big night (stanley tucci, 1996)
i love this little indie number from the 90s and watch it every so often. great screenplay, great cast (really great cast), and so much love of food.
followed by
bottle shock (somebody, 2008)
as a movie it’s somewhat of a cornball dipped in melted cheese, not good, but it fictionalizes the famous “judgment of paris” where california wines first beat the frenchies... and they have beaten them again and again. [see:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080213...7719%2C00.html ]
alan rickman in it was fun as usual, but best part of it all was eliza dushku as tavern wench
“five by five, B.”
ps- apparently the guy who directed this also did that cbgb movie i saw the other day. i really don’t like his style. maybe rickman did. but he panders way too fucking much. maybe that’s the only way to make small indies these days: turn it into a hallmark movie