Nonnas (dir. Stephen Chbosky)

by Jack Martin | May 9, 2025

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 111 mins

UK Distributor: Netflix

UK Release Date: 9 May 2025

WHO’S IN NONNAS?

Vince Vaughn, Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro, Linda Cardellini, Drea de Matteo, Joe Manganiello, Michael Rispoli, Campbell Scott

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Stephen Chbosky (director), Liz Maccie (writer), Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane and Jack Turner (producers), Marcelo Zarvos (composer), Florian Ballhaus (cinematographer), Anne McCabe (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Joe Scaravella (Vaughn) opens an Italian restaurant and hires grandmothers as his staff…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON NONNAS?

Forgive me for starting off my Nonnas review on a personal note, but I promise that it is relevant: last month, my grandmother sadly passed away. She lived a happy life, all the way up to the age of 94, and even though her final years saw her succumb to the devastating effects of dementia, she still always strived to be the sweet and comforting grandparent that I shall always remember her to be.

So obviously, watching director Stephen Chbosky’s film about a group of delightful grandmothers uniting to give the world a little taste of what they’re capable of hits a bit harder for me than it might other critics. But even if my Nana was still around – and in all honesty, given her deteriorating mental and physical strength in those final months, it’s probably best that she isn’t – I would still find Nonnas to be a perfectly pleasant watch that knows what it wants to be and does a fine job of being just that.

Netflix’s latest original movie is inspired by the journey of Joe Scaravella (portrayed here by Vince Vaughn) who, after the death of his mother, becomes inspired to open an Italian restaurant in her honour on Staten Island. His USP, though, is that the kitchen staff is made up entirely of local grandmothers, who are encouraged to cook meals from their own family traditions to replicate the feeling of eating at home with loved ones rather than dining out. Shortly after putting an ad out on Craigslist – a company that clearly paid for its presence here, given the streamer’s opening notification that this movie contains product placement – Joe recruits the likes of Gia (Susan Sarandon), Roberta (Lorraine Bracco), Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro) and Teresa (Talia Shire) to get along and work together in the kitchen, something that initially proves difficult with their warring personalities but eventually, of course, they form their own family unit as the restaurant prepares for its grand opening.

There’s no doubt that Nonnas is following a tried-and-tested formula, which writer Liz Maccie sticks to like freshly mixed dough, and that’s fine so long as it’s executed well enough to gauge interest. Luckily, Chbosky is a reliable enough filmmaker to generate the right amount of sweetness that keeps the viewer invested, even if it’s just from an emotional standpoint. The director has a strong history of injecting plenty of heart into his filmic stories, such as with Wonder and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (the latter adapted from his own book), and Nonnas is no different as he takes the fairly predictable beats of Maccie’s script and not only makes them tangible but also emotionally resonant. Chbosky makes you feel pretty much everything the characters go through here, whether it’s grief or comfort or even petty shouting matches, because he has cast actors who are very good at conveying all these things as well as some that may not have even been on the page, and because he knows how to keep things moving along at a nice and steady pace, whilst also settling for a comfortably light tone that’s certainly comedic but still aware enough to know when to dial it down.

Both the director and the writer spend a fair amount of time with these characters as they open up about their past lives and their present feelings, to where you do feel for them when things may or may not go their way, which makes a significant difference because it guarantees an emotional reaction that elevates an otherwise formulaic narrative. Of course, the actors help a lot with that, including Vince Vaughn in his most likeable lead role in years, and especially the quartet of screen legends who share such fun and energetic chemistry with one another that you almost wish the movie was told more from their point of view, which honestly would have helped some of those characters feel a bit more developed than they are in the finished film. But primarily, it is the filmmakers who bring the goodness of their movie to the forefront, for this so easily could have been just another throwaway straight-to-streaming movie made because it’s what the algorithm dictates, but Chbosky and Maccie have clearly approached this with a lot of compassion and respect for the real-life story and its numerous (largely fictionalised) figures, which rubs off on the final product to give it that extra fine taste.

It is a very sweet film, one that certainly sticks to familiar conventions and may well be doomed to eternal obscurity inside Netflix’s endless library, but has its heart firmly in the right place and gives the viewer just what they’re looking for in terms of nice, pleasant comfort food. Again, though, it’s entirely possible that my recent loss may be affecting my judgement on Nonnas, because in all other circumstances this is the kind of film I would watch and then promptly forget I ever watched. But I feel that the love that I have/had for not just my newly departed grandmother but all of my now-gone grandparents further affirms my warmness toward this movie, because it reminds me of the joy they brought many people like myself in their lifetimes, whether it was through their own cooking or their overall kindness, and for me that really comes alive in Nonnas thanks to the clear heart on display both in front of and behind the camera.

Removing that aspect, though, you’re still getting a very likeable and pleasant movie that most people can fill their stomachs with, even if it does follow the familiar recipe down to the letter.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Nonnas is a very likeable movie that overcomes its formulaic structure with a tremendous heart found in the filmmaking and the performances, enough to honour not just the grandmothers on-screen but also the ones in our own lives, whether they’re still around or dearly departed.