Latino Magazine Review - Off the Menu

Off the Menu: a romance with the color and Latin flavor

By Carlos Hernández 
editor@latinocc.com

Entertaining, colorful and with good performances by Dania Ramírez, Santino Fontana and the consecrated Venezuelan actress María Conchita Alonso, the film "Off the Menu" was one of the favorites of the public during the International Film Festival of Santa Bárbara this month.

The production of director Jay Silverman is a romantic comedy of very good quality that tells the love story between "Javiera" (Ramírez) and "Joel" (Fontana), after the latter is sent by his sister to New Mexico to discover and Copy the last great recipe for your family's fast food empire in California.

With the drama of being left by his girlfriend, "Joel", who also goes through a crisis of adulthood, falls in love by accident of "Javiera".

As the popular saying says that "the heart of a man is won by the stomach", the beautiful protagonist with her exquisite delicacies prepared in her restaurant, unknowingly achieves that "Joel" left aside her initial mission of finding and copying your recipes

With the typical drama of films of this genre, "Off The Menu" takes us on a journey where food and love "are cooked" in unison, and here is where Silverman does an excellent job highlighting the importance of culture and gastronomy Latina in this country.

Thus, the yellow, red, green, orange tones can be seen in many shots, they make the narrative and the story flow in a more than effective and entertaining way.

In addition, that effort for the details of Silverman, are reflected in the fact that anyone who sees the close ups and other shots of the delicious stuffed chili peppers of Chef "Javiera", arouses an appetite almost instantaneously.

For his part Fontana, who is a devoted Broadway actor and whose works include the voice of 'Prince Hans' in the Disney hit "Frozen", "Crazy Ex-Girlfriends", has a more than outstanding performance, since his character He is the one who carries much of the weight of the tape.

Also the performance of the Venezuelan María Conchita Alonso, shows how the production that was shot almost entirely in New Mexico, is not just any production.

Alonso, who plays the mother of "Javiera", captivates the audience as she has done in each of her roles throughout her extensive and successful career, as does the talented little Mackenzie Moss, ("Steve Jobs "), who plays the protagonist's daughter.

Silverman is thanked for the effort to bring to the screen a story with which many Latinos can feel identified and above all proud of their culture and gastronomy.

But for those who could not see "Off the Menu" in the SBIFF, they will very soon have the opportunity to see it in the not too distant future, since for its quality and the distribution it will not go unnoticed by the big television networks and cable.