blanche-2 "Dinner Rush" is a 2000 film starring Danny Aiello, Edoardo Ballerini, John Corbett, Polly Draper, Kirk Acevedo, and Sandra Bernhard, directed by Bob Giraldi, and written by Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata.The story concerns a very trendy Soho restaurant owned by Louis Cropa; his son Udo (Ballerini) is the popular chef, who makes nouvelle cuisine with an Italian slant. The place is packed to the rafters every night, though Louis doesn't really approve of these dishes, which are not straight down the line Italian. Udo wants to take over the restaurant but so far, his father is resistant.We learn the history of the place early on -- Louis and his partner were low-level bookies using the restaurant as a front, and when some thugs from Queens wanted a partnership in the restaurant, Louis' partner refused them and is later killed on the street. Louis no longer takes bets and has turned legitimate. However, he can't control Duncan (Acevedo), who works at the restaurant and is a compulsive gambler, now into these same guys for $13,000. On this particular night, the queens thugs come into the restaurant on the invitation of Louis; but he has also invited a police detective (Walt MacPherson) and his wife to be his guests for dinner.What makes this film is the atmosphere, a very typical one for an upscale restaurant with repeat, high profile clientèle. The wait staff is incredibly gracious to some very demanding customers, and there are many perks if you had to wait too long in line or if the boss knows you.The kitchen, however, is like the wild west, with all kinds of screaming and throwing things, and Udo losing his temper. It's all absolutely perfect and really makes you feel as if you're there.The performances are excellent, from Aiello's underplayed, honest performance, to John Corbett relaxing at the bar and talking to a woman there to meet someone who doesn't show, to Ballerini's intense, artistic Udo, proud of his accomplishments, and finally to Aceveda's messed up Duncan, working and trying to listen to a race at the same time, realizing it's another bad bet, and meeting his girlfriend for stolen moments on the fire escape.The end of the film, though I expected some of it, changes the atmosphere drastically in seconds.Truly fantastic film that took me through something I experienced many times while living in New York. Highly recommended.

gainestillinger Imagine sitting in one of New York's up and coming Italian restaurants, sipping an espresso with some cracking jazz music playing, and watching a pretty damned interesting story unfold. At the main table sits Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello) with his personal assistant. Louis owns the joint and is being intimidated by Black and Blue, two highly contrasting gangsters (despite their names) who want a piece of this highly lucrative business, which is only making this much money in the first place because of Udo, Louis' son, played by Edoardo Ballerini, a super-talented fame hungry chef who is waiting to be given ownership by his father. Not only this, but the souschef chef, Duncan (Louis' favourite chef) is a gambler who owes Black and Blue money, lots of it. AND there's a strange guy at the bar who is watching all of this unfold.We float around the restauraunt and share in each of the main characters' plights and observing some spectacular looking food being made by tense and lightening fast cooks. We watch through medium shots as if we are at a number of tables around the place, talking with the waitresses and laughing with the bartender as he plays some fun general knowledge games with punters. In fact, the waitresses' night is just as interesting as the main protagonists'. They get hassle galore from pretentious customers who treat them as second class citizens, one customer actually says 'Doesn't it bother you when they (waitresses) tell you their names?' in full earshot of a waitresses name that now escapes me. Nice. Still, it makes for compelling viewing. And of course, amidst and around all of this we still have Louis and Udo, Black and Blue and Duncan getting through the night in various ways. It is this toing and froing between the main plot and the waitresses' subplot that keeps this film vibrant and interesting. We don't mind being pulled away from the main action as it unfolds and are happy to be patient in waiting for the finale.The end, where a man is shot in the basement toilets makes and nearly breaks the film. It is gratifying and yet badly planned. Considering that it is a professional hit, you would think that they would wait until the mark had left the place and then kill them in an alleyway or something. This does not kill the film by any stretch, but it does leave the end up in the air in more than one way. Still, don't let that stop you from finding out who dies and how and what for; it's a dessert worth waiting for.Not bad for 21 days' filming!

CaliManDan35 I usually don't write reviews or comments. But I felt like commenting about this movie, mainly because I'm seeing all good comments about it.I thought, this movie was absolutely terrible, and boring. Please hear me out and don't think I'm a troll...this was just my honest opinion on the movie.I watched it for the first time tonight from beginning to end. The entire 1 hour and 40 minutes was basically just talking talking talking talking....no drama or anything. Don't get me wrong, I love good dialogue in movies, but this movie just did not interest me in the least.It basically just follows from one table to the next as people carry on conversations and then ends with two guys getting whacked. You have an old guy who all movie, all he does is talk about paintings. Then you have a smart-ass cook who doesn't care about anybody and he listens to his basketball games on the radio. You've got the guy at the bar who sits there all movie (until the end) talking and drinking. You've got the bartender who takes bets on if he knows the answers to questions or not.At about 50 minutes in the movie comes the very first bit of drama. The chef Duncan decides to poison the mobsters food. After 50 minutes of being bored, my interest perked up a bit. So he puts rat poison in their food...gives it to a waitress and tells her to give it to the mobsters. Then as she's walking up the stairs he changes his mind, grabs the plate from her and throws it away and then tells the other cook to cook the same food up again, this time with no poison. I was like "are you kidding" I understand people have different opinions and interests but I just can't believe this movie was rated so high (7.3) I rated it a 1. Because it did not interest me at all, I thought it was boring, I thought most of the acting was bad and the story went absolutely no where.Now I understand most people who liked the movie will call me a troll, and I admit my review is a bit harsh, but this is just how I feel.

djhuckel This film crackles with authenticity. Danny Aiello is great in the lead role as the owner of this eatery, rushed off its feet in the evening rush after the day leading to it. He plays ironically opposite to his oft gangster roles. Well structured with an interesting mix of characters, showing their chemistry with each other, the boss, the son, the dish hands, the restaraunts patrons, and food critic, the lust, and the great character John Corbett plays.Dinner Rush is well worth a look. I am sure you won't be disappointed if you like films that simmer at a medium temperature so it becomes cooked nicely at the end with a good surprise in the end how it turned out.