Food Movies That Will Make You Hungry
What do Ralph Fiennes, Meryl Streep, Patton Oswalt, and Catherine Zeta-Jones have in common? Besides playing some of the most iconic roles in Hollywood, they’ve all starred in beloved food movies that have left mouths watering around the world, and they’re certainly not the only ones.
The holiday season is here, and with it comes all the traditions we know and love: shindigs with our favorite people, frantic shopping days, and food… lots and lots of food. And because meals play a crucial role in making movies engaging and relatable, we’ve compiled a list of 41 films to sink your teeth into this month. Who doesn’t want a big bowl of spaghetti after watching Scott Hicks’ No Reservations? Who wouldn’t crave the incredible combination of aged goat cheese and strawberries after that opening scene in Ratatouille?
Whatever your go-to meal or snack is, kick off the season of baking, gift-giving, and over-eating, and dive into the following delectable food movies. Because there’s nothing that brings people together more than cinema and a delicious meal. Bon Appétit!
#1
Adjusted Score: 105072%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to director Juzo Itami's offbeat humor and sharp satirical edge, Tampopo is a funny, sexy, affectionate celebration of food and its broad influence on Japanese culture.
Synopsis: Two Japanese milk-truck drivers (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken Watanabe) help a restaurant owner (Nobuko Miyamoto) learn how to cook great noodles....
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#2
Adjusted Score: 102140%
Critics Consensus: Beautiful, thoughtful, and engrossing, Jiro Dreams of Sushi should prove satisfying even for filmgoers who don't care for the cuisine.
Synopsis: Revered sushi chef Jiro Ono strives for perfection in his work, while his eldest son, Yoshikazu, has trouble living up...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 102323%
Critics Consensus: Gripping from start to finish, Boiling Point uses its bold formal approach to support a thrilling tightrope of a tale.
Synopsis: On the busiest night of the year at one of the hottest restaurants in London, charismatic, commanding head chef Andy...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 107489%
Critics Consensus: As epicurean as French haute cuisine, The Taste of Things indulges our palates with an exquisite seven-course love story for the soul.
Synopsis: Cook Eugenie and her boss Dodin grow fond of one another over 20 years, and their romance gives rise to...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 102094%
Critics Consensus: Warm, affectionate, and sweet but not cloying, The Lunchbox is a clever crowd-pleaser from first-time director Ritesh Batra.
Synopsis: Lonely housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) decides to try adding some spice to her stale marriage by preparing a special lunch...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 100700%
Critics Consensus: The performances in Big Night are wonderful, and the food looks delicious.
Synopsis: Chef Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and businessman Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are immigrant brothers from Italy who open their dream restaurant, Paradise,...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 106275%
Critics Consensus: Fast-paced and stunningly animated, Ratatouille adds another delightfully entertaining entry -- and a rather unlikely hero -- to the Pixar canon.
Synopsis: Remy (Patton Oswalt), a resident of Paris, appreciates good food and has quite a sophisticated palate. He would love to...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 99745%
Critics Consensus: An exquisitely shot showcase for Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung that marks a somber evolution of Wong Kar-wai's chic style, In the Mood for Love is a tantric tease that's liable to break your heart.
Synopsis: In 1962, journalist Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his wife move into a Hong Kong apartment, but Chow's...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 94532%
Critics Consensus: Mostly Martha may have a predictable plot, but it still feels charming and fresh, and the food will make you hungry.
Synopsis: Martha (Martina Gedeck) relies on her culinary skills as her primary means of communication. She lives for her work and...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 99014%
Critics Consensus: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is strange yet comforting, full of narrative detours that don't always work but express the film's uniqueness.
Synopsis: The last of five coveted "golden tickets" falls into the hands of a sweet but very poor boy. He and...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 92071%
Critics Consensus: With the aid of a witty script and a well-acted ensemble, Dinner Rush is a tasty dish.
Synopsis: One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello), a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 95677%
Critics Consensus: Sweet, smart, and quirky, Waitress hits the right, bittersweet notes through this romantic comedy through its witty script and a superb performance by Keri Russell.
Synopsis: Jenna (Keri Russell) works in a diner in a small Southern town and is a genius at creating luscious desserts,...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 106618%
Critics Consensus: While its social commentary relies on basic ingredients, The Menu serves up black comedy with plenty of flavor.
Synopsis: A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 91167%
Critics Consensus: A richly layered look at the complex interactions between a widowed chef and his daughters, Ang Lee's generational comedy Eat Drink Man Woman offers filmgoers a tasty cinematic treat.
Synopsis: Master Chef Chu (Sihung Lung) is semi-retired and lives at home with his three unmarried daughters, Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang), a...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 91749%
Critics Consensus: Like Water for Chocolate plays to the senses with a richly rewarding romance that indulges in magical realism to intoxicating effect.
Synopsis: The youngest daughter in her family, the beautiful Tita (Lumi Cavazos) is forbidden to marry her true love, Pedro (Marco...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 95627%
Critics Consensus: Chef's charming cast and sharp, funny script add enough spice to make this feel-good comedy a flavorful -- if familiar -- treat.
Synopsis: After a controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman) pushes him too far, chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) quits his position at a...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 90327%
Critics Consensus: Quirky humor, plucky characters and solid slapstick make this family comedy a frenetically tasty time at the movies.
Synopsis: When hard times hit Swallow Falls, its townspeople can only afford to eat sardines. Flint Lockwood, a failed inventor, thinks...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 87152%
Critics Consensus: Sweet Bean's deliberate pace demands patience, but the satisfying simplicity of its story -- and Kirin Kiki's absorbing performance -- yield an array of riches well worth the wait.
Synopsis: A baker's (Masatoshi Nagase) business takes off when he hires an eccentric 76-year-old woman (Kirin Kiki) who specializes in making...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 88240%
Critics Consensus: The Trip to Spain offers more of the same scenery, food, and conversation that filled Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's first two Trips -- which is to say, more of a good thing.
Synopsis: Steve and Rob sample the restaurants and hotels of the Spanish coastline, trading jokes and impressions over their lunches....
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#20
Adjusted Score: 100670%
Critics Consensus: With director Paul King at the helm and some solid new songs at the ready, the warmly old-fashioned Wonka puts a suitably sweet spin on the classic character while still leaving some room for the source material's darker undertones.
Synopsis: Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children's book...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 84466%
Critics Consensus: Much like the titular cuisine, Soul Food blends a series of savory ingredients to offer warm, generous helpings of nourishment and comfort.
Synopsis: When Ahmad Simmons' (Brandon Hammond) diabetic grandmother, Josephine "Big Mama" Joseph (Irma P. Hall), falls into a coma during an...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 85912%
Critics Consensus: Boosted by Meryl Streep's charismatic performance as Julia Child, Julie and Julia is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy.
Synopsis: Frustrated with a soul-killing job, New Yorker Julie Powell (Amy Adams) embarks on a daring project: she vows to prepare...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 79584%
Critics Consensus: Fried Green Tomatoes' tearjerking drama is undeniably manipulative, but in the hands of a skilled cast that includes Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, it's also powerfully effective.
Synopsis: On one of trapped housewife Evelyn Couch's (Kathy Bates) Wednesday nursing home visits, she encounters Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), a...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 78082%
Critics Consensus: An English remake of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, Tortilla Soup is as charming and flavorful as the dishes it features.
Synopsis: Three grown sisters, Maribel (Tamara Mello), Leticia (Elizabeth Peña) and Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) try to cope and live with their...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 97648%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Writer/director Éric Besnard's mouth-watering new historical comedy indelibly pairs Grégory Gadebois and Isabelle Carré as a gifted chef and his...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 99548%
Critics Consensus: Charming and melancholy, Babette's Feast is a timeless Scandinavian treat that explores the complex relationships between people, beliefs, and what it means to be an artist.
Synopsis: Beautiful but pious sisters Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Philippa (Bodil Kjer) grow to spinsterhood under the wrathful eye of their...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 90063%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Geraldine Tam (Laureen Chew) is the only one of her siblings to still live at home. Her mother (Kim Chew)...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 78772%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: The Oliverio family readies its Feast of the Seven Fishes, an Italian Christmas tradition stretching back to the old country....
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#29
Adjusted Score: 85537%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A chocolate maker falls in love with a gifted worker....
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#30
Adjusted Score: 82520%
Critics Consensus: A Taste of Hunger is as palatable and stylish as the dishes it plates while a marriage boils over.
Synopsis: A power couple within the Danish gourmet scene run the popular restaurant Malus in Copenhagen. The couple is willing to...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 79715%
Critics Consensus: Mystic Pizza is like its namesake food: it's cheesy, topped with romance, and rises to the occasion.
Synopsis: Mystic Pizza charts the lives and loves of three unforgettable waitresses in a little town called Mystic. For sexy Daisy...
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#32
Adjusted Score: 77245%
Critics Consensus: While not as clever or inventive as its predecessor, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 compensates with enough dazzling visuals to keep younger viewers entertained.
Synopsis: His genius finally recognized by his idol Chester V, inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) gets to join Chester's company, where...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 75402%
Critics Consensus: Director Lasse Hallström does lovely work and Helen Mirren is always worth watching, but The Hundred-Foot Journey travels predictable ground already covered by countless feel-good dramedies.
Synopsis: Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is an extraordinarily talented and largely self-taught culinary novice. When he and his family are displaced...
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#34
Adjusted Score: 69653%
Critics Consensus: While it'll certainly be an easier sell for foodie filmgoers, Haute Cuisine's beautifully filmed biopic should satisfy most viewers hungry for a beautifully filmed dramedy.
Synopsis: An obscure cook (Catherine Frot) from a Périgord truffle farm makes waves in the Élysée Palace when she becomes the...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 67477%
Critics Consensus: Chocolat is a charmingly light-hearted fable with a lovely performance by Binoche.
Synopsis: When mysterious Vianne and her child arrive in a tranquil French town in the winter of 1959, no one could...
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#36
Adjusted Score: 62531%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Young Nigel Slater (Freddie Highmore) has big culinary aspirations, even though all his mother (Victoria Hamilton) knows how to make...
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#37
Adjusted Score: 60629%
Critics Consensus: Although Queen Latifah's bountiful life-affirming spirit permeates the film, director Wayne Wang is unable to revive this remake with any real flair.
Synopsis: The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted saleswoman Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) to reflect on what she...
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#38
Adjusted Score: 49176%
Critics Consensus: This romantic comedy may look good on paper, but it's too predictable and melancholy for the genre.
Synopsis: Master chef Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) runs her life and her kitchen with intimidating intensity. However, a recipe for disaster...
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#39
Adjusted Score: 43409%
Critics Consensus: The scenery is nice to look at, and Julia Roberts is as luminous as ever, but without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, Eat Pray Love is too shallow to resonate.
Synopsis: Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) thought she had everything she wanted in life: a home, a husband and a successful career....
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#40
Adjusted Score: 35469%
Critics Consensus: Burnt offers a few spoonfuls of compelling culinary drama, but they're lost in a watery goulash dominated by an unsavory main character and overdone clichés.
Synopsis: Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) was once a top chef in Paris until drugs and alcohol led to a meltdown that...
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#41
Adjusted Score: 16772%
Critics Consensus: Simply Irresistible is simply not.
Synopsis: After her mother's death, mediocre chef Amanda Shelton (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is having trouble attracting customers to her family's restaurant....
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