What’s Cooking

By EWAN McDONALD

(Herald rating: * * * * )

So wry, so warm, so affectionate, so insightful, this tribute to America's national day could only have been made by ... an Indian woman of Punjabi and Kenyan roots who grew up in London and is married to a half-Japanese American. She is the director, Gurinder Chadha (Bhaji On The Beach); he is Paul Mayeda Berges, her co-writer.

What's Cooking? tells of four American families: African-American, Jewish, Latino and Vietnamese. All four tales involve older family clinging to tradition and youth rebelling, and at the end they will interlock in a way that will catch you by surprise.

The Latino Thanksgiving starts awkwardly when the kids run into their dad (Victor Rivers), who is separated from their mum (Mercedes Ruehl). They invite him to dinner without asking her; she hasn't told them she has invited her new boyfriend.

Two sources of tension for the African-American parents (Dennis Haysbert and Alfre Woodard): their radical student son and the father's visiting mother, whose presence intimidates his wife.

While the Vietnamese family runs a video store, Grandma Nguyen (Kieu Chinh) watches everything and misses nothing. Is the daughter sexually active, is a son involved with gangs? Joan Chen plays mother/peacemaker.
The Jewish couple (Lainie Kazan and Maury Chaykin) host their gay daughter (Kyra Sedgwick), her lover (Julianna Margulies) and an aunt who is a mistress of the tactless question.

In one day secrets are revealed, hearts bared, grudges settled, arguments started — a slice of life as delicious as the traditional (or, in the Vietnamese family's case, not traditional) turkey.

Running time: 106 mins

Rental: Out now