Nice ingredients, bland result

Charlotte Le Bon (left) and Manish Dayal attend the premiere on Aug 4. Charles Sykes / AP

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We begin in India, where we meet the food-loving Kadam family. During a night of political unrest, their restaurant is torched by a mob. Having lost everything, they end up in France, where, driving along, their brakes fail and they tumble into the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. Family patriarch Papa (Puri) decides this is where they'll open their new restaurant, Maison Mumbai.

Only one problem: Across the street - 100 feet, actually - is the Michelin-starred Le Saule Pleureur, run by Madame Mallory, for whom the word "prickly" seems too mellow. Madame is not happy, first because the intruders play loud music, and second, because, well, she's a snooty Frenchwoman.

So pointedly snooty, in fact, that we instantly know the movie's main plot development will be the gradual un-snootening (that may not be a word) of Madame Mallory. Just as clear: The battle between her and Papa, which involves filling official complaints to the town's mayor, will soften into something much sweeter.

Meanwhile, Papa's handsome son Hassan (Dayal) is becoming enamored of French cooking, helped along by Madame Mallory's fetching sous-chef Marguerite (Le Bon). It is Marguerite who, when the family's brakes failed, stopped on the road to help, stunned them with her super-model beauty, gave them rope to tow their car, and whipped up a fabulous meal in minutes. (This ALWAYS happens with road accidents in France.)

Their budding relationship, though, plays second fiddle to their professional goals. Madame Mallory, recognizing Hassan's talent, asks him to join her kitchen. Suddenly, they're competitors. But Hassan is the clear star. His talent takes him as far as Paris, where he becomes the chef of a flashy restaurant that practices molecular gastronomy. Suddenly, Hassan becomes edgy and hip. He's profiled in top magazines.

But is he truly happy? Can he forget the quaint pleasures of the village where he started, or the gorgeous Marguerite, or the soulful pleasures of simple food?

For the answers, you'll have to see the film, and to be sure, it will be a pleasurable two hours - though lacking, cinematically, in a key ingredient that Hassan, in fact, knows a lot about:

A little spice.

AP

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