SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE
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Director: Mark Tarlov
Screenplay: Judith Roberts
Gellar's role: Amanda Shelton
with: Sean Patrick Flannery and Patricia Clarkson
US Release Date: 5 February 1999
Length: 96 minutes
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Department store executive Tom Bartlett (Flanery) tries to resist falling in love with struggling young chef Amanda Shelton (Gellar). He is thwarted in this effort by a magic crab, a supernatural cabbie, and his own better judgement. This is the second of only two romantic comedies for Gellar, and it is easily the better of the two. Patricia Clarkson and Lawrence Gillard Jr turn in excellent performances in supporting roles.
Slideshow - Sarah Michelle Gellar in Simply Irresistible
Don Shanahan said in Film Obsessive: "As Gellar’s character seductively states, 'dessert is the whole point of the meal'. Simply Irresistible is a sweet tooth’s dream, both in the kitchen and on the home-viewing couch. By golly, if you do not crave an obsessive urge and want to lick the DVD with the imagined taste and aroma of the caramel eclairs and other plates you see on screen, your parietal lobe interpreting those functions is broken. Go ahead and accept all of the synonyms for “delicious” used by Amanda in one aside to describe the treats on screen, including 'savoury', 'tasty', 'scrumptious', 'delectable', 'succulent', and 'mouthwatering'."
Roger Ebert wrote: "'Simply Irresistible' is old-fashioned and obvious, yes, like a featherweight comedy from the 1950s. But that’s the charm. I love movies that cut loose from the moorings of the possible and dance among their fancies. When Woody Allen waltzed with Goldie Hawn on the banks of the Seine and she floated in the air and just stayed up there, my heart danced, too. And the closing scenes of 'Simply Irresistible' are like that. It’s not a great movie. But it’s a charmer."“Simply Irresistible” is old-fashioned and obvious, yes, like a featherweight comedy from the 1950s. But that’s the charm. I love movies that cut loose from the moorings of the possible and dance among their fancies. When Woody Allen waltzed with Goldie Hawn on the banks of the Seine and she floated in the air and just stayed up there, my heart danced, too. And the closing scenes of “Simply Irresistible” are like that. It’s not a great movie. But it’s a charmer.
The film, whose working title was 'Vanilla Fog', played in 1,359 theatres in the US before being released on DVD, and grossed $4,298,989.
CAST
- Sarah Michelle Gellar - Amanda Shelton
- Sean Patrick Flanery - Tom Bartlett
- Patricia Clarkson - Lois McNally
- Dylan Baker - Jonathan Bendel
- Lawrence Gilliard Jr. - Nolan Traynor
- Christopher Durang - Gene O'Reilly
- Betty Buckley - Aunt Stella
- Olek Krupa - Valderon
- Amanda Peet - Chris
- Alex Draper - Francois
- Drew Nieporent - Gil Shapiro
- Anthony Ruivivar - Ramos
- Leslie Lyles - T.J. Russo
- Steven Skybell - Mr. Mueller
- Phyllis Somerville - Ruth
- Andrew Seear - Frank Rogers
- Meg Gibson - Hannah Wallberg
- Bill Raymond - Howard
- Yusef Bulos - Bill
- Joseph Mosso - Abe
- Harley Kaplan - Brian
- Molly Tarlov - Molly
- Gabriel Macht - Charlie
- Hal Robinson - Southern Cross customer
- Malgorzata Zajaczkowska - Mrs. Mueller
- Lily Semel - Lauren
- Audrey Matson - Lauren's Mother
- Tone Torgersen - Helen the clerk
- Debbon Ayer - Bendel salesperson
- Marisa Zalabak - reporter
- Eric Rota - sous chef
- Kara Werthington - singer
- Andrew McFarlane - poet
- Jason Cicardo - chef
- Matt Walker - bus passenger
Original Music by GIL GOLDSTEIN
SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE can be streamed on PLEX.
CARAMEL ÉCLAIR RECIPE
CARAMEL PASTRY CRÉME
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 Vanilla Bean scraped
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 TB Corn Starch
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
Place a large skillet over medium-high flame and add the sugar. Once the sugar is uniformly dark amber, remove skillet from heat and pour onto a foil lined jelly roll pan and allow to cool to room temperature. Combine milk, salt, vanilla seeds and the pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Break caramel into smaller pieces and blend it into a powder.
Pour onto a sheet of foil and let cool to room temperature. Peel off foil and break caramel into chunks; put in a food processor or blender and whirl into a fine powder. As the milk heats up, add small amounts of the caramel powder and stir until melted and smooth. Do not let the milk boil. Combine milk, salt, vanilla seeds and the pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat
Break caramel into smaller pieces and whirl it up in the food processor or blender, into a powder. Pour onto a sheet of foil and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Peel off foil and break caramel into chunks; put in a food processor or blender and whirl into a fine powder. As the milk heats up, add small amounts of the caramel powder and stir until melted and smooth.
Beat yolks and cornstarch together until yolks are thick and lemon in color. Condition yolks with a couple ladles of the mixture, then add the eggs to the saucepan and whisk until thickened. Remove from heat and strain. Whip heavy cream in a chilled bowl until stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into pastry créme.
CARAMEL GLAZE
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 TB butter
- Pinch of salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 tsp Coriander
Melt Sugar in a sauce pan over medium flame. When liquid turns a dark amber, pour in the heavy cream. Stir with a whisk over low heat until smooth then add the salt and butter and stir. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and the coriander.
CHOUX PASTE
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Water
- 8 TB Unsalted Butter
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/2 tsp Ginger
- 4 large Eggs
Bring Water, butter and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium flame. Once water reaches a boil, add flour and stir until the dough ball pulls away from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add the first egg and stir briskly with a rubber spatula. Repeat this with each of the other 3 eggs. After the addition of the last egg, the dough will be a smooth and sticky paste. Fit a large piping bag with a large round tip. Fill the bag with the choux paste.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper and pipe 3 inch long strips of paste at least 2 inches apart. Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove pans from oven; poke a hole in the end of each éclair. >Bake for an additional 10 minutes to ensure the insides are dried out.
Move éclairs to a cooling rack.
ASSEMBLY
Dip the tops of warm éclairs into the caramel sauce and set on a rack to drip and cool. Fill a pastry bag with injection tip 2/3 full with pastry créme. Poke the tip through the steam hole of your éclair and fill with the pastry créme.
TRAILER
