Bousdoukos (who co-wrote the script) enters the film as an amiable slob with a vague attachment to a business that has become a matter of routine, but even as he makes plans to join his journalist girlfriend in China, where she has jumped as a choice opportunity, the transformation of his business from a glorified cafeteria with sleepy clientele to a social of young patrons, energetic music and magnificent cuisine (courtesy of a
mad -
dog chef with a tendency to end conversations with a well -
thrown knife) stirs a new passion in him.