Big Night

My love of good Italian food is in my DNA. My grandparents on my father’s side were full-blooded Sicilian, so I grew up loving everything about one of the world’s greatest cuisines. It should come as no surprise then that seeing a movie like 1996’s Big Night always fills me up like the biggest and best Italian meal.

The story is set on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s where two brothers—who have immigrated from Italy—run a restaurant called Paradise. One of the brothers is Primo, played by Tony Shalhoub. He’s a brilliant chef who creates unmatched Italian delicacies. His younger brother is Secondo, played by Stanley Tucci. He manages the restaurant. Tucci, by the way, also co-wrote the screenplay. Watching him here, you can see the roots of his current role as an Italian food and wine connoisseur in books and on television.

The interplay between Primo and Secondo is wonderful. Primo is fed up with the low-brow expectations of what his American customers think Italian food should taste like. He wants to return to Rome where his skills for preparing authentic Italian food will be fully appreciated. Secondo, however, loves America. He sees it as the land of opportunity for them.

Unfortunately, as good as their Paradise restaurant is, it’s failing. Customers aren’t coming. Instead, they’re packing another Italian restaurant that’s nearby. The food served there is mediocre—exactly the kind of uninspired Americanized Italian fare that makes Primo irate.

Desperate to keep their Paradise open, Secondo approaches the owner of the rival restaurant and asks for a loan. Instead, the rival—who wishes that the brothers would come work for him—offers to help in another way. He offers to persuade the popular jazz singer and bandleader Louie Prima—whom he says he knows personally—to come to Paradise for dinner. He says that Prima’s visit will create splashy publicity that will save the brothers by bringing a lot of new customers to their restaurant.

The brothers readily agree to the plan and pull out all the stops for the big night when Prima and his band are expected for dinner. They spend all their money getting Paradise ready for the grand event. But the main event, of course, happens in the kitchen where Primo creates the greatest feast of his career, including a timpano pasta dish that will have your eyes popping and your stomach starving for a plate of it.

The drama of what happens as the night unfolds is equally delicious, filled with great warmth and tender humor.

In addition to Shalhoub and Tucci, the heaven-sent cast includes Ian Holm, Minnie Driver and Isabella Rossellini. And the soundtrack of classic Italian-American songs is pitch perfect as well!

This Sicilian gives Big Night a big, delicious four out of four stars.  And if you haven’t tried making any recipes from one of Stanley Tucci’s cookbooks, what are you waiting for? They are tutto bene!