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Review

The story of four families celebrating Thanksgiving in melting-pot Upper-middle class Los Angeles forms the core of this appetizing comedy. Skillfully juggling its many stories, What's Cooking explores with both humor and heart the differences and common bonds shared by the culturally diverse characters. The Jewish parents, Lainie Kazan and Maury Chaykin have their daughter Rachel (Sedgwick) and her "roommate" Carla (Margulies) to the dinner. Each family has a drama and crises to resolve during the course of the film, Carla's unspoken lesbianism is the Jewish family's drama. Aunt Bea (Harris) is hilarious (with outrageously dyed hair) as she asks one idiotic question after another about when Rachel might be finding the "right man" and her biological clock ticking. Ruehl is the matriarch of a Latino family, newly separated from her husband who has returned to find himself replaced by another man. Added to this mix are the joyful trials and tribulations of an African-American and an Asian-American family, each with their own crises who all come together by story's end. A charming slice of American life, this is a true vision of American "family values." Don't watch hungry, however -- the food is mouthwatering.