Movie Review: ‘Nonnas’ is a Pure Comfort Meal

Director: Stephen Chbosky
Writers: Liz Maccie, Jody Scaravella
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire

Synopsis: After losing his beloved mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual grandmothers as the chefs.

It’s their attention to detail. Very rarely does a film that uses food as a canvas for storytelling suffer from losing the audience’s attention. Think about it—the unveiling of the great timpano in Big Night, the way Jon Favreau’s Carl Casper carefully crafts a beautiful meal before confronting Oliver Platt’s food critic in Chef, or even in animation, how Anton Ego takes his first bite of Remy’s titular dish in Ratatouille. Even the smallest scenes, like the meticulous way Paul Sorvino thinly slices garlic with a razor blade in Goodfellas, show how food can ground a story in texture, memory, and meaning.

I felt the same warmth in Netflix’s new film Nonnas when they invited Joey to the counter to watch his Nonna make the gravy. You can almost smell the basil and taste the sweetness of the tomatoes, and watching piles of food being devoured by happy family members is a delight to behold. (I especially relate to the guy who took four slices of lasagna with a single spatula.) Nonnas bring the feeling of nostalgia, and how good it is to tell a story, and have the power to bring back overwhelming memories, good or bad, all that matters is that you relive them without regrets. 

The story of Nonnas follows Joe (Vince Vaughn), who is grieving the recent loss of his mother. To make matters worse, he misses his grandmother, his beloved “Nonna,” as well. In an effort to reconnect with his roots, Joe turns to generations-old recipes for solace, comfort, and, frankly, the kind of direction only the elder women in a strong family can provide. He’s not alone—he has a support system, including his best friend Bruno (Magic Mike’s Joe Manganiello) and his wife Stella (Drea de Matteo), who bring him food and invite him over for dinner.

Joe also visits his mom’s best friend, Roberta (The Sopranos’ Lorraine Bracco), at her care facility. She gives him a letter, telling him to read it “when the time is right.” As the nights grow longer and his sense of purpose drifts, Joe finds closure by using his mother’s insurance money to open a restaurant. With the help of her lifelong friends, he launches Enoteca Maria—a kitchen staffed by four “nonnas,” each representing a different region of Italy and bringing their own culinary traditions and nostalgia to every plate.

Nonnas was directed by Stephen Chbosky, best known for helming one of the greatest coming-of-age films of the 21st century, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as the unfairly maligned Dear Evan Hansen. Working from a script by his wife, Liz Maccie (Siren), the film is based on the true story of American chef Joe Scaravella—a restaurateur best known for establishing the real-life restaurant featured in the film in 2007, where rotating “nonnas” regularly prepare traditional home-cooked meals.

Before you start questioning if this is a way for Mr. Scaravella to get around child labor laws by “hiring” older adults to chain them to a kitchen island to keep them working for free, Nonnas is delightful, filled with heartfelt messaging, and makes for a good family film about honoring those we’ve lost and celebrating the wisdom of our elders. The film is poignant, while yes, being a little bit manipulative, but never crossing that line fully. In fact, it’s warm, bubbly, and affirming in a way that most streaming films lose the concept of quickly in order to fit an algorithm narrative. 

Nonnas is rich in meaning, wanting to honor the way one was raised and shaped, which happens through not just one, but multiple generations. It’s the equivalent of a warm family dinner that has trouble closing the distance when it comes to themes of grief, loss, and mindfulness. The script is a highly fictionalized take on the true story, but that is most films, clearly slanted for crowd-pleasing viewing with comedic takes, like when Bracco refers to Craigslist as “The List of Craig.” Of course, it could be all true, how would I know? I hope two old nonnas started a food fight, using tomatoes and garlic as grenades in the name of team building. 

The cast is the ticket here, including Bracco, Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise), Talia Shire (The Godfather), Brenda Vaccaro (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and Linda Cardellini (Green Book). They hit the right notes, along with classic feel-good tropes, that make this a nostalgia machine for any age, group, or family. Everything about those dinner scenes, the banter, laughs, arguments, and camaraderie on screen, is mouth-watering entertainment, even though the film is not as authentically meaningful in themes as the dishes they present. 

You can stream Nonnas only on Netflix.

Grade: B