Simply Irresistible (film)

Infobox Film
name = Simply Irresistible

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caption = The film's one-sheet poster.
director = Mark Tarlov
producer = Jon Amiel
Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr.
John Fiedler
writer = Judith Roberts
narrator =
starring = Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sean Patrick Flanery
music = Gil Goldstein
cinematography = Robert M. Stevens
editing = Paul Karasick
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = February 5, 1999
runtime = 96 min
country =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0145893

"Simply Irresistible" (1999) is a 20th Century Fox romantic comedy feature film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Amanda Shelton. It was directed by Mark Tarlov and was written by Judith Roberts. This movie is notable as the last one reviewed by film critic Gene Siskel.

Plot

Amanda inherits her late mother's restaurant, but lacks her mother's 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. This special crab is magical and it casts spells, with a wave of its claw. Amanda meets her love interest at the market, Tom Bartlett, a department store manager opening an ambitious new restaurant inside his store. It is never explicitly explained why, but this eventful day transforms Amanda into a miraculous food witch; people who now eat her impressive new dishes fall under her accidental spells (for example, when a teardrop falls into one of the dishes the people eating it end up in tears). These are inspired by her emotions and created with the help of her magic crab. Amanda saves her restaurant overnight, and her relationship with Tom blossoms just as fast. However, Tom, being a career-minded control freak, panics when he realizes not only she is a witch who could be casting spells on him, but that his own emotions are getting the best of him, and he promptly dumps her. When Amanda goes to confront Tom one last time at his office, she witnesses the violent tantrum and resignation of a celebrity French chef hired for the opening of Tom's new restaurant. When it is discovered that Amanda is in fact the hot new chef in town everyone is talking about, she is hired on the spot, despite Tom's protests. Once Amanda overcomes her self-doubts and insecurities, she reaches her full potential as a chef, and the opening is a complete success. Though Tom refuses to taste Amanda's food during the opening, he eventually admits to himself he was wrong to reject Amanda because she made him feel emotional. He finally decides to embrace his feelings for her and goes after her. At the last minute, he reaches her with his own personal magic (a paper airplane), and the two reconcile on the dance floor.

Cast

* Sarah Michelle Gellar as Amanda Shelton
* Sean Patrick Flanery as Tom Bartlett
* Patricia Clarkson as Lois McNally
* Dylan Baker as Jonathan Bendel
* Christopher Durang as Gene O'Reilly
* Larry Gilliard Jr. as Nolan Traynor
* Betty Buckley as Aunt Stella
* Amanda Peet as Chris

Astaire references

The film contains interesting references to four musical films of Fred Astaire:

* "The Belle of New York" (1952): Flanery and Gellar's floating to the ceiling evokes similar scenes involving Astaire and Vera-Ellen.

* "Yolanda and the Thief" (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 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 in the "Shall We Dance" finale.

* " Swing Time" (1936): The layout of the restaurant at the end of the movie closely resembles the restaurant and night club, the "Silver Sandal."

iskel's Last Review

Simply Irresistible was the last film reviewed by one of the world's most famous critics, Gene Siskel. He died soon after on February 20, 1999 at the age of 53.

External links

*"imdb title|id= 0145893|title=Simply Irresistible"