neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Tortilla Soup
	Maria Ripoli Hector Elizondo, Jacqueline Obradors, Tamara Mello, Constance Marie, Paul Rodriguez, Elizabeth Peña, Raquel Welch 2001 In English, Spanish; widescreen; pan & scan; closed caption; Chinese, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, English subtitles.		It feels like a pilot for a sitcom, and may ultimately be one. This comical interlude with Mexican-American widower Martin (the ever-reliable Hector Elizondo) and his three grown, unmarried daughters is actually an American remake of the delightful Taiwanese film "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman." All of the girls still live at home with Dad, a respected master of ethnic haute cuisine whose sense of taste is deserting him. As much as they love their father, uptight teacher and eldest sister Leticia (Elizabeth Peña), savvy businesswoman and wannabe chef Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) and button-cute slacker and youngest sister Maribel (Tamara Mello) each long to spread their wings and fly the coop. While confronting his failing taste buds and his discontented progeny, Dad is also fending off the sexual advances of an aggressive widow (Raquel Welch, lookin' good) who fancies him. Although it suffers when you weigh it against its source material, the remake, in English and some subtitled Spanish, has its moments.