Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by María Ripoll. The screenplay by Tom Musca, Ramón Menéndez and Vera Blasi is based on the film Eat Drink Man Woman, which was written by Hui-Ling Wang, Ang Lee, and James Schamus.

Plot
Semi-retired Mexican-American chef Martin Naranjo (Héctor Elizondo) shares a suburban Los Angeles home with his three adult daughters. Although he has lost the senses of smell and taste since his wife's death, he still cooks elaborate, multi-course meals for his family and friends. The women humor their father's old-fashioned ways, but each is searching for fulfillment outside the family circle. Leticia (played by Elizabeth Peña), the oldest and most conservative of the three, is a repressed high school chemistry teacher who abandoned Catholicism to become a born-again Christian. Middle daughter Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) shares her father's passion for food but has stifled her dream of owning a restaurant in favor of pursuing a more stable career as a business analyst. Maribel (Tamara Mello), the youngest, is hip and slightly rebellious.

Frequently present in the Naranjo home are newly divorced family friend Yolanda (Constance Marie), her young daughter April (Marisabel García), and her visiting mother Hortensia (Raquel Welch), who has set her sights on Martin and is determined to make him her next husband, unaware his attention is focused on someone else.

Maribel is drawn to handsome Brazilian student Andy (Nikolai Kinski) after her co-worker rejects him and, after they briefly date, she invites him home for dinner, during which she blithely announces she is moving in with him, much to her father's consternation and Andy's shock, since they never had discussed elevating their somewhat casual relationship to this next level. Before long she is rearranging his small apartment and unintentionally making him increasingly uncomfortable as she imposes herself in his life.

Meanwhile, Leticia finds herself attracted to Orlando Castillo (Paul Rodriguez), who coaches baseball at her school, when she begins to receive passionate love letters she believes are from him, unaware they actually were written by her students. Carmen is offered a high-profile job in Barcelona, and half-heartedly agrees to accept it, although soon after her father drives her to the airport she returns home, determined to follow in her father's footsteps and open a restaurant of her own.

Leticia and Orlando elope, Maribel and Andy break up and reunite, Martin marries Yolanda, and everyone gathers for a family meal at Carmen's new restaurant.

Cast

 * Héctor Elizondo as Martin Naranjo
 * Jacqueline Obradors as Carmen Naranjo
 * Elizabeth Peña as Leticia Naranjo
 * Tamara Mello as Maribel Naranjo
 * Raquel Welch as Hortensia
 * Paul Rodriguez as Orlando Castillo
 * Constance Marie as Yolanda
 * Marisabel García as April
 * Nikolai Kinski as Andy
 * Julio Oscar Mechoso as Gomez
 * Judy Herrera as Eden
 * Ken Marino as Jeff
 * Troy Ruptash as Hairdresser
 * Louis Crugnali as Catering Assistant
 * Joel Joan as Antonio Urgell
 * Ulises Cuadra as Snide Student (as Ulysses Cuadra)
 * Mark de la Cruz as April's Classmate
 * Eli Russell Linnetz as April's Classmate
 * Stoney Westmoreland as Baseball Umpire
 * Karen Dyer as Rachel
 * Anthony C Sena as Chef/Wait Staff

Production
The film was shot on location in El Segundo, California, USA and Los Angeles, California, USA The meals featured in the film were prepared by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger who, as hosts of the Food Network program Too Hot Tamales, introduced viewers to their contemporary take on traditional Mexican cuisine. The Production Design was by the Argentine designer Alicia Maccarone.

The film's soundtrack includes "Sem contenção" by Bebel Gilberto, "Cuchi-Cuchi" and "Si estuvieras aquí" by Los Amigos Invisibles, "A bailar" by Patricio Castillo, "Si en un final" by Eliades Ochoa, "Call Waiting" by Zap Mama, "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" by Lila Downs, "Les Portes Du Souvenir" by Les Nubians, and "Amado mío" by Pink Martini.

Critical response
The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 72 critics, with an average rating of 6.38/10. The consensus reads, "An English remake of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, Tortilla Soup is as charming and flavorful as the dishes it features."

Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times called the film "forgettable" and "as predictable as a fast-food restaurant." Although he thought it "has more warm, likable actors and agile performances than this material merits," he felt their "exuberance goes a long way, but not far enough."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a warm human comedy that has no great deep message but simply makes us feel good" and added, "Tortilla Soup follows a familiar formula, in which the movie opens with everyone unmarried and we suspect it will have to end with everyone happily paired-off. But the movie is cast so well that the actors bring life to their predictable destinies, and Elizondo casts a kind of magical warm spell over them all."

Ken Eisner of Variety called the film a "warm-blooded winner with equal emphasis placed on taste buds and heartstrings" and continued, "Easy to swallow is the decision to completely avoid issues of ethnic and economic conflict, making this genuine crowd-pleaser an utterly gang-and-drug-free look at Hispanic subculture. And it's one that all families can relate to - especially at dinnertime.

Awards and nominations
Elizabeth Peña tied with Elpidia Carrillo in Bread and Roses for the ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, and the film tied with Bread and Roses for the Imagen Foundation Award for Best Feature Film.

Home media
The film was released on DVD on January 15, 2002. It is in fullscreen format with audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish. There are no bonus features.