Short Order

2005

1 hr. 40 min.

Adventure

Drama

List

0%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

48%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Fifi (Emma de Caunes) struggles with her reputation as a top chef while resolving personal problems.

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Audience Member

Fifi Koko runs a short order diner. She's afraid of her talent as a chef and hopelessly in love with her best friend Catherine, a taxi driver. Paulo is another chef who tries to convince Fifi to accept her talent and he also chops a finger off of people who dine and ditch, then makes food out of the fingers. There are also a few musical numbers. It's a charmingly quirky film that defiantly falls into the WTF territory. It's not for everyone, but I love it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

One of my favorite movies. Once again critic fail...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

ignore the reviews, enjoy the film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Audience Member

Wow I should have seen this years ago. It's been sitting in my Netflix streaming queue for a little bit and I've read about this movie a few years ago as well. I also had another title from director Anthony Byrne in my Netflix called How About You which is the film he directed right after this one. I will now have to watch that one as well. The movie is about a girl Fiona (Emma de Caunes in a spectacular role, so vibrant) who runs a short order diner in what looks to be a small Parisian neighborhood (although it's an Irish film). She's a master chef that gave it all up some time ago because she's afraid of failing. Everybody's telling her she's great and she should go back to it. She has a delivery driver (Cosmo Shiva Hagen-she's the daughter of punker Nina Hagen!!, what a name) who likes to take pictures of people and to talk to different people at night when she's delivering to people. She says each person is like a tiny snapshot of your life. There are words of wisdom that a lot of the characters say throughout the movie that add to the enjoyment of this wonderful film. Meanwhile her business is right by a restaurant run by Paulo (Rade Serbedzija in an amazing and hilarious role) and helping out with his restaurant is Pedro, a mute. I have seen this guy in other roles, I just can't remember in what. He's from Croatia and he's got 151 acting credits on IMDB. His is one of the best performances of the film. There's also a restaurant owner (John Hurt who I didn't even know was in this!!, what a great performance) who is constantly trying to convince Fiona to work for him. There's a few other recognizable actors in this which gives the film an added boost. This movie was a hybrid of a musical, whimsical, comedy, some introspective drama about being who you should be and who you are and above all amazing acting and direction. I urge anyone who wants to see an original here then look no further. This was a great surprise!! Highly recommended.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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Audience Member

About the only positive part of this movie were the visuals. The negatives outweigh this aspect greatly: the dialogue is coerced along with the acting. I felt no connection with any of the characters and most of the attempts at humour fell short, with the exception of Rade Serbedzija's character, Paulo. The connection to food and sex was also contrived. I wouldn't say I hated the movie but I wouldn't recommend it.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

Ugh. An absolute ordeal to sit through. This is a pretentious movie that tries desperately to elevate itself by giving an overdose of what it supposes to be quirkiness, but just ends up really grating, like a baker who forgot to add eggs into his cake and tries to compensate by covering the entire thing with candles, pink ribbons and little action figures. Or like my attempt to describe how bad this movie is. Anyway, trust me, itâs bad.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Anthony Byrne

Director

Emma de Caunes

Fiona

Jack Dee

Harry

Vincent Fegan

Master Chef

Paschal Friel

Pedro

Cosma Shiva Hagen

Catherine

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Tim Grierson

L.A. Weekly

Aside from Vanessa Redgrave, who is quite poignant in a brief, ham-free cameo, the film's shallow cutesiness quickly starts to feel less like a salute to youthful optimism than a warning against romanticizing one's stunted emotional development.

May 29, 2008

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Drew Toal

Time Out

Paulo's anguish and plotting provide genuine laughs and some of the only quality moments in this otherwise forgettable movie.

Rated: 2/6

May 14, 2008

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Andy Klein

Los Angeles CityBeat

There is pleasure to be had in the visual style and some of the performances, suggesting that Byrne the director has been ill served by Byrne the writer.

May 30, 2008

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Geoff Berkshire

Metromix.com

Forced quirkiness invades every frame and spoils what could've been a tasty romantic comedy.

Rated: 2/5

May 29, 2008

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Sara Maria Vizcarrondo

Boxoffice Magazine

While the aesthetic is charming, colorful and full of whimsy, Anthony Byrne's partial musical Short Order is wildly uneven and tragically underdeveloped.

Rated: 1/5

May 16, 2008

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Synopsis

Fifi (Emma de Caunes) struggles with her reputation as a top chef while resolving personal problems.

Director: Anthony Byrne
Executive Producer: David Collins
Screenwriter: Anthony Byrne
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Original Language: English
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 16, 2008
Release Date (DVD): Nov 20, 2007