What's Cooking?

A talented ensemble cast brings an extremely authentic family dynamic to this structurally flawed but satisfying four-course cross-section of ethnic American clans gathering for their Thanksgiving dinners. Conceived by director Gurinder Chadha as a celebration of diversity, the film serves up struggles for acceptance, love and anger, strife and reconciliation and a lot of delicious-looking food. Highlights from the movie's quartet of interconnected stories include Alfre Woodard as a wife making dinner under the critical eye of her disapproving mother-in-law; Kyra Sedgwick and Julianna Margulies as a lesbian couple who make Sedgwick's Jewish parents uncomfortable; Joan Chen heading a troubled Vietnamese family; and Mercedes Ruehl as the matriarch of a Mexican family struggling through a divorce. A strong, optional purchase. (R. Blackwelder)