Overview: Lucy (Rosanna Arquette, Pulp Fiction) is an underpaid waitress at “Dali”, a terminally hip New York City restaurant, who’s seriously in need of cash. Dali’s new, mysterious, charming (and very in debt) bartender, Monte (David Bowie, The Hunger) needs to marry someone, anyone, by the end of the week, or else!

Together they join forces — along with Lucy’s lingerie designing best friend, Viv (Eszter Balint, Stranger Than Paradise) — to rob the popular eatery and solve their financial woes. However these three are far from master criminals and they soon learn that in robberies, as in love, things never go as planned.

This “lively and amusing” (Los Angeles Times) romantic caper co-stars Andre Gregory (Demolition Man), Buck Henry (Heaven Can Wait) and Academy Award® winner Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God) and features “David Bowie’s zaniest most underrated film role” (Collider) in this engaging romantic comedy from acclaimed director Richard Shepard (The Matador) in this never before seen director’s cut.

Blu-ray Verdict: Thankfully for all concerned, this is a movie that doesn’t do us the disservice of taking itself seriously. We’re able to suspend disbelief and have fun with the wacky characters without wondering how they could possibly exist. I agree with other people that I have talked to about it down the decades, that the pacing could have used work. But those who complain (and trust me, they still do) that one shot of a bridge doesn’t prove a movie is set in New York, obviously thought movies benefit from being set in New York; a point with which I personally don’t agree.

But, I digress. I enjoyed Lucy’s character and thought Arquette was the right person to play her. Viv, on the other hand, bothered me. Eszter Balint’s slight Hungarian accent got on my nerves from the beginning. I’m of the camp that feels an actor should either have an accent or not. If you have one, don’t spend thousands of dollars training to cover up 99.5% of it, because the other .5% will still give you away.

And as much as I love all-things David Bowie, and much as he probably sold this movie for most people browsing in the video store, he really phoned in his performance here. Much was made on the cassette box, and in the reviews, of the fact that Monte is a mystery man. That we don’t know whether he’s a liar or a gambler or any of several things he claims to be early on.

Problem is, at no time is it made clear to us why we should care what he is. He’s boring, morose, mumbles far too many of his lines, and only turns on that famed Bowie sexiness about twice in the whole movie (once during a make out scene that is charming until it is cut off abruptly). I was quite happy to see his character bound into the fish tank to rescue Lucy, because it was the only time I saw any kind of light in his eyes. Though I suppose it might have just been sparkles from the water!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I complain a lot, but I liked the fact that this plot was clean as a whistle, no big holes to mull over at the end, and the happy ending was sweet (if not entirely articulated, but then, by that time we could tell how things ended up and didn’t need it spelled out for us, I guess). The dialogue is mostly quite clever, the costumes are fabulous (Lucy in her bejeweled Houdini-era flapper gowns is adorable), and I love what happened to the ring! Very watchable, even today, so please buy this new Director’s Cut Collector’s Edition blu-ray and rediscover it for yourselves.[C.C.C.]

Special Features:
High Definition (1080p) presentation of the director’s cut of the main feature in 1.78:1 (struck from a brand new 4K transfer from film interpositive)
Audio: LPCM 2.0 Mono
Optional English Subtitles
Introduction by Director Richard Shepard
Commentary with Director Richard Shepard, actors Rosanna Arquette and Eszter Balint, co-producer Sarah Jackson and co-screenwriter Tamar Brott, moderated by “Cereal at Midnight’s” Heath Holland
Commentary by Director Richard Shepard
“The Making of The Linguini Incident” - Feature length documentary about the making of the film featuring interviews with Richard Shepard, Tamar Brott, Rosanna Arquette, Eszter Balint Marlee Matlin, Sarah Jackson, Marcia Hinds and Richard von Ernst (1:44:26, HD, with optional English subtitles)
Photo Gallery with commentary by Richard Shepard
The Linguini Incident – Original Theatrical Version (SD, 98:00)
2024 Theatrical Trailer (HD)
Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
Reversible Artwork