This is not the first time that Hollywood did this as even last year’s Oscar best picture, "The Departed," was also adapted from a hit Hongkong feature.

"No Reservations," like its source, is a film with food as its milieu, just like "Babette’s Feast" or "Eat Drink Man Woman." There are several scenes showing different kinds of dishes, but the emphasis is on the people, not on their culinary creations.

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Kate

But just like Kate Hudson in "Raising Helen", Kate’s safely structured world gets complicated when her sister, Christine (Anja Bareikis), dies in a car accident and she becomes the guardian of her 9-year old niece, Zoe (Abigail Breslin of "Little Miss Sunshine"). Although Kate is a perfect cook, she has yet to master the role of being a mom. She just doesn’t know how to relate with a child, especially a little girl just orphaned by her mother. She has difficulty coping with her new responsibilities that she even forgets to fetch Zoe from school.

Things get difficult not only at home but also in the work place when an assistant chef has to take a leave to deliver a baby and Paula got Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart of "Erin Brokovich") as replacement. Nick says he welcomes the chance to work with Kate, but Kate resents that Paula hired him without consulting her and she thinks he is really just after her job. But Nick actually becomes the catalyst who bridges the gap between Kate and Zoe, bringing sunshine and healing into their lives. He has a zany personality and jokes with the other cooks. He also loves things Italian, including Pavarotti, and even sings operatic songs.

Kate has difficulty finding out what Zoe wants to eat but when she takes the girl to work, her picky niece is just too willing to try a pasta dish that Nick has prepared. They start like oil and water that won’t mix, but soon, Kate, slowly forgets her initial hostility to Nick, finds herself warming up to him and sparks do fly between them. The two of them plus Zoe become a family.

The movie uses all the usual ingredients in concocting a delicious recipe for love and the result is a palatable romantic dish you’d enjoy with no reservations. One of the film’s enjoyable aspects is Kate’s heartwarming relationship with her therapist (Bob Balaban) who asks her about her love life while sampling new dishes and enjoying its delightful taste. The film’s opening scene shows Kate describing the demanding preparation of one her signature recipes. And mind you, she’s not talking to a customer but to her therapist.

A rift between Kate and Nick is also created when Paula offers Kate’s job to Nick. But Aussie Director Scott Hicks ("Shine") knows how to control this angle without taking it into the realm of melodrama. What he comes up is a fairly understated romantic drama with a lot heart. The three principal stars, all very likable, carry it quite nicely and make the movie work so well as an uplifting tale about love and the significance of having a family.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, ravishingly beautiful as ever, does so well in showing the nuances of a lonely character who could easily be portrayed as a mean bitch. There’s nice chemistry between her and Aaron Eckhart, who begins as someone so cocky but eventually becomes very charming. Abigail Breslin will steal your heart as a girl who is determined to have a new family after losing her previous one. Bob Balaban provides amusing support as the therapist.

Also to be complimented is the cinematography and the production design that make the kitchen scenes in the gourment restaurant, and all the food exhibited in it, look lush and tempting in both look and texture.

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Hardcore action fans will surely enjoy the wild and crazy gunfights in "Shoot ‘Em Up". British actor Clive Owen (who’d also make a good James Bond, come to think of it) plays a bum named Mr. Smith. While waiting for a ride, he sees a pregnant woman being chased in an alley by a crazed gunman, he gets involved and rescues her. What follows is the movie’s first bloodbath. The woman gives birth and then quikcly gets hit by a stray bullet in the head and dies. This leaves the infant for Smith to take care of. He shoots off the umbilical cord with his gun and carries the newborn baby under his arm like a football while shooting at hordes of assassins.

For some reason, hitman Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti of "Lady in the Water"), wants the baby for himself. Mr. Smith then goes to a brothel (that doesn’t look like one) and seeks the help of a call girl, DQ (Monica Bellucci), to care for the baby. DQ is lactating but she initially refuses to help Mr. Smith, until she gets the chance to have a talk with Mr. Hertz. She then chooses to team up with Mr. Smith and, together with the baby, they are pursued by numerous hitmen who want to kill them.

The action is literally nonstop showing shoot outs in a car chase, while on a plane, while someone is skydiving on a parachute (ala "Pointbreak"), even during a sex scene while bullets fly. It’s obviously designed like those action flicks directed by John Woo where you hardly have a breathing space. It also somewhat reminds you of that deranged Jason Statham flick, "Crank".

Director Michael Davis is so trigger happy and deadset on pushing the envelope and breaking down the usual barriers in action flicks that the emphasis here is on the giddy, slambang action (which is so fast paced the movie runs for only one hour and 25 minutes), not on other important aspects of a movie like making the characters more well defined. He doesn’t even offer flashbacks to enlighten his viewer on why something is happening in the story.

Some people, of course, will complain that it doesn’t make much sense. You can say some scenes are just incredible, ridiculous, not realistic (just like the scene where Smith leaves the baby on a park’s merry go round and the following shootout is quite amazingly inventive with Smith constantly shooting at the carousel so Hertz cannot get the baby), and it’s all true. But the thing is, it’s also all intentional and if you think otherwise, you’re missing Davis’ point in a making this a big send-up of the action genre with all the excessive carnage and mayhem. And when you’re a diehard action fan who’s main concern is seeing a lot of shooting and fighting on screen, you won’t complain at all since the movie, as far as that aspect is concerned, certainly delivers.

As the bad-ass hero with killer instincts, Clive Owen knows how to deliver his sarcastic oneliners with enough wit and is also convincing in the way he demolishes all his adversaries without any scruples. He certainly nails the movie’s irreverent and lunatic tone and makes it clear right in that Loony Tunes scene where he, munching a carrot like Bugs Bunny, blurts out deadpan: "What’s up, doc?" And mind you, he makes the carrot a deadly weapon here.

As Hertz, Paul Giamatti (who’s so funny in "Sideways") shows he can do a mean villain role with his overthe-top character. It’s clear he has a fun time chewing the scenery with much relish whenever he’s on screen. As for Ms. Belucci, she plays more of a decorative role.

Davis can be quite an imaginative writer but as a director, there are some scenes that he cannot pull off that successfully, like that shoot out during a sex scene which requires more polish, not bad taste. But he does establish the movie’s playful tone right at the opening credits when the New Line Cinema screen logo is shot to bits. He is well supported by the flashy cinematography of Peter Pau, the frantic editing that tries to sustain the adrenaline charged energy throughout the movie, plus the heavy metal soundtrack featuring the loudest songs that will surely delight headbangers and those who enjoy having a migraine.