Gourmet Club

An extremely well made short movie where Wall Street and Trading Places meet in a Finnish setting. Our star is a single doc whose gambling habits have taken him almost over the edge. Could he make it back in black in a dinner quiz where rich guys wonder what is the food on the table? Rescue comes as a surprise, and our smart antihero keeps his cool until the end. The movie also has a kind of Bud Fox, the young guy who wants to be a player. Again, Bud gets his nose red but this time he is a loser who doesn't even carry a mic.

"Get a cocker spaniel if you need a friend".

The production is of high quality, scenes beautiful, and acting is extremely professional. The chef looks like a chef and not like an American actor who he really is. Old guys in the city club behave as if they would have lived there for ages. Overall, the movie made me wonder how come anyone can do this stuff in Finland - and why did they do this in Finnish?! I could easily imagine this movie selling in almost any part of the world.

A charmingly clever story that is reminiscent of an old Hitchcock teleplay and has a hint of the more recent "The Freshman". Delightful in all aspects, "Gourmet Club" humorously and without overstating its case illustrates that there are both good and bad outcomes when we over-value money and what it can bring us. On a more personal note, I have always believed that bankers in general are far more perniciously greedy than lawyers--"Gourmet Club" validates my point of view. The movie is quietly well acted by an appealing Finnish cast with a dash of spice in the person of American actor Michael Badalucca. The story does twist and turn its way throughout, however, like a beginner's roller coaster, the dips are not deep enough to make the viewers lose their meal, and the turns surprise pleasantly, not with gut-wrenching violence. The plot unreels with no bravura performances, no astounding special effects--a simple story, well told. "Gourmet Club", like a good meal, is served to the audience unhurriedly and satisfies because it accomplishes all it sets out for--our expectations are tastefully met.

This came out on finnish TV channel last night, but unfortunately I saw only last half of this and missed the first 20-30 mins... Well, maybe I'll have another chance to watch this. The part I saw was surprisingly good in many ways. The reason for the film-like visual look was simply because that this really was shot on S16 film, which was beautiful to watch.

The story was very original and absurd. It was an odd experience to see Michael Badalucco in a finnish film. He was great as a foreign chef, but the finnish cast had nothing to shame of. The cinematography of Mika Orasmaa was amazingly good. The filming locations, lightning set ups and editing style had nothing to complain about. You can see that the writers of this film must had spent many hours of intense brainwork on script and dialogue. The scenes were planned very well.

Simply I just liked everything I saw and heard and just hope there's going to be more finnish productions like this. Compared to the usual crap that is produced in Finland these days this is one of the refreshing exceptions. This is the right direction where finnish movies should evolve from now on.

I saw this TV-movie on Finnish national television last night and was positively surprised. Gourmet Club a story of a selected group of wealthy, upper class men, who get together once a month to a cabinet in a fancy restaurant to dine. Everyone in turn offers some special ingredient to the main course and the others bet of what that "mystery" meal is made of. If they guess wrong the person who provided the special ingredient wins the pot. One of the members has financial troubles and finds a way to get rid of them by bringing an ingredient the others will never guess. Or do they...?

Actors and performances were excellent. Hannu-Pekka Björkman in the lead was excellent and brought some very funny moments to the screen. His deadpan performance was a joy to watch. The American star Michael Badalucco has a small, but significant role and surprisingly spoke understandable Finnish! The atmosphere of the film was a mixture of present day and the 1950s: old cars and building, but modern cell phones and computers. It gave you a feeling the film didn't belong to any time.

I'll give Gourmet Club 9/10. Recommended to anyone who likes good acting and extraordinary cuisine. Bon Appetit!