Verdict
Summary
A nifty little gem, the sort of which simply does not get made anymore, The Linguini Incident is an odd duck to be sure with its off-kilter romance and humor, but it’s a cool romantic comedy that was made just as the wave of indie films was about to hit its stride in the early 1990s in the era of Miramax and the tidal shift of post-Pulp Fiction under the radar hits.
Plot:
A bartender and a waitress working at a trendy restaurant make a bargain and fall in love.
Review:
There’s a new trendy restaurant / club in New York City run by a couple of too-hip-to-keep-up-with owners (Buck Henry and Andre Gregory), and the place has a bevy of attractive employees, namely the flighty would-be escape artist Lucy (Rosanna Arquette) and Monte (David Bowie), who is handsome and charming, but makes it very clear to Lucy that he absolutely must get married by the end of the week for a green card or he’ll not only be deported back to England, but be killed by some very dangerous people. Lucy is hardly amused by Monte’s tale of woe, but over the week they hatch a plan: they’ll rob the restaurant in an overly elaborate scheme with the help of a fellow co-worker named Vivian (Eszter Balint), use the money to kick start the next phase of their lives, and get married, but only as a formality. But when they get down to it, Vivian not only lets them down, but causes a stir and a sensation when she ends up robbing the restaurant all by herself, which puts Monte and Lucy without the funds to try to make it on their own. Because of the brazen (and outlandish) robbery, the restaurant becomes even more popular, but Monte is about to lose everything if he doesn’t get married ASAP. When he makes a bargain with the owners of the restaurant that will get him either killed or make him very rich, he all but forces Lucy to be a part of his plan … but Lucy is unreliable and has failed at almost everything in her life up until this moment, which makes her alliance with Monte all the more interesting.
A nifty little gem, the sort of which simply does not get made anymore, The Linguini Incident is an odd duck to be sure with its off-kilter romance and humor, but it’s a cool romantic comedy that was made just as the wave of indie films was about to hit its stride in the early 1990s in the era of Miramax and the tidal shift of post-Pulp Fiction under the radar hits. Writer / director Richard Shepherd delivered a trendy film here, and while it’s been a pretty obscure title since its VHS release and cable TV airings, he spent a lot of time and effort tracking down the rights to the film and elements he could work with to create a new cut of the film, his preferred director’s cut, as opposed to the producer’s cut, which was the only version available in the USA. It’s certainly worth seeing, especially for fans of Bowie, as he really shines here. For years, I’ve enjoyed the soundtrack CD that Varese Sarabande put out of Thomas Newman’s score, but I was surprised to hear that the score in the film is a little different and not quite what I remember the CD sounding like. That aside, The Linguini Incident is a fun and goofy little curiosity that might make some purveyors of cult films very happy, as it feels like a brand new film in Shepherd’s new cut.
MVD Marquee Collection has just released The Linguini Incident onto Blu-ray and DVD, with a bunch of bonus features, including two commentaries with Shepherd, an insert booklet with a fascinating history of how Shepherd tracked down the rights to his own film and was able to create a new version.
Bonus Materials
- High Definition (1080p) presentation of the director’s cut of the main feature in 1.78:1 (struck from a brand new 4K transfer from film interpositive)
- Audio: LPCM 2.0 Mono
- Optional English Subtitles
- Introduction by Director Richard Shepard
- Commentary with Director Richard Shepard, actors Rosanna Arquette and Eszter Balint, co-producer Sarah Jackson and co-screenwriter Tamar Brott, moderated by “Cereal at Midnight’s” Heath Holland
- Commentary by Director Richard Shepard
- “The Making of The Linguini Incident” – Full length documentary feat. interviews with Richard Shepard, Tamar Brott, Rosanna Arquette, Eszter Balint Marlee Matlin, Sarah Jackson, Marcia Hinds & Richard von Ernst (1:44:26, HD, w/ optional English subtitles)
- Photo Gallery with commentary by Richard Shepard
- The Linguini Incident – Original Theatrical Version (SD, 98:00)
- 2024 Theatrical Trailer (HD)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
- Reversible Artwork
- Booklet with essays from film historian Graham Rinaldi and director Richard Shepard [First Pressing Only]
- Limited Edition Slipcover [First Pressing Only]
