The One Hundred-Foot Journey (Lasse Hallström, 2014)

Director Hallström does not need to break a sweat directing this feelgood fairytale concoction, seeing as he already did outsiders moving into an insular small French town and winning over the locals through the magic of food in Chocolat. This time the outsiders are an Indian family fleeing trouble in Mumbai and led by their obdurate patriarch to set up their restaurant right across the road from a snooty Michelin-starred establishment. This naturally precipitates a clash of cultures.
It's a sure-fire banker, with the Spielberg/Winfrey producers' seal of saccharinity. The trope of food as a font of memory is deemed deep enough to be revisited over and over again, while immersion in either traditional French or traditional Indian cuisine remains strictly superficial and the younger romantic leads rather lightweight. Thankfully, Helen Mirren and Om Puri are there to lend some class as the feuding seniors, and the film's best moments are all to do with them trying to cattily outmanoeuvre each other. It's a shame that an imminent break-out of love will never allow this to continue, just as you know Puri's son will return to his roots after dipping a toe into the world of stardom in nouvelle cuisine. Pleasant and undemanding sustenance, then.

5/10