REVIEW: Meet Your New Comfort Watch ‘Nonnas’
- Emma Fisher
- May 11
- 3 min read
Stephen Chbosky’s Nonnas is a warm, nourishing hug of a film. Like any good Italian meal, it’s best savoured slowly, surrounded by good company, and definitely not watched on an empty stomach.
Inspired by the real-life story of Joe Scaravella and his Staten Island restaurant Enoteca Maria, Nonnas centres on Joe (Vince Vaughn), who, after the loss of his mother and grandmother, is lost amidst the emptiness that follows death. He takes a gamble with his grief, using his mother’s life insurance money to open a restaurant staffed entirely by Italian grandmothers, each with their own regional recipes, memories, and wisdom.
While I'm not Italian, the essence of these women is instantly familiar. Think the kind of grandmother who can silence a family feud with one look, heal a heartache with ragù, or charm anyone with a baked good. Think home.
Vaughn delivers a grounded performance as a man quietly unravelling and rebuilding in his grief. "I don't know what tomorrow is supposed to look like," he says early on. That sense of being lost, in a real, familiar, quietly desperate way, will not leave you.
However, it’s the four grandmothers, played by screen giants Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro, Lorraine Bracco, and Talia Shire, who are the heart and soul of this movie as they steal the show. They're complex, flawed, fiery women who clash, laugh, mourn, and mentor. Watching them navigate kitchen rivalries and share their personal histories is one of Nonnas' great joys, of which there are many. A heart-to-heart between them? Pure gold. I think I held my breath the entire time. It's the kind of scene that makes you realise how lucky we are to still have these legends on screen, being given the space to shine. Long may they reign.
Elsewhere, Linda Cardellini brings exactly the right balance of warmth and wit as Olivia, Joe's former prom date turned law student. Her character is a widow who looks after Vaccaro's Antonella (and vice versa). As Joe is unable to read his mother's letter, she is unable to move her wedding band from her ring finger. While it’s obvious that she’s there as a romantic interest for Vaughn, their chemistry becomes an emotional grounding force for both. She’s someone who understands what it means to start over, later in life, when you think you’re settled and unaffected by time and try again. Her line "Grief. It doesn't have a timeline, so why should we?" feels like the defining tagline of the movie.
And then, of course, there’s the food. It's visually delicious, almost torturously so. Do not watch this hungry as I did. Every sizzling pan and bubbling sauce is filmed with such tenderness that the kitchen practically becomes its own character. It becomes a place where grief is stirred into sauce as the characters begin again in a shared understanding of what it means to love and lose. It’s impossible not to feel moved watching hands that have held generations now shaping something for themselves.
Thematically, Nonnas explores familiar terrain in grief, family, ageing, and starting over, but it does so with unusual sincerity. While you feel the characters' emotions, it never once tries to shock you or manipulate your tears. Instead, it invites you to sit at the table, listen to these women, and remember those you love, whether they are present or passed on.
It's a Netflix original, so of course the story unfolds along predictable lines. You'll welcome those familiar beats, however, because Nonnas knows what it's doing. It's not trying to reinvent comfort food; it’s a welcome tribute to the women who fed us, held us, shaped us, and kept us whole no matter the circumstance.
You’ll want to hug the women in your life afterwards, for here's to them. Maybe, if you’re lucky, they’ll tell you the story behind the sauce. If you’re luckier, perhaps you’ll learn of the ingredients.
Rating: ★★★★☆
About Nonnas
Premiere Date: May 9, 2025
Writer: Liz Maccie
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Executive Producers: Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin, Leah Gonzalez, Stacy Calabrese, Amanda Morgan Palmer, Scott Budnick, Ameet Shukla, Jody Scaravella, Pam Kirsch, Christopher Slager, Dan Guando, Vince Vaughn
Production: Fifth Season, 1Community, Madison Wells, Matador Content
Distribution: Netflix
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Linda Cardellini, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, Susan Sarandon, Joe Manganiello, Drea de Matteo.
Synopsis: After the loss of his mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with a group of local grandmothers as the chefs.
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