Jackson Booth-Millard I found this Japanese film in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I jokingly thought the title (translated "dandelion") was something to do with a feminine hygiene product, it was rated very well by critics, so I hoped it would be worthwhile. Basically a pair of truck drivers, the experienced Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and his younger sidekick named Gun (Ken Watanabe), stop at a decrepit roadside ramen noodle shop named "Lai Lai", owned by widowed Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto). The two truckers return, Tampopo asks their opinion of the noodles, Goro and Gun tell her they are "sincere, but lack character". Goro gives her advice, and she asks him to become her teacher, they turn the establishment into a place that will have the "art of noodle soup making". Goro takes her around and points out the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors, but Tampopo cannot get the broth just right, so a Noodle-Making Master is brought in for his superlative expertise. After saving the life of a wealthy old man (Hideji Otaki), from choking on his food, he lends her his chauffeur Shohei (Kinzo Sakura), who has a masterful way with noodles. Through trickery, they are also able to pry ramen secrets from their competitors, the group also change the name of the restaurant to "Tampopo". Goro previously had a fight with a customer called Pisuken (Rikiya Yasuoka), they have a rematch, ending in a draw, Pisuken reveals he is a contractor, he offers to makeover the shop's interior. Tampopo's latest effort still comes up short, so Pisuken teaches her his own secret recipe, this proves to be successful, soon customers are filling the newly redecorated shop. There are other subplots going on at the same time, including culinary knowledge in a French gourmet restaurant; a women's etiquette class on how to eat spaghetti properly; and a man in a white suit (Koji Yakusho), an elegant gangster, and his lover (Fukumi Kuroda), exploring erotic ways to use food, in the end he is shot dead, his last words to his lover are about a secret recipe for sausages. You could argue that this movie is much more about the food, the performances are all fine and it is nice simple story about transforming a failing noodle business into a successful venture, along with little spoofs of westerns and stereotypical American movie themes, characters and other stuff, but the most memorable sequences involve the preparation or eating of noodles and various other Asian and continental dishes, almost food porn, so feast your eyes on this enjoyable comedy. Very good!

Myriam Nys A widow with a young child runs a small and unsuccessful restaurant. A chance encounter with strangers allows her to grasp a sad truth : her noodle soup just isn't good enough. Accompanied by one of the strangers, who becomes her mentor, friend and bodyguard, she sets out on a quest to make the very best noodle soup in the city. She's not the only one to worry and obsess about Japanese cuisine : all around her there are people heavily invested in food, for a variety of more or less logical, more or less sane reasons.In "Tampopo" food is used and abused, wasted and exalted, reviewed and gobbled, stolen and shared. The movie examines the myriad ways in which humans deal with the basic need for nutrition and it does so against the backdrop of an highly complex society alternating uneasily between tradition and Western influence. The results, just as in real life, can be laugh-out-loud funny, quietly amusing, striking, heartrending or just plain weird."Tampopo" also knows his classics : at the end, the mentor, friend and bodyguard departs after having performed his noble work, just as any knight-errant (or rather, cowboy-errant) from Hollywood legend. As a Belgian reared on Lucky Luke, I found myself singing "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy and I'm a long way from home"...Much to be commended.

Michael Neumann It was sold as the world's first 'noodle western', but this deadpan, mock-hysterical Japanese import is more than just another genre parody. Director Juzo Itami blends equal parts Sergio Leone and Luis Buñuel (circa 'The Phantom of Liberty') to cook up a near plot less satire on a common theme: food, in all its various shapes, forms, and obsessions. Episodic gags and aimless digressions overlap each other with little logic and often no clear punchline: a bereaved father orders his children to finish their mother's last meal after she collapses dead in the kitchen; an etiquette class learns modern table manners from an eavesdropper noisily slurping up his dinner; a dapper gangster and his girlfriend practice (with the aid of a raw egg yolk) the art of epicurean sex. Eventually each loose end leads back to the central story, about an eager but inept proprietress of a mediocre noodle shop guided by a benevolent truck driver towards culinary enlightenment in pursuit of the ultimate bowl of ramen: a process involving rigorous exercise, total mental discipline, Zen philosophy, industrial espionage, and smart interior decorating.

dwpollar 1st watched 11/15/2009 - 7 out of 10 (Dir-Juzo Itami): Funny, perverted yet touching movie about a group of food critics that help a woman become a master noodle cook and start a restaurant. The story doesn't always follow this basic storyline which is kind of interesting but confusing as well at times. The movie is really about food and the way that the Japanese culture views it. They throw in mini-stories that revolve around food obsessions including a couple that begin the movie talking to us(the audience) and are shown at various times using food in their sexual encounters and their other normal activities of life and death. The main storyline starts with a couple of truck-driving noodle soup enthusiasts visiting a restaurant then helping the woman named Tampopo and becoming her coach. There is a sweetness in the relationships between her and her teachers, especially the main character that likes to wear a cowboy hat(which they use to spoof westerns a couple of times). The extra stories that the filmmakers throw in are a little more vulgar which makes for an interesting contrast of styles. The movie is funny and fun to watch for the most part and gives you a good idea of how the Japanese like their Ramen!! Some of the mini stories don't make a lot of sense except they revolve around food --- so overall this feel good movie is very enjoyable despite it's imperfections.