Nonnas is a dramedy about a Brooklyn MTA worker Joe(Vince Vaughn) who, after the death of his mother, opens an Italian restaurant where nonnas(grandmothers) are the chefs.
Vaughn brings his patented ease and charm to the role but he's not really let-off-the-leach comedy wise and some of the scenes veer into exposition dumps and melodrama, a script problem not his, and he does a decent job navigating those bumps and anchoring the movie. The real treat though, no surprise, is the titular nonnas- Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro, and Susan Sarandon. Bracco, Shire, and Vaccaro go hard and it's an absolute delight. Sarandon is a bit more restrained but balances out the foursome's chemistry well. The movie, unfortunately, gets sidetracked with plot- money problems, permit problems etc.- when the real juice of the whole thing is just the nonnas cooking and hanging out(which we get some of but could use quite a bit more). Joe Manganiello and Drea de Matteo round out the cast as Joe's best friends, Manganiello maybe giving maybe the most grounded performance of his career(which we love to see!) and Matteo always a stunner.
Visually the movie is pretty pedestrian with a few wonky greenscreen shots. Although not shot on location it's shot not too far away in New Jersey so it has a decent feel of authenticity(i.e. Toronto or Atlanta as stand ins for every city in existence). Soundtrack works, the cooking/food scenes really work you just wish there was more of them. The movie has a lot of heart, a great message, the screenplay just gets bogged down a bit in trying too hard to be a screenplay i.e. unnecessary conflict.
An incredible cast elevates an uneven, but sweetly sincere, script.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Rent It.
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