Dinner Rush (2000)

This is another film that I was told that I would like and that I should review it for you. This one wasn't an instant view on Netflix but I got the disc in the mail and here it is for you...

Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello) is a restaurateur in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. The restaurant has also been a sports book (illegal betting facility) for many years. Cropa has always been rumored to having mafia/mob ties but he, of course, denies it. The movie opens with a flash-back of the good old days when he and his partners were starting the restaurant from scratch. The movie quickly shows the history of the restaurant and the problems they faced with other bookies and at least one New York mob.  As the credits roll and we are brought to today. The music is very disturbing and I felt like I was starting to watch a television drama or a show like Cheers with the "theme music." The movie quickly gets back on track after the awkward music and we meet Cropa's son Udo (Edoardo Ballerini) who is now the restaurant's master chef and actually runs the restaurant though father Louis is still the owner. The entire movie after the opening credits take place on one night at the restaurant...what a night. The movie is very involved and the characters are all great. There is a fledgling artist who works as a waitress while her art adorns the walls she patrols, there is a sous chef who has a terrible gambling problem and gets involved with the wrong guys who stop on by, there is a bartender who knows more trivia than the show Jeopardy. There are several interesting customers from: a wall-street trader, a couple of gangsters, a food critic, a food "nymph, an art critic and his artist friends and a police detective and his wife. I wanted to know more about each and every one of the restaurant staff ans patrons so I was happy to follow along. Most of the film takes place in the restaurant though there are so many story lines and interesting people that you are always on the edge of your seat. There were some twists and turns but nothing completely surprising; it didn't matter. The movie was fantastic. Thanks TLJ...it was a great recommendation and now I pass it along to everybody who reads this. If I have to give it stars I say 4 1/2 stars.