Latest news with #StephenChbosky
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
In "Nonnas," recipes are love letters
Everyone has a nostalgia-soaked dish from childhood they wish they could recreate. But for one reason or another — a discontinued ingredient, a lack of skill, no written recipe, or a recipe riddled with 'grandmother measurements' (a pinch of this, an eyeball of that) — it remains just out of reach. You might land on something intoxicatingly close, but still frustratingly lacking. Grandmothers, after all, are notorious for secret ingredients, something to make their cannelloni stand out from all the other nonnas on the block. Trying to erase the space between the version we remember and the version we make often becomes one way to honor their love after they're gone. That tension, that ache, underpins the opening of 'Nonnas,' the new Netflix film from director Stephen Chbosky and writer Liz Maccie. Inspired by the real-life story of Joe Scaravella — who opened Staten Island's Enoteca Maria in honor of his late mother, with a rotating cast of real grandmothers as chefs — the film reframes food not as metaphor, but memory. We begin in Brooklyn, 40 years ago. A young boy, Joe, rushes to grab a number at an Italian bakery as the camera glides through a 'Chef's Table'-style symphony of sweets: a cannoli being filled, a tiramisu being dusted, cases of pignoli, red-and-green Neapolitan cookies, steaming zeppole. At home, Sunday dinner is underway. Joe's mother and grandmother are hand-cutting fresh fettuccine, simmering Sunday gravy with torn basil. (When Joe asks how much to use, she shrugs and says, 'You feel in your heart. You put in your heart.') The table is soon heaving with plates of meatballs, crystal bowls of grated Parm, trays of lasagna with crisped edges. There's wine, children, arguments over whether it's called sauce or gravy and a yellow-and-white gingham Mr. Coffee percolator — just like the one that sat in my grandmother's kitchen. It's all sunlit, noisy, and full of life. A moment that feels like it could stretch on forever. As Joe's grandmother says, 'No one grows old at the table.' But of course, it doesn't last. We shift forward 40 years. Joe (played by Vince Vaughn), now older, sits at his mother's wake. The table is full again — spinach-and-ricotta stuffed shells, scungilli with 18 cloves of garlic, cassatas — but this time, it's sympathy food. His mother is gone, and her sauce is, too. In his grief, Joe tries to make it himself, alone in his dark kitchen. The attempt falls short. It's beautiful. It's sad. And that's just the first nine minutes of the film. Because here's the thing, in 'Nonnas,' food isn't a revelation. It's a reality. From the very first scene — hands deep in dough, conversation unfolding not in words but in glances and gestures — the film operates on the quiet assumption that food has always been a bridge between people. A vessel for memory. A balm for grief. This isn't one of those stories where, three-quarters of the way through, someone realizes that Mom's blackberry pie was the key to healing all along. There's no culinary epiphany waiting in the wings. The women in 'Nonnas' already know what food can do. They live it. They've lived it. The drama isn't in discovering food's power—it's in reckoning with its limits. What happens when cooking together doesn't solve the hurt? When feeding someone can't undo what's been lost? The film doesn't pretend that food can heal everything. But it suggests, with remarkable tenderness, that it might be enough to soften the sharpest parts. It's a love letter to food as a love letter. And like all the best love letters, it's rooted in attention. Not in grand declarations, but in presence. In watching closely and letting the details speak. 'If you saw Liz's script, the first three pages were like a phone book,' Chbosky told me via a Zoom call following the film's premiere. 'It was thick, full of detail about food. She was so specific in the way she described it. We had a wonderful DP, Florian Ballhaus, who did a great job and we even got a little extra resources to shoot some extra food, which made a big difference.' But honestly, Chbosky said, it was all about showing that kid's face in the first scene: Young Joe watching his mom and nonna in the kitchen. 'But honestly, it's all about showing that kid's face — just looking,' he continued. 'We all have that sense memory of the mystery of the kitchen, how something's happening that we don't understand. So we focus on Theo's (actor Theodore Helm's) face, looking at the pasta being rolled and cut, the mysteries being answered. You just have to show that face and the food, and the audience does the rest. Food is such a primal experience; if I asked anyone what they remember most from childhood, I guarantee food is part of those memories. You don't have to do much more, just show it because it's something we all share.' For Chbosky, whose past films include 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'Wonder,' the heart of the film is less about spectacle and more about specificity. 'The more specific you can be, oddly, the more universal the story becomes,' he said. And in 'Nonnas,' that specificity came straight from screenwriter Liz Maccie — who also happens to be his wife. Maccie describes herself as coming from a 'very loud, crazy Italian-American family' where food was central to everything, from Sunday dinners to funerals. 'For me, it's my aunt,' Maccie told me. 'She was really like my nonna. She was twenty years older than my mom and basically helped raise me. Her lasagna took three days to make. Literally. You'd hear these specific Tupperware containers coming out of the closet and think, 'Oh my God, it's lasagna.' The sauce, the noodles—it was a whole process. She put so much love and attention into it. And then it would take ten minutes to eat. It's a whole thing. Now, I make it once a year for my family on Christmas Eve. It's my kids' favorite.' That kind of memory — stamped with sound and scent, containers and care—carries with it a quiet truth: love was part of the recipe, yes, but so was labor. Nonnas doesn't shy away from that. The film reveres these women not for their perfection or their myth, but for their work. It lingers on their hands, their rituals, their fatigue. And in doing so, it offers something rare in mainstream movies: a cinematic thank-you to the women who fed us, who nurtured us, who gave so much of themselves to everyone else. It's nostalgia, yes, but it's also recognition. A celebration of love that was cooked, stirred and served warm. Over and over and over again. 'And it'll be their forever memory,' Chbosky added of the couple's children. 'Mom's Christmas Eve lasagna.' Maccie's obsession with detail didn't stop at the food. The dialogue about food is just as textured — funny, familiar and deeply specific. There's one line, for instance, where Vince Vaughn's Joe asks Lorraine Bracco's character, Roberta, about his grandmother's Sunday sauce. 'That's like asking to see a woman's mundate!' she snaps. The line feels lived-in because it is. 'That's how my family talked,' Maccie said, laughing. She gestured at Chbosky's Zoom square. 'He married into it. So he can attest to this. These people talk. With their hands. Loudly. If you didn't grow up in it, it probably seems totally cuckoo. And it is a little cuckoo. But when you're inside it, they just say the craziest, funniest things—especially in serious moments.' She paused, then added, 'We just laughed so much with each other. That's really what I drew from.' That sense of inherited joy — of language and legacy passed down through kitchens and car rides and Sunday sauce — brought 'Nonnas' to life. And working on the film deepened the bond between its married creators in ways neither of them expected. Maccie said collaborating on such a personal story reminded them what matters most: 'family,' she said. 'Not just the people you're related to, but also your friends, your neighbors, your community. Working on this movie together really strengthened those bonds. It's just beautiful.' Chbosky nodded. 'I can relate to that. And for me, I knew Liz wrote the movie as a love letter to her mom, her aunt and her family. And I directed it as my love letter to her. I don't know how many husbands get the chance to film their wife's family diary, but I did. And it made me appreciate Liz even more. There's just no way around it. It was really special.' "Nonnas" is now streaming on Netflix.
Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Nonnas movie review: Netflix cooks up flavourless fusion of Kal Ho Naa Ho's Jaya Bachchan storyline with Vince Vaughn's charm
For a movie about food, Nonnas needed to be tastier. The Netflix comedy drama is directed by Stephen Chbosky, who remains best known for helming the film adaptation of his own novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It stars Vince Vaughn as Joey, a middle-aged man who deals with the grief of losing his mother by opening an Italian restaurant in his neighbourhood. He has no idea on how to run a food business, but then, he doesn't seem to have a grip on anything else, either. Joey's probably in his 50s, single, working a dead-end job, and utterly unfulfilled in life. Perhaps as an excuse to hold on to his past but also take baby steps towards an uncertain future, he spends all of his inheritance on purchasing a ramshackle spot in New Jersey. Joined by his best friend Bruno, played by Joe Manganiello, Joey sets about renovating the place and turning it into a warm Italian restaurant where the local community can enjoy home-style meals. His winning idea is to hire grandmothers, or 'nonnas', as the chefs. The movie hits all the beats you'd expect, and adheres to genre conventions with the dedication of a line cook at McDonald's following the SOPs. Also read – The Four Seasons review: The Friends reunion you never got; Tina Fey and Steve Carell's Netflix show is a star-studded misfire While Joey deals with many of the same traumas and tribulations as Carmy from The Bear, the film couldn't be more different from that show. While The Bear is a boundary-pushing blast of originality, Nonnas is like a home-cooked meal; comforting and familiar. For some audiences, this would be completely satisfying. But those looking for a more adventurous experience might leave feeling unstimulated. Chbosky gets the cast to dial their performances up to 11; the 'nonnas' are played by legendary stars Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise), Talia Shire (The Godfather) and Brenda Vaccaro (Midnight Cowboy). They're given their own arcs, but these characters are about as thin as a ginger julienne. If you squint hard enough, the entire plot of Nonnas can be compared to the Jaya Bachchan storyline in Kal Ho Naa Ho, in which Shah Rukh Khan's 'farishta' helps a group of Indian women set up a restaurant in New York City. You'll find that most of that film's characters have counterparts in Nonnas; for instance, Sarandon's character, a pastry specialist, is a lot like Lillete Dubey's character from Kal Ho Naa Ho. There are, of course, emotional overlaps between the two movies as well. But enough has been said about the shared cultural idiosyncrasies of Indians and Italians. This might be a curious observation, but the food itself isn't given much respect in the movie. The 'nonnas' speak about their signature canolis and capuzzelles, but barring a few stray shots, we don't really see the dishes in their full glory. Remember how Jon Favreau filmed Cuban sandwiches in Chef? Or how memorable the omelette in the final of Big Night was? Speaking of that all-time classic — Big Night is perhaps the single greatest food movie ever made — Nonnas makes a reference to it by getting one of its co-directors, Campbell Scott, to make a cameo. He plays a food critic who shows up in the third act. But Joey doesn't need the validation of the press; what he needs is the support of the community. And, for a while, they have their reasons to doubt him. But there is no such thing as an obstacle in a movie like this. Either through blind chance or sheer luck, Joey jumps over every hurdle that Liz Maccie's screenplay throws in his way. For 50 years, people looked at him with pity, but all he needed was to find his calling. Read more – Unfrosted movie review: Jerry Seinfeld's zany comedy satirises Netflix's obsession with snackable content In movies like this, cuisine is a conduit to character development. Joey comes to terms with his mother's death; he develops a bond with the locals, and generates employment for women who'd been put to pasture. And despite Vaughn's uncharacteristically one-note performance, some of his irrepressible charm seeps through. We even get a break-up of sorts, but not the kind you'd expect. That being said, it's unclear who this movie is meant for. Perhaps middle-aged men and women of Joey's age, or audiences looking to relax after a long day at work? Or maybe it's targeted at the folks who enjoyed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its equally well-made sequel. For them, Nonnas will be no less empowering as a superhero movie is for teenage boys. Nonnas Director – Stephen Chbosky Cast – Vince Vaughn, Linda Cardellini, Joe Manganiello, Susan Sarandon, Talia Shire, Lorraine Bracco, Drea De Mateo, Brenda Vaccaro Rating – 2.5/5 Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police. You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More
Tom's Guide
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Netflix's new Vince Vaughn drama is the perfect Mother's Day watch — and it really surprised me
Netflix has just added a heartwarming new drama all about food and family that's based on a true story. If you needed a break from the streaming service's high-octane releases — the likes of "Exterritorial" or "Havoc" — I'd seriously recommend turning to "Nonnas," a new drama that just arrived on the streamer on May 9. Directed by Stephen Chbosky ("The Perks of Being a Wallflower") and written by Liz Maccie, "Nonnas" is a feel-good drama. It centers on an everyday guy who takes the plunge on a bold new business venture: opening a restaurant to serve up home-cooking whipped up in-house entirely by a team of Italian grandmothers (hence the title). If you've spotted "Nonnas" on Netflix and are trying to suss out whether it's worth watching, you can find a little more info — and my full take on the movie — below. Stephen Chbosky's "Nonnas" revolves around born-and-bred Brooklynite Joe (Vince Vaughn), an affable everyman who turns to his family's generations-old recipes for comfort after losing his mother and grandmother. In doing so, he hatches a plan to share that feeling with the community. Using the money from his mother's insurance, Joe purchases an old restaurant in Staten Island. With that money and a little help from his closest friends, Joe reopens the joint as Enoteca Maria, an old-school restaurant with food served up by four grandmothers from different cities in Italy. It's no easy task, but everyone involved stands to be transformed by the restaurant and the comforts it offers. In addition to Vaughn, "Nonnas" also stars Linda Cardellini, Susan Sarandon, Joe Manganiello, Drea de Matteo, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, and Talia Shire. Going in, I felt like I knew what I was getting with "Nonnas", and my predictions weren't far off. As a movie, it has all the tried-and-true beats of this kind of feel-good watch: the bills are piling up, the restaurant's future looks uncertain, there are personal challenges and pasts recuperated, and friends that pull together when the goings get tough. However, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed my time with "Nonnas" despite that familiar feel. Sure, this is schmaltzy, saccharine viewing, but the sentimentality still works because it's all earnestly performed and solidly written. Vaughn is on fine form in the lead role, but the Nonnas themselves are the true stars, each bringing tons of personality to their respective roles and in turn bouncing off and/or supporting one another with ease. "Nonnas," ultimately, is Netflix in crowd-pleaser mode, but that's no bad thing. If you needed a movie to stream for Mother's Day, "Nonnas" feels practically purpose-built for that exact purpose. If you can forgive the cliches or some questionable New York on-screen geography, you should be in for a good time. It's not the greatest movie anyone will ever watch, but if you're after some easy viewing that your average viewer will be on board with, "Nonnas" should go down as easy as a nice glass of vino. Just don't watch it on an empty stomach; the food all looks mouth-wateringly good. It's not just me who enjoyed "Nonnas", either; the movie seems to have struck a chord with critics, too, judging by that 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes it held at the time of writing (aggregated from a total of 15 reviews). For example, Entertainment Weekly critic Jordan Hoffman summed "Nonnas" up as a "good vibe Netflix comedy" and graded it B+, writing: "Formulaic, dare-I-say-sappy movies, when done right, can be really good, and Nonnas is one such example." Reviewing for Collider, Nate Richard rated "Nonnas" 7/10, writing: "Nonnas most definitely will not go down as one of the best movies of the year, but it is the kind of movie that is perfect to watch with your loved one over the holiday weekend. It's talented cast and tender heart do a lot of the heavy lifting, but it's the kind of movie the mothers in your family will absolutely love." If you could use a little uplift or need to fill a lazy Sunday with a comfort watch, you should stream "Nonnas" on Netflix this weekend. But if you're really not sold on the new movie and still need something to watch, we can help; check out our round-up of all the best movies on Netflix for tons more streaming recommendations for your next movie night.
Hindustan Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Paresh Rawal clarifies his 'colleague' remark for Akshay Kumar: Matha kharab ho gaya, yaar
The Vince Vaughn movie ?Nonnas,? streaming on Netflix, aims for cinematic comfort with a heartwarming true story and a cast of veteran Italian American actors. While predictable and clichéd, it showcases earnestness and kindness. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, the film focuses on Joe Scaravella opening a Staten Island restaurant with grandmothers as chefs, but misses deeper character exploration. Rated PG, it runs 111 minutes.
Wall Street Journal
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Nonnas' Review: Vince Vaughn's Healing Recipe
'Being John Malkovich,' with its outlandish script by Charlie Kaufman, was one of the more creative and twisted concepts ever to make its way to the screen. So how about a spinoff called 'Being Vince Vaughn'? No. Vince Vaughn is usually being Vince Vaughn. But then something like 'Nonnas' comes along and one detects a tampering with the recipe. A dash of poignancy? An intimation of mortality? Based on an actual New York restaurant that hired genuine grandmas to cook genuine Italian food, 'Nonnas' is directed by Stephen Chbosky ('The Perks of Being a Wallflower'; the film version of 'Dear Evan Hansen') with undistilled sincerity and dollops of goo. But Mr. Vaughn's Joe Scaravella, who seems to hew quite closely to the story's real-life restaurateur, is free of Vaughn-ish smirk. He approaches pathos.
