Cake (2005/I)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Nisha Ganatra

Writer:

Tassie Cameron (written by)

Release Date:

20 October 2005 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Have your life and eat it, too.

Plot:

A travel writer (Graham) who begrudgingly assumes control of her father's wedding magazine finds the new experience might just change her take on love.

Plot Keywords:

Gay Personal Assistant | Interracial Relationship

Cast

Heather Graham	...	Pippa McGee
David Sutcliffe	...	Ian
Taye Diggs	...	Hemingway Jones
Sandra Oh	...	Lulu
Keram Malicki-Sánchez	...	Frank
Cheryl Hines	...	Roxanne
Bruce Gray	...	Malcolm McGee
Sarah Chalke	...	Jane
Sabrina Grdevich	...	Rachel
Michael McMurtry	...	Luke
Amy Price-Francis	...	Sasha
Reagan Pasternak	...	Sydney
Jefferson Brown	...	Clifford
Suzanne Cyr	...	Suzanne
Frank Chiesurin	...	Chad

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and sexual content.

Runtime:

94 min | Israel:95 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-3 | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | UK:15 | South Korea:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cedar Point, Tiny Township, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Cake Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Nisha Ganatra]sitting next to Heather Graham in the waiting room when she is visiting Lulu at her workplace.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Pippa reads her letter to the bartender, he comments that one of her sentences is a run-on. While slightly verbose, it is not in fact a run-on sentence. Her grammar is correct.

Movie Connections:

References Dr. No (1962)

Soundtrack:

Anne Said

Have your Cake and Eat it ,Too

Director Nisha Ganatra and writer Tassie Cameron seem to have most of their experience in TV movies so this little slice of the industry is a change for them. Would that it were wholly successful because it seems as though both had a fine idea for something to say but just didn't know how to make it work. And again, blame the PR folks for making a cover for the DVD that not only seems silly, it has little to do with the story inside.

Pippa McGee (Heather Graham) is a travel writer, a hedonist, and an independent woman who avoids relationships like the plague. The film starts with a goofus dash for a wedding in which she is once again a bridesmaid on the run. After the ceremony she jokes with her best friend Lulu (Sandra Oh) who is equally against long term relationships beyond a quick shag, and she also meets one Ian (David Sutcliffe - Under the Tuscan Sun, Testosterone, Happy Endings etc), a handsome if shy young man who though attracted to Pippa, sees her as dangerous territory.

Pippa soon discovers that her father Malcolm McGee (Bruce Gray), a wealthy successful owner of a magazine conglomerate, is ill, has a heart attack, and though the father and daughter have had a negligible relationship, Pippa offers her help. Of course, her assignment is to be editor of 'Wedding Bells' magazine her departed mother started, and Pippa takes on the epitome of everything she loathes about relationships and marriage and tries to make a go of it. She discovers that Ian is her father's vice president and thus in charge of her new and loathed assignment. Pippa partners with the handsome magazine photographer Hemingway Jones (Taye Diggs), has a fling, and becomes close friends and partners in an attempt to change the look of the wedding magazine. There are far too many subplots to discuss, but suffice it to say that changes occur in the personalities of everyone involved and the ending, while entirely predictable, has enough humor and warmth to make a good evening out of a shaky story.

Heather Graham handles her 'challengingly bad' role with great aplomb: she is a delight to watch. The remainder of the cast does their best with the lines they're given. This is a bit of fluff, aimed at the 'chick flick' devotees, but it has its moments. Grady Harp, July 06