Toast (2011)

How sad is this?

Disturbing yet enthralling

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The movie left me wondering who boils still sealed canned food? So I decided to read Nigel Slater's autobiography of the same name and I got my answer: No one. While his mother wasn't a keen cook and baked a Christmas cake that could anchor the Queen Mary, not once did I read that she prepared canned food that way or that she mistrusted anything unprocessed. While they did eat plenty of convenience foods, they mostly ate poorly cooked real food. Also, it was his father's idea to cook spaghetti bolognese, in fact he prepared it himself and it was Nigel who said the Parmesan cheese smelled of sick. These are only a few examples just from the beginning of the movie of the many things that where changed, exaggerated, or condensed from the book to fit a 1 1/2 hour TV movie script. Despite the many differences I found once reading the book, I did enjoy the movie which was quirky and well acted.

Great cast (everyone), acted well (everyone), well written, filmed well. But the story itself is just not appealing. Apparently a story based on a shallow little prick that due to his lactose intolerance throws up on his teacher; due to his selfishness made his fathers life miserable and despite the movie's insistence that he has some talent or respect for food he tears down the only character in the movie that shares this love. There is a nice scene where a young man creates a masterpiece of a salad and but we are left to believe this culinary performance is somehow better (or executed more naturally) than Mrs. Potter's years of consistent good cooking; yet when the lead character tells the chef at the Savoy why he should be hired, he says it is because he can make a great Meringue Pie (the recipe he lifted from Mrs. Potter.) The very idea that the chef the story was written about actually plays the chef at the end of the movie that gives him a job, is so laughably bad cinema as to sort of make me angry I watched the entire thing expecting at least something more than a bore. Instead the prick is rewarded, the real life chef winks and the viewer gets absolutely nothing. That's all folks.This movie would do well to have a twist in it similar to "It's a Wonderful Life" but instead after this main character jumps off the bridge...he's gone from the movie...and the father and HIS love live happily ever after in Pottersville.

Good performance by H.B.C and Ken Stott and quite good for the 1960s portrayal but sadly it just shown Nigel Slater as a very self centred person and a spoilt brat.The kind of person no one likes.Why would you want to be seen like that unless you actually were. Do not really see the point of the film.What had the stepmother done to deserve such treatment? Why was Nigel such a brat? What happens to the stepmother? Maybe more relevant facts should have been accounted for. His school days and education were barely touched as were his teenage years.The film ends with a job at the Savoy and the viewer is left to decide what then happens.I just do not see what Nigel Slater was hoping to get across.

A very fine little movie. And a good exhibition for the actors, who have plenty to work with here. Helena Bonham Carter has a lot of fun and she is cast perfectly. The young actor is really good too. And while I am not always fond of the "based on ...", this feels rather like a movie then say a biopic.It is light and has a lot of comedy to it, so it is not heavy drama. On the other hand, I don't think it is good for any recipes. I certainly don't remember anything much from that part of the movie. But you know it is called Toast for a reason, of course. A very nice and decent little movie, that is worth your time :o)