By Ellie Trinkle
It has long been suggested that the power of food transcends beyond simply “tasting good”; it can heal, invite, and inspire. Stephen Chbosky’s new Netflix film “Nonnas” depicts this multitude of food in a heartwarming and tender way. The film follows middle-aged Joe Scaravella, played by Vince Vaughn, whose mother’s recent tragic passing inspires him to open an Italian restaurant in her memory. The catch is that all of the chefs he hires are Italian grandmothers, nonnas, and they are cooking the family meals that are dear to them.
Known for his feel-good, intimate films like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012), “Wonder” (2017), and “Beauty and the Beast” (2017), Chbosky has made excellent contributions to the family-film genre, and “Nonnas” is no exception.
The film oozes compassion. It is based on the true story of Jody Scaravella, who opened his restaurant “Enoteca Maria” in Staten Island in 2007. While the plot may be a bit formulaic and, beyond all the pizza, certainly cheesy, the true story element shines through and gives the film an intimate feel. What you see is what you get, and beyond a simple style and somewhat clichéd tropes, what you see are people coming together through a shared love of food.
When Joe’s mother initially passes away, his childhood friend Bruno (Joe Manganiello) and his wife Stella (Drea de Matteo) attempt to cheer him up. Joe, who works for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), finds his job unfulfilling. One day, Joe takes the ferry from his home in Brooklyn to Staten Island to visit an outdoor Italian market he used to go to with his mother and grandmother. It is here he meets an old Italian woman named Antonella, played by Brenda Vaccaro. While talking to her, he runs into Olivia (Linda Cardellini), Antonella’s neighbor, with whom Joe has an ambiguous teenage past.
As Joe walks back from the ferry, he passes a beat-up old restaurant and notices a “For Sale” sign. Until now, Joe has been cooking to honor his late mother and grandmother, attempting to keep their memory alive through their food. Rather impulsively, Joe purchases the restaurant. His concept? Hire real Italian nonnas to be his cooks and recruit contracting and design assistance from Bruno and Stella. He soon decides to name the restaurant “Enoteca Maria” after his mother.
While Bruno and Stella are initially hesitant, they slowly begin to see that this restaurant is more than a business move for Joe—in fact, he can hardly afford to renovate the place—but instead a way for him to reconnect with his late family members. They agree to help him, and Joe looks for actual nonnas to hire as his chefs.
After some trial and error, he finally solidifies four chefs: Antonella from the market, his mother’s lifelong friend Roberta (Lorraine Bracco), former Nun Teresa (Talia Shire), and his mother’s hairdresser and close family friend Gia (Susan Sarandon). Together, the nonnas bring different dishes and cooking styles from various parts of Italy and are arguably the highlight of the film.
The nonnas provide the audience with moments of both comedy and strong female friendship. However, the nonnas do not initially get along; in one moment, Roberta and Antonella get into such a severe food fight that they accidentally start a kitchen fire. But as the women spend more time cooking together, they begin to become friends.
While the film is full of joyful, hilarious moments, there are also plenty of hardships. Joe struggles to support the restaurant financially and often has to have coworkers at the MTA lie for him so he can spend more time at the restaurant. He is also grieving, and must usually set these emotions aside to develop his business. However, by the end, it feels that all of these hardships have been perfectly wrapped up in a little bow. While this fits with the film’s simpler stylistic approach, it perhaps verges too far on a black and white representation of grief.
Also, the film wants Joe and Olivia to be together from the first screen encounter. I was far more compelled by the nonnas and their lives than by Olivia and Joe’s “will they won’t they” plotline. Joe and Olivia are perfectly likeable characters. However, it felt like the audience was being forced to root for them, and it distracted from the film’s more interesting elements.
“Nonnas” has its flaws, though at its core, it is a tender portrait of grief, food, and family. The ending is undoubtedly heartwarming and reaffirms the film’s strongest elements. Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” scores the last few moments, and while perhaps a bit on the nose, it encapsulates all of the cheesiness into one great slice.
