{{short description|2001 American comedy-drama film by María Ripoll}} {{for|the Mexican dish|Tortilla soup}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = Tortilla Soup | image = TortillaSoupPoster.jpg | caption = Original poster | director = María Ripoll | producer = John Bard Manulis | writer = Tom Musca<br />Ramón Menéndez<br />Vera Blasi | based_on = {{plainlist| *{{based on|''Eat Drink Man Woman''|Hui-Ling Wang, Ang Lee, and James Schamus}}}} | starring = Héctor Elizondo<br />Jacqueline Obradors<br />Elizabeth Peña<br />Tamara Mello<br />Raquel Welch | music = Bill Conti | cinematography = Xavier Pérez Grobet | editing = Andy Blumenthal | studio = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer<br />United Artists<br />Starz/Encore Entertainment | distributor = Samuel Goldwyn Films (US)<br />20th Century Fox (International) | released = {{Film date|2001|6|9|Seattle International Film Festival|2001|8|31}} | runtime = 103 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $4.5 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Tortilla Soup|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tortillasoup.htm|work=Box Office Mojo}}</ref> }}
'''''Tortilla Soup''''' is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by María Ripoll. The screenplay by Tom Musca, Ramón Menéndez and Vera Blasi is based on the film ''Eat Drink Man Woman'', which was written by Hui-Ling Wang, Ang Lee, and James Schamus.
==Plot== Semi-retired Mexican-American chef Martin Naranjo shares a suburban Los Angeles home with his three adult daughters. Although he has lost the senses of smell and taste since his wife's death, he still cooks elaborate, multi-course meals for his family and friends. The women humor their father's old-fashioned ways, but each is searching for fulfillment outside the family circle. Leticia, the oldest and most conservative of the three, is a repressed high school chemistry teacher who abandoned Catholicism to become a born-again Christian. Middle daughter Carmen shares her father's passion for food but has stifled her dream of owning a restaurant in favor of pursuing a more stable career as a business analyst. Maribel, the youngest, is hip and slightly rebellious.
Frequently present in the Naranjo home are newly divorced family friend Yolanda, her young daughter April, and her visiting mother Hortensia, who has set her sights on Martin and is determined to make him her next husband, unaware his attention is focused on someone else.
Maribel is drawn to handsome Brazilian student, Andy, after her co-worker rejects him and, after they briefly date, she invites him home for dinner, during which she blithely announces she is moving in with him, much to her father's consternation and Andy's shock, since they never had discussed elevating their somewhat casual relationship to this next level. Before long, she is rearranging his small apartment and unintentionally making him increasingly uncomfortable as she imposes herself in his life.
Meanwhile, Leticia finds herself attracted to Orlando Castillo, who coaches baseball at her school, when she begins to receive passionate love letters she believes are from him, unaware they actually were written by her students. Carmen is offered a high-profile job in Barcelona, and half-heartedly agrees to accept it, although soon after her father drives her to the airport she returns home, determined to follow in her father's footsteps and open a restaurant of her own.
Leticia and Orlando elope, Maribel and Andy break up and reunite, Martin marries Yolanda, and everyone gathers for a family meal at Carmen's new restaurant. It is, however, apparent that this family bonds over their love of food.
==Cast== {{Cast listing| * Héctor Elizondo as Martin Naranjo * Jacqueline Obradors as Carmen Naranjo * Elizabeth Peña as Leticia Naranjo * Tamara Mello as Maribel Naranjo * Raquel Welch as Hortensia * Paul Rodriguez as Orlando Castillo * Constance Marie as Yolanda * Marisabel García as April * Nikolai Kinski as Andy * Julio Oscar Mechoso as Gomez * Jude Herrera as Eden * Ken Marino as Jeff * Troy Ruptash as Hairdresser * Louis Crugnali as Catering Assistant * Joel Joan as Antonio Urgell * Ulises Cuadra as Snide Student (as Ulysses Cuadra) * Mark de la Cruz as April's Classmate * Eli Russell Linnetz as April's Classmate * Stoney Westmoreland as Baseball Umpire * Karen Dyer as Rachel * Anthony C Sena as Chef/Wait Staff }}
==Production== The film was shot on location in El Segundo, Encino and Los Angeles in California.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vancheri |first=Barbara |date=2001-10-12 |title='Tortilla Soup' |url=http://old.post-gazette.com/movies/20011012soup1012fnp3.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221064549/http://old.post-gazette.com/movies/20011012soup1012fnp3.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Ammeson |first=Jane |date=2001-08-22 |title=Chefs do the cooking for 'Tortilla Soup' film |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-08-22-0108220022-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204164652/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-08-22-0108220022-story.html |archive-date=2020-02-04 |access-date=2022-12-21 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> The meals featured in the film were prepared by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger who, as hosts of the Food Network program ''Too Hot Tamales'', introduced viewers to their contemporary take on traditional Mexican cuisine.<ref name=":0" /> The production design was by the Argentine designer Alicia Maccarone.
The film's soundtrack includes "Sem contenção" by Bebel Gilberto, "Cuchi-Cuchi" and "Si estuvieras aquí" by Los Amigos Invisibles, "A bailar" by Patricio Castillo, "Si en un final" by Eliades Ochoa, "Call Waiting" by Zap Mama, "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" by Lila Downs, "Les Portes Du Souvenir" by Les Nubians, and "Amado mío" by Pink Martini.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tortilla Soup |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/tortilla-soup-mw0000010525 |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=AllMovie}}</ref>
==Critical response== The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 74 critics. The consensus reads, "An English remake of Ang Lee's ''Eat Drink Man Woman'', ''Tortilla Soup'' is as charming and flavorful as the dishes it features."<ref>{{cite web|title=Tortilla Soup (2001) Reviews |website=Rotten Tomatoes |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tortilla_soup/ |accessdate=November 10, 2019}}</ref> {{Metacritic film prose|58|23|ref=yes|access-date=11 November 2025}}
Elvis Mitchell of ''The New York Times'' called the film "forgettable" and "as predictable as a fast-food restaurant." Although he thought it "has more warm, likable actors and agile performances than this material merits," he felt their "exuberance goes a long way, but not far enough."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Elvis |author-link=Elvis Mitchell |date=August 31, 2001 |title=FILM REVIEW; Movie Magic: Feasting and Staying Slim |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/movies/film-review-movie-magic-feasting-and-staying-slim.html}}</ref>
Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote "Director Maria Ripoli and adapters Vera Blasi, Tom Musca and Ramon Menendez honor the strength, wisdom and humor of their source but imbue ''Tortilla Soup'' with a life of its own."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Thomas (film critic) |date=2001-08-24 |title='Tortilla Soup' Adjusts a Recipe |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-24-ca-37513-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221062151/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-24-ca-37513-story.html |archive-date=2022-12-21}}</ref> He added, "The film’s ensemble cast is headed with understated humor and authority by Elizondo and shows to special advantage Pena’s droll gifts as a comedian. Welch sails into view as spectacular-looking as ever, and she easily conveys the humor in the affected Hortensia, a husband hunter so flashy and obvious--to everybody but herself--as to be endearing. Obradors and Mello are as skilled as they are lovely, and Rodriguez and Kinski make appealing suitors. ''Tortilla Soup'' is worth sipping."<ref name=":1" />
Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' called the film "a warm human comedy that has no great deep message but simply makes us feel good" and added, "''Tortilla Soup'' follows a familiar formula, in which the movie opens with everyone unmarried and we suspect it will have to end with everyone happily paired-off. But the movie is cast so well that the actors bring life to their predictable destinies, and Elizondo casts a kind of magical warm spell over them all."<ref>{{cite web |date=August 24, 2001 |last= Ebert |first= Roger |author-link= Roger Ebert |title= Tortilla Soup Movie Review & Film Summary (2001) |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/tortilla-soup-2001 |website=RogerEbert.com |publisher= Chicago-Sun Times }}</ref>
==Awards and nominations== Elizabeth Peña tied with Elpidia Carrillo in ''Bread and Roses'' for the ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-04-21 |title=ALMA 2002 Awards Winners |url=https://hispanicad.com/news/alma-2002-awards-winners/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=HispanicAd.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and the film tied with ''Bread and Roses'' for the Imagen Foundation Award for Best Feature Film.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berkshire |first=Geoff |date=2002-04-25 |title=Imagen fare: 'Bread,' 'Soup' receive noms |url=https://variety.com/2002/tv/news/imagen-fare-bread-soup-receive-noms-1117865987/ |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Home media== The film was released on DVD on January 15, 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tortilla Soup DVD |url=https://www.amazon.com/Tortilla-Soup-Hector-Elizondo/dp/B071HL9HSY |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=Amazon}}</ref> It is in fullscreen format with audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish.
==See also== {{Portal|Hispanic and Latino Americans|Film|United States|Food|Greater Los Angeles|Comedy}} * History of the Mexican Americans in Los Angeles
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0255653|Tortilla Soup}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|tortilla_soup|Tortilla Soup}} * [http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Tortilla-Soup-PRESS-KIT.FINAL-8.8.pdf Press kit]
Category:2001 films Category:2001 independent films Category:2001 romantic comedy-drama films Category:American remakes of foreign films Category:Films scored by Bill Conti Category:Films about Mexican Americans Category:Films about father–daughter relationships Category:Films about sisters Category:Films about widowhood in the United States Category:Cooking films Category:American romantic comedy-drama films Category:2001 English-language films Category:2001 American films Category:English-language romantic comedy-drama films Category:English-language independent films Category:Samuel Goldwyn Films films