Simply Irresistible

Plot synopsis:
Amanda Shelton (Sarah Michelle Gellar) inherits her late mother's restaurant, but lacks her mother's ability to cook. The restaurant is failing when Amanda meets a mysterious and possibly magical man at the local market. He introduces himself as Gene O'Reilly and claims to be an old friend of her mother's. He sells her crabs, one of which escapes cooking to become her personal mascot. Amanda meets her love interest at the market, Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery), a department store manager at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue, who is opening an ambitious new restaurant inside his store. It is never explicitly explained why, but this eventful day transforms Amanda into a miraculous food magician; people who now eat her impressive new dishes start feeling exactly what she was feeling when she was making the dish. These are inspired by her emotions and created with the help of her magic crab.
Amanda saves her restaurant overnight, and her relationship with Tom blossoms just as fast. However, Tom, being a career-minded control freak, panics when he realizes that not only could she be a witch who could be casting spells on him, but that his own emotions are getting the best of him, and he promptly dumps her.
When Amanda goes to confront Tom one last time at his office, she witnesses the violent tantrum and resignation of a celebrity French chef hired for the opening of Tom's new restaurant. When it is discovered that Amanda is in fact the hot new chef in town everyone is talking about, she is hired on the spot, despite Tom's protests.
Once Amanda overcomes her self-doubts and insecurities, she reaches her full potential as a chef, and the opening is a complete success. Though Tom refuses to taste Amanda's food during the opening, he eventually admits to himself he was wrong to reject Amanda because she made him feel emotional. He finally decides to embrace his feelings for her and goes after her. At the last minute, he reaches her with his own personal magic (a paper airplane), and the two reconcile on the dance floor.

Tags: romantic

Review:
It has a cheesy plot, unrealistic characters, a bit of magic that adds to the unbelievability and about everything else that a bad movie has.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is a rather unsuccessful chef who wants to become better and save her family's restaurant.
The "magic" business in it is there to give it a little edge, and I think that they wisely don't explain it, but the movie works best when they underplay it.
That is the tone that I would have liked to see the movie maintain, and which they hit now and again during the course of it, but also missed from time to time.It's not a sure thing (it's no "Moonstruck", for example), but if you like romantic comedy it's worth a look.
Of course, a romantic comedy which is based on the magical ability of a crab to inspire Gellar to feats of culinary greatness is a premise which might be hard for some to swallow.
In Simply Irresistable Gellar appears reflected in a long line of mirrors with Flannery temporarily confused as to where she is, with both of them standing in a set that seems right out of Van Nest Polglase's Art Deco creations for RKO.
This is Sarah Michelle Gellar's best movie!
Sarah Michelle Gellar is really good for the role of Amanda Shelton - she's very expressive and she does the dry humor really well, but she also gets the emotional roller-coaster that the characters are on and she does it smashingly well.
Sean Patrick Flanery is excellent as the guy who really can't figure out what the heck is going on but he can't pull himself away from it anyway; and Larry Gilliard, Jr. as the support man to Gellar's Shelton is simply funny.
Since I like movies where some sort of food plays an important part (I just love Woman On Top!) then I loved this one too.
They make a great on-screen couple together and you can even see the chemistry between.All together, I liked this movie.
It's interesting to see Sarah Michelle Gellar play a character in a low-key fashion.
This weird looking guy shows up at the start of the movie and leaves her with a crab to help her out.
(He doesn't appear again.)The crab has the power to make her food simply irresistible hence the title.To give you an example of how bad it is, her token male confidante tells her that when guys adjust their belts they are thinking of sex.
Gellar is suitably appealing in her role as Amanda, a likeable and intelligent young woman, but it is "she" who becomes bewitched by a character with no more depth than a paper cutout, having to his credit only lots of money and conventional good looks.
Simply Irresistible was, by far, the worst movie I've ever seen.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed "Simply Irresistible."I went because I like the leads from TV shows and I like magic realism .
I didn't mind that it rips off "Like Water for Chocolate" but I did mind how cheaply it was done with really lousy cinematography and poor lighting.The cute script had the teens in the audience laughing out loud so it's too bad there was no directorial imagination.
A great soundtrack and engaging story just add to my love for this film as well..
In this romantic comedy (if you could call it that) Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, stars as a cook who gets magical powers and uses them to cook very nice food.
The story, centering around two, young, hip New Yorkers falling in love from the help of a magical crab sounds like it was conceived when some Hollywood executive was juiced on 'ludes and constipated on the toilet.
However, despite everything, I thought the movie was a cute romantic story.
But I thought the acting was good, Sarah Michelle Gellar was adorable, and the story was just nice and wasn't filled with sexual innuendos like most films these days.
This isn't a film that I'm going to buy (I rented it), and it's not going to go on my list of all-time favorite movies, but I just thought it was a nice, silly, cute story.
This movie has a light-hearted and fairly lousy script, but it still has a corny kind of charm that will probably appeal to young girls.
I loved the idea behind this movie, the actors are brilliant and the premise quite intriguing - in fact watching the trailer I enjoyed the music(I love the song Crush and it fit so well) and the hook used to create interest, it was really great and it worked.
From the start I was hesitant when I saw that Sarah Michelle Gellar was in the movie as I think she's pretty shocking full stop.
If you really want to watch Ms. Gellar, turn on BUFFY on tv, or rent one of the SCREAM movies..
This movie was able to take all of the finer elements of love story, combine them with a weak plot, forgetable characters and mediocre acting and cook up a movie that would be better missed.
You'll notice early on in the movie, the dialogue is totally dead, the clipping is poor, the story even worse.Even fans of Sarah Michelle Gellar will have a hard time getting through this one.
Do not be fooled by Sarah Michelle Geller's presence, oh Buffy fans;  this movie really, really sucks.
But, as the movie winds laboriously on, we are never given any explanation whatsoever for the magical man OR crab OR really for Amanda's newfound 'powers'.
This movie has no right to be seen, just like it had no right to be made.A terrible waste of time..
Perhaps one of the my most watched movies, this Sarah Michelle Geller's romantic comedies is steeped in fun, entertaining, and magical culinary delight that even rivals such movies as YOU'VE GOT MAIL (1998) and in some ways pitches an even more memorable storyline and stronger ending.
I loved it and found it a funny and cute movie about love, food and pinch of magic.
Anyone looking for deeper meaning wouldn't be impressed but if you just take the humor and the cute interactions of the characters for what they are you will find a movie worth watching again and again.
And I'm a bigger fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar/Prinze so maybe I'm a little biased when it comes to this movie.Okay, so there are some pretty big flaws.
It comprises two plot ideas borrowed from other stories: one is from an old Twilight Zone episode where a man named Fate steps in to assist a downtrodden man; the second is Like Water from Chocolate, where the very emotions of the cook preparing the food are ingrained as a "secret ingredient" of a heavenly tasting delicacy.Sarah Michelle Gellar is a mediocre cook, and the restaurant she inherited from her mother is suffering the consequences.
It seemed kind of weird how everybody accepted the magical element of the food without any reservation, but overall the the fantasy elements of this movie are served up pretty well.
There are minor flaws in execution, but this is overall a good romantic story, great for a date flick..
Sarah Michelle Gellar did great in the movie as the struggling chief and Sean Patrick Flannery who plays the guy who just cant figure out whats going on.I hate that this movie is so underrated and I still don't understand why, its my favorite romantic comedy.The Chick flick element is great so all girls and some men should love the great acting and the range of emotions that all the characters go through as the emotions are the key and main element of the movie.9/10.
However, it is a charming little romance, with plenty of eye candy and a little bit of magic.The plot itself is pretty standard, and the film doesn't dwell much on explanation, which is probably just as well, since it would only suffer by making the audience think too much.
It's better not to ask whether the crab is magical, or why Sarah Michelle Gellar cooks in strappy tank tops.
Instead, the film asks you to just go along for the ride and watch its two leads (an adorable Gellar and a quirky Sean Patrick Flanery) find each other and fall in love in a fantasy New York.While this film doesn't have much in the way of substance, its cotton candy fluff will appeal to the closet romantic in its audience..
Worth enjoying were scenes of various actors getting mouthgasms and rolling their eyes with every bite of Sarah Michelle Gellar's dishes.
If they took the time to edit the script re shoot a few scenes especially the final dinner scene with the fog (i mean that was cheap), and worked on the sets, this movie could have been great.
But as it is, the only thing that was good about this film was the performance of the main actor Sarah Michelle Gellar, and if she wasn't in it, this movie could be named worst movie ever in 1999..
I did love his character in Boondock Saints and I said to my self 'huh, what happened to those guys?' and next thing I know I see him in a movie such as this.
The magic element is all in the food and it plays a very rare part in the entire movie.
It would be however a good romance flick so don't even think about sitting this movie with your buddies and drink beers.
The makers of this film apparently thought that all it takes to make a good movie is an idea stolen from a good book (Like Water For Chocolate) and a couple of hot actors (Flanery and Gellar).
In the very few points in the film where the viewer might possibly forget what a bad movie they're watching and actually get involved, the music chimes in, subtle as a bulldozer, and any emotion the viewer may have been feeling becomes an eye roll..
I liked the cute story line, but did not like the "levitation" scene as I felt that went a bit far in making this movie realistic enough to seem like it could happen.
Sarah Michelle Gellar plays a girl that works at a restaurant that isn't doing good financially.
Will the two restaurants compete for attention even as Tom and Amanda may be falling in love?This sweet little movie has a low-key charm that grows on the viewer.
A magical romantic comedy with great personal chemistry!.
The always lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar cant fail doing a romantic comedy.
Cos she's got it all!This movie plays with a lot of fantasy magic in the theme of love.If you like romantic comedies than this is a must!.
Well I know this movie isn't great or anything, but I've already watched it a few times and it's just a real 'feel-good-movie' for me.
Sarah Michelle Gellar fans will not be disappointed at this quirky romance comedy, great for the whole family, down and out bad chef played by Sarah becomes incredibly better overnight and lures custumors and also tasty bloke with her magical cooking skills.
i do like SMG a lot, i think Buffy is a good show partly because gellar is so perfectly cast for the part.
First of all, crabs are not cute (not even when they dance, that's just creepy) After half an hour of watching i was still wondering when the movie would finally begin.
There's no chemistry between the two actors (why does she like this dude anyway)The plot, there is no plot, the movie begins and ends, and it's very hard to keep interested in what's happening in between.
I do wish to see more of Sarah michelle Gellar, but could it please be in a good movie, for a change..
Sort of like "Like Water For Chocolate" for the sitcom set.Sarah Michelle Gellar is nice, but it seems like the movie was written for her as Buffy, without the whole vampire thing.
Other than that, this was a cute romantic comedy not filled with any graphic sexual content or sexual innuendos like most such movies (I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but it's refreshing to see something different).
If you want to see a bad Sarah Michelle Geller movie, see "Harvard Man".
This movie was cute, silly, fun, and romantic.
Not a classic by any means, but some nice performances especially Gellar who is definately not Buffy in this movie and a good hokey plot.Ii's a great little flick and well worth a couple of hours of anyone's time.
Reading the other reviews I think this movie states that love is the real magic.
I watch this movie in the cinema and was terrible mistake!Thi is the worste movie that I ever seen.It's so boring and idiot that I couldn't stand.Firs I thought that was going to be a cool romantic comedy, but the film starts to show people fliyng , a lobster singing and jumping with a hat.It's a completely waste of time!Please don't watche!.
I agree that this would be a good movie for kids, to teach them that love doesn't have to be cruel and abusive...it can be magical and have a happy ending.
If anybody is a hopeless romantic like me then you will love this movie.
Sarah Gellar is a great actress who didn't get the good credit she deserved for this movie.
This movie lets you see the magic that love can be sometimes, it SHOWS you that feeling which you have sometimes but just can't explain.
While I thought this movie was pointless fun, I'm somewhat concerned that I'm apparently in a minority of reviewers here who liked it,  including someone who had the audacity to call "American Beauty", one of the finest films of the last 25 years, "trash".
Gellar's made some bad movie choices before, but really, this makes "Cruel Intentions" look like "GoodFellas".
In this era of trash like "American Beauty" it is refreshing to find a romantic movie like "Simply Irresistible".
Harmless Fun. An amusing, light-hearted departure from Sarah Michelle Gellar's usual work.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is a wonderful actress, and she shines well in her part as a magical chef.
Overall, I liked the film...one of those cute-sy date movies..
This is one of those films where I thought, "Who greenlighted this project?" My husband, who thinks Sarah Michelle Gellar is a hottie, said "Who knew she could look that dumpy?" I told him to remember Cameron Diaz in 'Being John Malkovich'.
Simply the worst movie I've seen in a long time..
Simply Irresistible is such a thoughtful, engaging love story that one soon forgets that the ending will be as predictable as Sarah Michelle Gellar stealing the show with her radiant smile and the twinkle in her eye.
As the love story progresses, Flannery's character comes to believe that Gellar is witch-like in her effect on him.
If you've read or seen the romantic drama -Like Water for Chocolate-, you'll immediately see the tie between food and emotion which play a large part of both plots.
I love a good romantic comedy, I still like 'em when they are bad.
Couldn't love simply have worked the magic?
Don't watch it if you don't like romantic comedies.
As a fan of Buffy and (good)romantic comedies I thought I'd rent this on video.
Sean Patrick Flannery sucks, and the couples look so.......wrong together.I tried to enjoy this film as much as possible, but it is too silly, too stupid and too lame to like.
An enjoyable New York Twist on "Like Water For Chocolate."  I enjoy a movie like this that makes no illusions about what it is: a pleasurable film about falling in love, and and what that indescribable experience can feel like.
Sarah Michelle Gellar proves that she can do better than her vampire slayer series and makes a very good approach to her character.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flanery are very engaging.I have no idea why this movie and Ever After received PG-13 ratings.
Sarah Michelle is beautiful as ever, although her character in this one isn't as good as Kathryn in Cruel..
Sarah Michelle Gellar was not atrocious, but getting there...and Sean Patrick Flanery gave a mediocre performance.
The only reason to see this movie, and the only reason I did, was to see Sean Patrick act like a goofball.
I'm a huge fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar since I think she's a very talented actress and I love Buffy.
It has a naive vision of love, magic and food that could easily have come across as shallow, like so many Disney movies.
It is positively infectious.I think the central story is about Amanda (played beautifully by Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Tom falling in love.
This story is blended beautifully with the element of magic."Simply Irresistible" works wonderfully as a fantasy.
I found Sarah Michelle Gellar's character quite appealing, and I'm sure that helped me enjoy the movie a lot.
I wanted to like this movie, and I tried hard, but in the end, it just couldn't win me over.
A cute movie was a good message: Love Can Help us Achieve our Goals.
Usually a movie without a good storyline isn't good to watch, but I'll make an exception with this film.
Sarah Michelle Gellar & Sean Patrick Flanery had great chemistry on the screen, which made the movie enjoyable regardless of the horrible storyline.
What I liked most and what ultimately saves this movie from being so terrible is the presence of Gellar and Flanery.
If you find Sarah Michelle Gellar irresistible, you'll be able to sit through this.