Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Awesome Movie

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

When the chillies in a spice shop get more on screen attention than the leading man in a romance, you've got yourself big, big problems. Here are just a few: She's not allowed to touch a human... SHE'S RUBBING HER COUSIN'S HAND 5 MINUTES IN! Does every Indian now living in San Francisco have a history blighted by parricide!? When a film relies on over 50% of it's dialogue through the source of spoken thought it is corrupt of imagination.On a more general note: Mistress of the Spices is a poor story poorly told. It's cliché ridden; the dialogue is shocking; the acting is unconvincing and the directing woefully one dimensional. Aishwarya Rai does indeed have stunning eyes - but does the camera really need to give us close-ups of them every 4 minutes!? There is nothing to recommend this febrile nonsense. It is patronising to both the Sub-Continent and the West and, as a metaphor, is as involving as if she'd have ran a DIY store. Actually...If you're a fan of film and want to see how to get everything wrong - watch this. If you think time is too precious, have a curry instead - it's infinitely more authentic and satisfying.

Everything was in place for this to be a real benchmark American Bollywood fusion flick (are there enough out there for that to be an actual genre?), but Dylan McDermott was so horribly miscast as Aishwarya Rai's love interest that I was gagging every time they shared the screen. Painfully unwatchable. How oafish, vapid and superficial can a guy be? Really, this film could have been so much more powerful with a more appropriate male lead.The idea of the magic of the spices was a bit of a stretch for me at first, but Aishwarya played it well and carried it off nicely. I liked how the intent of each spice could turn on its head if the rules were not followed. Great colors!Remember folks, listen to the chilies. They should have warned the casting director, heh heh.

This is a strange film. Its inept in nearly all respects. Where it is not is in the beauty of key shots. Everything is framed as a still photograph. The stars are Ms Rai and the colorful shop. Each is rather beautiful and colorful. The shop is something rather wonderful; the set designer must be complimented. To underscore that notion of the importance of colored space, that old chestnut the architect is dragged out as the love interest.The actress is pretty in the beginning and oddly less so later when she tries to be.Oddly, they used a body double for Ms Rai's tummy, which western viewers would expect to be trim.The story is an old one: power, usually magic over love, instead of love. There's a choice and invariably it is for love.Here it has an immigrant twist which hasn't been thought out: the constraints of her craft are crudely conflated with the issues of integrating immigrants.Even the dreadful Penelope Cruz disaster "Woman on Top" about magical love pepper was better.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Maybe I don't know enough about how spices are revered in Indian culture, I felt it did not make me that interested in the spice thing - except that I love Indian cooking! However, after watching Chocolat, I wanted to know a lot more about the Mayan heritage of chocolate and about the folklore behind the 'magic' - the film just inspired that romantic imagery and magic feeling about both Vianne and the chocolate.This film did not inspire very much and I think, considering the premise, could have done a lot more! I don't think Dylan McDermott was the right guy because it was never convincing that she was THAT interested in him to break any rules. I wouldn't have broken any rules for him! :) He just wasn't very charming and the part about his so-called Native American history was almost gratuitous and very unconvincing.Uninspiring and unconvincing...that's how I summarise this film. Nice idea though, just got in the wrong hands for carrying it out, I think.