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Nonnas is a gentle comedy/drama, based upon the life story of Jody Scaravella, but here with Vince Vaughn as the similarly-named Joe Scaravella.
From being a young kid, he’s always been obsessed with the food made by his mother, Maria (Kate Eastman), and his Nonna (Karen Giordano) – aka grandmother. Alas, as the story zips forward to the present day, the latter is long gone, and he’s just hosted his mother’s wake.
He’s also given a letter written by his mother, passed on by her friend, nursing home-bound Roberta (Lorraine Bracco), but struggles to open it, because it’s the last thing she’ll ever ‘say’ to him.
In theory, he can attempt to make some of the much-loved sustinence for himself, but no-one makes it like nonnas do. As such, with the inheritance from his late Mum – and chancing upon a boarded-up restaurant on Staten Island, he has the crazy idea to open a restaurant, but instead of hiring professional chefs to run it, he hires… yes, you guessed it, and in the form of Roberta, plus Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro – Once Upon a Time In Hollywood), Teresa (Talia Shire – Megalopolis) and Gia (Susan Sarandon – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story).
Joe should really have a daytime job that would preoccupy him during his waking hours instead of trying to fulfil this new dream, but since his boss is a complete arse, it turns out to be incredibly easy to be able to clock in and out, whilst barely turning up for a shift.
Nonnas starts off far better than it falls into, as we go from a heartwarming tale after Joe’s mother passes away, to ‘Grumpy Old Women’ – with the quartet either arguing, or being so out of touch, they don’t understand how he looked online for the new staff, as opposed to putting it in the paper.
Later, it flips back and forth at times, leading to a rather uneven film. On occasion, it can be great, but despite a decent cast, too much of the film falls into the trap of contrived plot devices that feel like Jody’s real-life situation was thrown into an AI plot-generator – where the protagonist has a dream that he/she wants to make a reality, regardless of having to go up against the odds, or how much some side-plot resolutions stretch credibility – and this is the end result.
In deviating away from awful knockabout comedies, Vince Vaughn has made some great work in recent years, such as Brawl In Cell Block 99, Arkansas and Dragged Across Concrete, but here, while this one starts with good intentions, everyone basically ends up taking a busman’s holiday.
A romantic subplot is also crowbarred in, as he bumps into old schoolfriend Olivia (Linda Cardellini – No Good Deed), and like I would do, as a single man of a certain age, one of the first things you do is to check for an engagement/wedding ring on their fingers.
Nonnas is not an unlikeable film by any stretch of the imagination, but it does feel like it does the source material scant justice, along the same lines of how Dave Fishwick’s bank loans business became not one, but two Netflix movies. At least Nonnas retains credibility, if you enjoyed it as it began, you’ll feel disappointed as it happy-claps to a predictable conclusion.
On the plus side, as states above, Susan Sarandon plays Gia, one of the Nonnas, and for someone who’s a step away from 80, she walks into the kitchen with… erm… prominent…, causing one of the other ladies to gesture, “They bounce!”
There will NEVER ever be a time when she hasn’t “got it”.
There’s no mid- or post-credit scenes, but as the credits begin, we’re shown clips of the real-life restaurant, showing it’s still in business after 15 years. It comes across rather like a cat cafe, but with nonnas, as they go round and cuddle up to various customers.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Nonnas is on Netflix from today, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 111 minutes
Release date: May 9th 2025
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Score: 5/10
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Producers: Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Jack Turner
Screenplay: Liz Maccie
Inspired by the life story of: Jody Scaravella
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Cast:
Joe Scaravella: Vince Vaughn
Cousin Tammy: Tammy Pescatelli
Bruno: Joe Manganiello
Antonella: Brenda Vaccaro
Olivia: Linda Cardellini
Teresa: Talia Shire
Lucia: Karen Murphy
Gia: Susan Sarandon
Al: Michael Rispoli
Roberta: Lorraine Bracco
Phil: Geoffrey Owens
Gabriella: Maureen Mountcastle
Margaret: Maccie Margaret Chbosky
Young Joe: Theodore Helm
Mr. Pionconne: Jimmy Smagula
Young Gabriella: Jamie Eddy
Arthur Romano: Adam Ferrara
Young Bruno: Jack Casey
Maria: Kate Eastman
Nonna: Karen Giordano
Dan McClane: Richie Moriarty
Edward Durant: Campbell Scott
Stella: Drea de Matteo
Rigo: Ali Lopez-Sohaili
Vito: Quincy Dunn-Baker
Luis: Vladimi Caamano
Omar: Taylor Sele
Young Roberta: Dee Roscioli
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.