Rating: 
Summary: Gave me a craving for Chinese take-away
Review: EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN has been given such consistently superlative reviews that mine is likely to be pilloried. Oh, well, sticks and stones, and all that.Widower and Master Chef Chu lives in Taipei with his three unattached daughters, Jia-Ning (the youngest), Jia-Chien, and Jia-Jen (the oldest). Chu lives to cook, principally as Head Chef in a prestigious city hotel, but also for his family. Indeed, the only contact he has with his offspring is over the gargantuan, gourmet meal he cooks every Sunday. Even then, however, familial interaction is at a minimum, and should a daughter reveal an important event in her life with the declaration, "I have an announcement", there's no subsequent discussion or paternal interest. As for himself, aging Chu is losing zest for life. Even his sense of taste is fading. Meanwhile, his daughters are looking for love. Jia-Jen, still traumatized from being dumped years previous, teaches chemistry at a men's college, and otherwise finds solace in a Christian brotherhood. Jia-Ning works at a Wendy's (yup, that American fast-food Wendy's), and thinks her best friend's boyfriend is hot. Jia-Chien, an up and coming international airline executive, is attracted to the company's new business negotiator. Trouble is, he's the one that broke Jia-Jen's heart. I mentioned to my wife that one of the best things about foreign films is the chance to see places we're likely never to visit, e.g. Taipei, Taiwan. Moreover, she responded, one sees that life elsewhere is pretty much like life over here. (I guess the Wendy's made a big impression.) Maybe that's my problem with the film. Though the acting is consistently excellent, and all the daughters pretty and worthy of audience sympathy, the movie as a whole, while congenial enough and providing a few chuckles, wasn't notably dramatic, humorous, or clever. I might as well have been spying on the mundane lives of the next door neighbors. Building a story around food has been done before, albeit with other cuisines. Even towards the film's end, when Old Dad chimes in with his own surprising "I have an announcement", the stir it causes passes swiftly. And his lack of overt connection with his daughters is like an airless vacuum. Only at the very end, with Jia-Chien, does his reserve crack a tiny bit. I wanted more of an emotional catharsis. The best part of EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN is the food. The scenes of Chu preparing his gourmet delicacies, blessedly without a single fortune cookie in sight, approach being fascinating. And they certainly left me with a craving for orange-flavored chicken - my favorite.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 Lives Mix Well And Serve
Review: This is a movie about a widowed man and his love of his three daughters. This is not your typical film of a man who has just lost his wife, but is more a tale of the life long after her death. The main story is really that of each person's love life, and how their lives effect each other. The father is master chief who has lost all his sense of taste, the oldest daughter who is a cynical school teacher who refuses to fall in love, the middle daughter who is more about her carrier then that of love, and the youngest who's choices in love change her entire life. This movie takes the four lives of the family, mixes them together, and comes out with one very great movie. Watch the movie with subtitles. The movie is an exciting and moving look into the lives of very special family as they each move, and grow.
Rating: 
Summary: Eat, Drink My Kind of Movie
Review: I really enjoyed this movie for several reasons. First, I could watch a skilled cook for hours. The technique just fascinates me. The second reason is that the actors created such a variety of personalities. I guess partly that's a product of the screenplay, but the actors had to have the skills and they do. Because the family is so close, the personality differences really charge the interactions. You become fascinated by watching how they will react to the situations and each other. When the movie came out in the theaters, I admit I shied away because Asia sent all these "sensuality" movies out with the same hype. So, I just shrugged it off. But I've been renting a lot of Asian movies in the last year, and the number of choices at my video store is getting smaller. That is what made me give this movie a chance. And I'm glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: A Nation of Cuisine
Review: I have watched this movie for a dozen times, and each time I felt the power of food in Chinese culture - one that is compared with the power of sexuality. Americans will not spend more than couple of hours cooking and eating while we spend all night making love. In Chinese style, people spend more time on dining table than on the bed. I would say that we are different people, and I admit that the food was so irresistable. They concentrate on how they prepare for food, and so do they prepare for their love life - patience and philosophical. Master Chu put all his soul in every dish he cooks, and use the same way to treat his family and friend. When he proposed to Ching-Rong, a classmate of his own daughter, he was prepared and determined. The same style he deals with his cuisines. Same with other comments, I suggest you to have some food before watching this one. Also, if you don't understand the Chinese language, I suggest you to rent or buy another movie, "Tortilla Soup." It is made in Hollywood, but is a total transplant from Ang Lee's creation. It is not as good, but somehow gets the soul of it.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining. Don't watch it with an empty stomach!
Review: This movie starts with an authentic look at Chinese cuisine (it hurts to be in Charleston, which has no good Chinese restaurants). Anyways, the plot revolves around Mr. Chu, who is a famous chef in the Grand Hotel of Taipei. Every week, he painstakingly prepares a sumptuous feast ranging from steamed dumplings, roasted pork shoulder to Peking duck for his 3 unmarried daughters who showed little appreciation to all the cullinary delights. Little by little we are introduced to the lives of his three daughters and the men they meet. Eventually, all three of them found what they were looking for in life, and so did master chef Chu in a rather surprising twist. Bon apetite!
Rating:
Summary: Yummy...
Review: This is almost the best modern Chinese film that I have ever seen. The movie reflects a common issue in most of families. Why communicating with your family members seem so hard? No matter what's your culture background, or race, you will find the answer here.
Marital arts might be cool, but food seems more real to me. The whole movie just makes me so hungry. The chinese delivery won't help your hunger at all this time, you definitly need go to some real fancy chinese restraunt to calm your aroused hunger.
and by the way, this is really good movie. I actually am considering to buy this movie now. ^-^
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Better "Food Movies"
Review: The opening 10 minutes are spectacular culinary scenes! This made me so hungry! Overall this is an enjoyable movie, the characters are very charming, the script contains plenty of dry, subtle humor. The acting is good, and the movie drives home it's point well, without getting too "artsy". The story is a fairly simple one about 3 sisters' lives and their father, a prominent gourmet chef who has lost his sense of taste. The ending was quite funny and unexpected. Check this one out, especially if you liked "Like Water For Chocalate" and "Chocalat" or food/romance movies in general.
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse of Modern Chinese Life
Review: Watching this movie was like stepping into another culture for a brief stay. Viewers are treated to the inner workings of a Chinese family, a widower father and his three daughters. Forget your sterotypical views of China, this is a modern movie packed with contemporary themes . . . but not only that, there is the cooking. Food is such a vital component of Chinese culture, even more so as the father/widower is a famous chef. There's no hugging in this family, just cooking as the showing of affection. Everyone in this family has their issues, all different, but all about centered around love, acceptance, forgiveness and getting over the loss of the mother and wife, whom we never see, but whose presense is certainly felt. Life in this movie is funny, mean, sad, sexy, sweet, and the food, well you'd better have a decent take-out menu standing by.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie but...
Review: One of my favorite movies from Asia. I am glad to see a DVD of this great food flick finally released. Very sparse on the extras, but there is an ok interview of Ang Lee on it. My only beef is that there are no Chinese subtitles! I would have given it four stars, but the constant lack of Chinese subtitles in these DVDs is starting to irritate me. Thus I knocked a star off.
Rating:
Summary: I'll try to keep this short...
Review: Wonderful scenes, human characters, funny, good food, romantic and with a surprise twist near ending. If you love Chinese food, or any type of food, buy this movie. If you like Chinese women, buy this movie. Has subtitles in English, French and Spanish AND a interview with Ang Lee. It was too short for me, I wanted more. Was nice to see a story with a happy ending (for part of it I thought it might not be a happy ending, but I don't wish to give anything away).
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