Big Night shouldn’t have worked as a film. At the time, long before the days of the Food Network and a consistent rotation of Gordon Ramsey led competition/rehabilitation reality shows, a movie about a failing restaurant didn’t exactly jump to the top of my must-watch pile, even if I was drowning in free video rentals at the time.
The cast was mostly unknown. I was familiar with co-director Campbell Scott, who also had a brief appearance in the film, thanks to his turn as Steve Dunn in the (for me) much beloved 1992 film Singles, but while that film had actual members of Pearl Jam and a soundtrack featuring many of the best musical acts of that time, Big Night had Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci as the leads. That guy from Wings? And who?
Looking back on everything in hindsight, it’s obvious that the cast is simply amazing. While I only recognized Shalhoub for his comedic turn in that NBC comedy, it was obvious, even in that supporting role, the man had talent to spare. Soon enough we’d be able to add the prefix Emmy-Winning to his name whenever it was spoken. His talent shines through in Big Night. As the shy, talented chef Primo, we understand his frustration at people not respecting the quality of his food and his anger at having to cook for them. Hardly a misunderstood genius, he just wants the opportunity to do the thing that he came over from Italy to do, and the titular event is what will allow him to shine.
The same goes for Stanley Tucci. While he is now an Emmy and Oscar nominee, at the time of Big Night’s creation he was just another frustrated actor longing for parts that could showcase what he could do. (Notice a theme here?) Along with co-writer Joseph Tropiano he put a showcase part for him right there on the page and co-directed it himself alongside Scott. His Secondo is the showman of the brothers. He’s got a beautiful girlfriend (Minnie Driver), a second girlfriend who happens to be married to his competitor (Isabella Rossellin) and an actual friendship with that man (Ian Holm). He serves at the front of the house, using his charming personality to offset the distemper of his more culinary skilled brother. But he also recognizes that their restaurant, often nearly empty, is going to go under soon if he doesn’t do something about it.
And as the brothers work to bring together the big night that will hopefully save them, we are treated to a culinary delight in the making. I’d never heard of Timpano before, but I most certainly went immediately to the web to see how to make it. I didn’t grow up with a culinary curiosity. I ate what was fed to me and was happy. I didn’t begin to explore my palette until my mid-twenties, when steady paying jobs actually allowed me to shop for more than cereal and Hamburger Helper. While I made rather mediocre dishes for quite some time, I never forgot the look on the faces of Primo’s patrons as they saw the suckling pig or bit into one of his creations. I wanted people to react to my food that way.
In the years since I’ve discovered handfuls of other wonderful films that have been focused on the art of cooking, from Eat Drink Man Woman to Babettte’s Feast to Chef, but I must thank Big Night for lighting this particular fire.
Rated 4 out of 5 Stars
