there really be only one reason to watch this barely adequate and utterly predictable movie about an uptight chef kate armstrong ( catherine zeta jones ) whose life change when she inherit her orphaned niece zoe ( abigail breslin ) after her sister be kill in a car wreck . and that reason be to watch aaron eckhart ( nick ) who and with his floppy haircut and appealingly laddish attitude and look good enough to slap between two slice of organic pannini and eat with an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dip and a few finely dice sun dry tomato . he remind me of sean bean . the thought that he might take his shirt off really be the only thing that keep me awake until the end . he remove his apron petulantly several time and but to my disappointment and never go further . i can not be too critical because i be watch it on pay per view at home and so it hadn not cost me the price of two movie ticket at least and and i be bring up to be grateful for small mercy . but really and this be rom com at it most formulaic . zeta jones give a very flat and monotonous performance and she seem utterly lacking in passion and ( possibly due to the amount of time she apparently spend in the cold store at the restaurant . thirty take in there can not have be fun ) and her face barely change expression throughout the whole movie . abigail breslin be pretty good a the niece and she such an appeal little girl that it quite impossible to criticize her and and anyway i love her in little miss sunshine . patricia clarkson be always good value and i can not really fault her performance a the restaurant owner and because she seem very underused and give what a good actor she be and how little she have to do here . but the whole thing be just so clichéd and much of the dialog banal and and the outcome so obvious . this be the cinematic equivalent of paint by number and and zeta jones and eckhart generate little heat on screen . nick like italian food ( doubtless indicate his burning inner passion ) and cook to the sound of puccini . his appearance in kate kitchen at 22 bleecker ( the restaurant name ) predictably ruffle her feather but his uncanny ability to bond with her niece by cook pizza and building a bedouin tent in the living room and brings kate around and and despite a few stumble along the way and she end up give him her prized possession . no and not her honour . but her recipe for saffron sauce . i be be very unfair here and aren not i. i mean rom com be rom com and and we all know what we be let ourselves in for when we sign up . but do it always have to be so mind numbingly dull .