Danny Aiello, Edoardo Ballerini, Jamie Harris

Dinner Rush is gourmet cinema, served with a generous helping of culinary panache. After countless commercials, music videos (including Michael Jackson's "Beat It"), and a few obscure features,...( read more  read more... ) director and restaurateur Bob Giraldi casts his own New York eatery as a TriBeCa hot spot where the owner (Danny Aiello) presides over a busy night of fine dining and mob entanglements. He's been a bookmaker for 25 years but he's going legit; his son (Edoardo Ballerini) is a nuovo cuisine genius, eager to inherit the business; the sous-chef (Kirk Acevedo) is deeply in debt to mafia thugs; an art-dealer snob (Mark Margolis) is antagonizing his waitress (Summer Phoenix); a charming stranger (John Corbett) harbors a climactic surprise; and a powerful food critic (Sandra Bernhard) is ready to pounce on any wrong move. In perfect control of this bustling environment, Giraldi directs like a great chef cooks: with Altmanesque delicacy, confident that every ingredient is vital to the success of his creation. It's utterly delicious. --Jeff Shannon

Flixster Users

82% liked it

609 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

44 critics

R, 99 min.

Directed by: Bob Giraldi

Release Date: September 28, 2001

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DVD Release Date: January 21, 2003

Stats: 175 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (175)


  • February 11, 2007
    If you've ever worked at a restaurant, watch this movie. The acting is great, and the storyline is decent.
  • January 17, 2007
    Louis Cropa: You know they say revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
    Gary Lieberman: Served.
    Louis Cropa: What?
    Gary Lieberman: Yes sir. Served cold.

    A small indie comedy involving a restaraunt and mobsters. Mainly about one long night in a popular New York restaraunt, where we see...( read more) all sorts of people, the jerks, a critic, chefs, cooks, waiters, and some mob goombas. The food shown being made looks great, and it's hard to see without becoming hungry. A fun movie with some quirks to make it better along the way.
  • October 17, 2009
    What a GREAT film.This movie shouldve been in theaters
  • April 4, 2009
    I enjoyed seeing how a father and son run a business. Great cooks and the mob part made it interesting. Cooks should not make bets. One never knows who is dining for dinner and bets r serious. So is death.
  • November 14, 2007
    I enjoyed the flick for its restaurant milieu, and ambition to cover the whole movie (after the opening credits) in one dinner seating of a restaurant.

    Most of the restaurant details rang true for me and those that seemed indulgent were at the behest of Hollywood's primary m...( read more)ission of including ridiculous romances with no grounding and feral sex.

    The attempt to play out the story in an 8 hour shift in a restaurant led to shortcuts and holes in storylines. I had to believe the sous chef would actually leave the line during work to screw his gal (whose presently humping the top chef) in 20 degree weather - and I had to do this while listening to some over the top, mawkish, techno -violin piece which I believe was supposed to lend some emotional credibility to it all.

    The music in this movie makes me believe I didn't buy a thing. I was obviously supposed to take it more seriously than the writing allowed.

    I did enjoy the movie, the characters in the restaurant (loved the art critic!) and was entertained.
  • June 16, 2007
    I really enjoyed this movie. Good story, good twists.
  • March 24, 2007
    One of the most under-rated films of recent years. More a dramatic character study than action-y crime thriller (although it does have a great climactic ending) It is reminicent of Gosford Park in that the plot doesn't really matter as much as the characters do. Fantastic in almo...( read more)st every way, and well worth a watch.
  • March 18, 2007
    Another great culinary celluloid work of art
  • March 12, 2007
    One fine dish of a movie, best served with popcorn. Great performances.

Critic Reviews


January 18, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There are enough plots here to challenge a Robert Altman, specialist in interlocking stories, but the director, Bob Giraldi, masters the complexities as if he knows the territory. full review

December 28, 2001
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Benefits enormously from Aiello's down-to-earth magnificence. full review

December 21, 2001
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

It's not Big Night, but there's much worth tasting here. full review

September 28, 2001
David Edelstein, Slate

A marvelously nasty comedy. full review

View more Dinner Rush reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Dinner Rush Trivia


  • The scene in Benny and Joon where Johnny Depp does a dance with dinner rolls was a re-enactment of a scene originally made famous in which silent film?  Answer »
  • This quote is from which movie: “Lee: You are a civilian. In Hong Kong, *I* am Michael Jackson and *you* are Toto. James Carter: You mean Tito! Toto is what we ate for dinner last night!”   Answer »

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