'Today's Special' review: Actors add substance

"Today's Special" is a nice little movie about a thoroughly assimilated first-generation Indian American, an aspiring chef who connects with his heritage - and with his own love of cooking - when he's forced, by circumstances, to run his family's Indian restaurant.

The film is engaging but also has a certain creaking familiarity. There's almost nothing here that's surprising, and the movie's world is rather drab - sad working-class New York, and a dingy old restaurant. It's an easy movie to watch, and yet it's just as easy to forget or skip entirely.

However, "Today's Special" has two major virtues. The first is Aasif Mandvi, who co-wrote the screenplay and stars as Samir, the would-be chef. Mandvi has become a familiar face as a supporting actor in movies and television, and has a breezy, New York-style command of himself that's appealing. He's a likable presence in movies, and it's good to see him headlining his own picture.

The second is Naseeruddin Shah, who plays a cabdriver who is something of a philosopher. There are some gifted actors who, by virtue of some inner peace or composure and some compelling and impossible-to-imitate magnetism, become the center of every frame. Shah is a thin, gray-haired man of about 60, a man of average appearance, and yet there's something about him that makes him riveting onscreen.

You can come up with reasons for this - talk about his skill, talk about his acting, talk about specific moments that illustrate what he can do. But added together, those reasons won't quite describe or account for what must be considered a kind of screen magic.

Many of the scenes between the protagonist and his parents are tiresome boilerplate, but every time Mandvi shares the screen with Shah, "Today's Special" goes from nothing special to a fairly substantial movie.

-- Advisory: Some coarse language, but not much.

E-mail Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle