggest part the movie focusses on this father/son theme. The other theme comes with a "warning:" eat before you start watching this movie, because the other theme of this movie is the love for food. This movie WILL make you yearn for food, so unless you wanna pause the movie halfway through, I strongly suggest you eat beforehand or have food ready while watching it.

Nowadays you get bombarded with tv series about food, but back in 2000 this media food hype was just starting to devellop. This movie whizzes through the kitchen as if the camera was one of the chefs. The frenetic energy, the shouting, the praise and whining of the snobistic clientele, everything that comes along running a high powered famous kitchen is being filmed excellently.

Acting is paramount in any picture, but who better then Danny Aiello could perform the portrait of a wise old chef! This actor is to die for. The director seems to be in the restaurant business himself so the love for food in "Dinner Rush" didnt come from a stranger.

But there is MUCH more to this picture than just another great energetic portrait of an italian top restaurant with a father hesitant to let his son take over the business. The story rather slowly does become a tale with a surprising thrilling climax in the very end. Give this picture some time is my advice. You will be rewarded in the end. To avoid spoilers I wont go into details but let me assure you, that this movie won over my heart by this powerful unexpected emotional climax near the end.

"...Revenge is a dish, best served cold..."

A Great Film Nobody Heard Of

[ebuhrer-2 · 10/10 · 5 December 2007]

Great acting, slice-of-restaurant-life, kind of like THE SOPRANOS OPEN A RESTAURANT MEETS THE FOOD CHANNEL. Excellent acting by Danny Aiella and some little-known actors and the filming must have been done in a real restaurant. It reminded me of a really great Italian restaurant in Clifton, New Jersey and another in Monterey, California. It also made me miss the Italian neighborhood I grew up in in Jersey. And you will definitely NOT guess the ending, I promise you. It will also give you a different and new perspective on people who work on Wall Street. Evidently, they're not all dorks with accounting degrees. But he really SHOULD burn that tie!

Microcosm of Mob Ties and Father-Son Struggles in a Trendy Eatery

[EUyeshima · 5/10 · 17 May 2008]

If you like to flip the channel dexterously between "The Sopranos" and the Food Network, this 2000 movie may be for you. Directed by Bob Giraldi, who is still probably most famous for directing a pre-surgery Michael Jackson in his "Beat It" video, the story is set in one evening almost entirely within the confines of a trendy downtown Manhattan restaurant in the trendy TriBeCa neighborhood. Giraldi succeeds in developing and maintaining a sense of combustible energy when it comes to an upscale restaurant's inner workings. He should know since he is part-owner of several such restaurants of which the one featured, Gigino Trattoria, is one. By comparison, the film feels less assured when it comes to the cross currents of its multiple dramatic elements.

Although the movie has an omnibus feel about it, the plot primarily focuses on the inevitable conflicts between Louis, the old-school owner and Udo, his ambitious, hotshot chef son. It helps that Danny Aiello plays Louis in such an economical fashion as he can make his character's melodramatic situation convincing - quitting a bookmaking side-business that got his partner killed and handing over the reigns of the eatery to his son. Screenwriters Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata have crafted a tight script, though there is a cursory feel to the film that gives us a Robert Altman-like hodgepodge of eccentric characters. Their lives are shuffled between courses with some odd casting choices that somehow work, for example, Sandra Bernhard as a harpy food critic in a bad wig and John Corbett as a deceptively casual bar regular.

Edoardo Ballerini is not particularly interesting as Udo, but Kirk Acevedo provides jumpy energy to Duncan, the sous-chef whose gambling debt has a domino effect on the rest of the characters. The mob angle is played up with stock characters embodied by Mike McGlone and Alex Corrado as two obvious hoods, and there is even a pretentious dinner party headed by a pompous art gallery owner portrayed with obnoxious languor by Mark Margolis. However, it is the hustle of the food preparation in the kitchen when the film really takes off, in particular, when Udo creates a sensational-looking, customized lobster tower for Bernhard's character. It's surprising that Giraldi has not made more films, but at least he sticks with his obvious passion and comes up with an often-interesting dish that I have to believe Anthony Bourdain would love.

A real feast

[SamiAknine · 1 April 2002]

Well, this movie certainly gives you an appetite. For that, and for many other reasons, it reminds me of Stanley Tucci's `Bight Night', another culinary gem put on the big screen. Not only do both movies show a great deal of food making and food eating but most importantly both do it beautifully. Both stories also happen in one night. But although `Big Night' features a failing Italian restaurant whose owners (two Italian-American brothers) are trying to revive with one special night, `Dinner Rush' transports us to an already successful and very trendy New York eatery (Italian as well, which confirms that Italian food can be a great inspiration for movie making). The food in `Dinner Rush' is more sophisticated (nouvelle cuisine, Italian style) than the traditional cuisine of `Big Night', and so is the movie itself: compared with the simplicity of the cinematography in Stanley Tucci's film, `Dinner Rush' opens with unfocused shots, saturated colors, unsteady camera work. It all looks very contrived at first and you wish for a more demure and simple atmosphere, the same way Louis Cropa (played by Danny Aiello) disapproved of his son's fussy cuisine, asking for something more nourishing, something that simply smells and tastes good. And that's exactly what you could ask from Bob Giraldi, the director of `Dinner Rush'. But once you get inside Cropa's restaurant, you're drawn to the warmth of the place, the rush of the night, the relationships among the staff and the show that some of the patrons put on (Sandra Bernhard is extremely funny as a wig-wearing food critic and the actor who plays the obnoxious art manager is hysterical). You become fond of characters such as Marti the waitress/artist (great performance by Summer Phoenix), Duncan, the sous-chef/chronic gambler, the English barman with whose cultural knowledge the customers bet and loose their money on, but most of all Louis Croppa, alias Gigi, the owner of the restaurants who's thinking of quitting both the restaurant and his bookmaking business. Danny Aiello is an amazing and under-used actor and with this performance he really hits the mark. He's cool, subtle, wise, tough and gentle. It's simply impossible no to succumb to the charm of this unpretentious film and all you want to do when you leave the cinema is fly to New York and have a true Italian dinner experience in lower Manhattan.

Excellent look at New York City restaurant life

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 6 February 2013]

"Dinner Rush" is a 2000 film starring Danny Aiello, Edoardo Ballerini, John Corbett, Polly Draper, Kirk Acevedo, and Sandra Bernhard, directed by Bob Giraldi, and written by Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata.

The story concerns a very trendy Soho restaurant owned by Louis Cropa; his son Udo (Ballerini) is the popular chef, who makes nouvelle cuisine with an Italian slant. The place is packed to the rafters every night, though Louis doesn't really approve of these dishes, which are not straight down the line Italian. Udo wants to take over the restaurant but so far, his father is resistant.

We learn the history of the place early on -- Louis and his partner were low-level bookies using the restaurant as a front, and when some thugs from Queens wanted a partnership in the restaurant, Louis' partner refused them and is later killed on the street. Louis no longer takes bets and has turned legitimate. However, he can't control Duncan (Acevedo), who works at the restaurant and is a compulsive gambler, now into these same guys for $13,000. On this particular night, the queens thugs come into the restaurant on the invitation of Louis; but he has also invited a police detective (Walt MacPherson) and his wife to be his guests for dinner.

What makes this film is the atmosphere, a very typical one for an upscale restaurant with repeat, high profile clientèle. The wait staff is incredibly gracious to some very demanding customers, and there are many perks if you had to wait too long in line or if the boss knows you.

The kitchen, however, is like the wild west, with all kinds of screaming and throwing things, and Udo losing his temper. It's all absolutely perfect and really makes you feel as if you're there.

The performances are excellent, from Aiello's underplayed, honest performance, to John Corbett relaxing at the bar and talking to a woman there to meet someone who doesn't show, to Ballerini's intense, artistic Udo, proud of his accomplishments, and finally to Aceveda's messed up Duncan, working and trying to listen to a race at the same time, realizing it's another bad bet, and meeting his girlfriend for stolen moments on the fire escape.

The end of the film, though I expected some of it, changes the atmosphere drastically in seconds.

Truly fantastic film that took me through something I experienced many times while living in New York. Highly recommended.