Let's Eat: light meal instead of a feast

Mediocre. That is how I would want to summarize Chapman To's directorial debut: Let's Eat. I really appreciate his decision to based his movie in Malaysia, and his effort in enrolling HK, Singaporean and local star in his movie, but obviously it is not enough to lift this dish to another level.


The story is a simple love in the kitchen story, central around the main chef in Ah Yong's Cafe (obviously it Colliseum in KL which are, in real life, famous for its steak and chops), who specialize in Hainan chicken rice. His rigid use of top quality ingredient earned him loyal customers but in return, the restaurant earning can barely support its workers. Enter the owner's daughter, fresh from oversea to make administrative changes to the cafe. The bulk of the show tells the clash between the two, with one fixed on test-and-tried way of cooking while the other insists on changes to boost the profit. When things go south due to an online food critic, both have to settle their difference and come together to enter a cooking competition in order to save the restaurant.




Run of the mill CNY movie storyline, I would say. No surprise there, I can even safely say that everyone expected that the 2 leads will end up together at the end of the show, even though their age gap is so obvious. Though it is far from a bad movie, it is rather mundane and no breakthrough at all. The script is average with a few moments of humour, largely supplied by one half of FAMA duo, C Kwan. The direction is good, considering it is Chapman To's debut, but there are few sequence felt tedious and stretchy. The cooking sequence, however, is actually nicely shot; I actually felt that To could actually cook based on the screenshot. The pace, however, felt draggy at time, with nothing much happening in between. Probably the movie had to make space for the advertiser, with non related mentions of MyMotor and Ruyi& Lyn.


CNY had been forgiving on many bad Chinese movies. Let's Eat is far from being a bad movie, it is a rather good mediocre movie. However, it will face stiff competition at the boxoffice. For a meaningful and polished film, I would definitely go for Ola Bola. For the crowds who wanted humour, I've heard From Vegas to Macau is funny enough albeit storyline that borders to challenge our intelligence. Probably I will wait for Stephen Chow's Mermaid. On the other hand, Chapman To had shown so much potential on the director's chair, I cant wait for his next work.

Ratings: 2 half poink~!
comments: light offering, but the cooking sequence is so nicely done that they makes me hungry..