Simply Irresistible

In this romantic comedy, Sarah Michelle Gellar (a/k/a Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has the magical ability to whip up mood food -- à la Like Water for Chocolate. Her Amanda is a downtrodden chef with a nonexistent love life in a dumpy little bistro -- which is on the brink of financial ruin. How and why she ascertains her supernatural skill set is a bit sketchy, though she's aided by an impish cabbie and a stoic crab that refuses to end up in the pot. It's courtesy of a pugnacious assault by that same crab that Amanda meets Mr. Right in the form of Tom (Sean Patrick Flannery looking like a maniacal Michael J. Fox with a George Hamilton tan and a botched hair cut), the dreamy owner of a chic, midtown eatery. But things don't click until Tom digs into some of Amanda's culinary delights. Despite all the sure-to-please cinematic spices (witchcraft, sex, romance, and slapstick) the film tosses into the kettle, what's served up is insipid, maudlin mush. And the bizarre score can only be described as a blend of elevator music and background drone from bad '70s TV melodramas. In short, Simply Irresistible is anything but.

-- Tom Meek