THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250076
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 62 lines
``THE BIG NIGHT'' is guaranteed to make you want to rush out for one of those scrumptious, high-calorie Italian meals. It presents cooking, and the enjoyment of the resulting food, as a work of art.
This modest, bittersweet drama involves two Italian-immigrant brothers, Secondo and Primo Pilaggi, who are desperately trying to make a go of it in their small New Jersey restaurant in the 1950s. The older brother is an artiste in the kitchen, proud of his sauces and pasta in the way Michelangelo was proud of his ceiling. The younger is a handsome guy with an eye for the women, and a yearning for quick, American-style, success.
The sad-faced brothers are frustrated in that the customers flock, instead, to the mass-oriented Italian restaurant across the way, run by their feisty competitor (Ian Holm).
The brothers can't pay the bank loan and are desperate when they risk everything on a big dinner to entertain famous band leader Louis Prima (who, at this point in his life, apparently had not married Norfolk native Keely Smith who would become his famous singer). Preparations for the dinner are lovingly photographed in the most appetizing screen meal since ``Babette's Feast.''
The film arrives at Lynnhaven Mall's lower level theater with quite amazing critical credentials, having won several film festival awards and New York reviews that one might save for the next great screen masterpiece. Unfortunately, it is yet another case of critics desperately seeking a character-driven film to counter all the pop noise that has otherwise dominated the movie scene this year.
``The Big Night'' is a fine example of character delineation but it moves at a snail's pace. (In fact, it would have been appropriate if the chefs had served snails).
Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott (son of legendary actors George C. Scott and the late Colleen Dewhurst) co-directed. Tucci also plays the younger, handsome brother, who is reluctant to commit to his long-suffering girlfriend (Minnie Driver of ``Circle of Friends'') and also has an affair with Holm's mistress (Isabella Rossellini, daughter of screen legend Ingrid Bergman).
Will the dinner be a success? Will the restaurant be saved? Will Louis Prima show up?
We are persuaded to care about the heartbreaking commitment of the immigrants while we spend what seems like an endless time waiting for Prima.
``The Big Night'' is a character driven little film that has a commendable message and believable characters but it is surely not for the impatient. Even though we care, and pull for the brothers through every course of their meal, the one hour and 47 minute running time seems much longer.
Having found some fine actors and a well-written script, the co-directors should also have hired an editor. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Big Night''
Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Minnie
Driver, Ian Holm, Campbell Scott
Directors and Writers: Stanley Tucci, Campbell Scott
MPAA rating: R (language, several sexual situations)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Location: Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach (lower level) by CNB