Tortilla Heaven

For some, food is religion. The fridge and oven are the temples of choice with the sofa representing the most comfortable pew on the planet. But what food is the bridge to God?

In Judy Hecht Dumonet’s overly crowd-pleasing comedy Tortilla Heaven, the face of Jesus appears on a tortilla, causing a sleeping New Mexico village to come to life with dreams of riches, fame and progress. Just like an eating binge leads to weight gain, greed doesn’t always have a happy ending.

Isidor (José Zúñiga) runs Tortilla Heaven, a wonderful little restaurant that believes in homemade ingredients, friendly service and fresh salsa. He’s a noble man who has never quite made it. But with the appearance of Jesus, he begins to dream of a new future for his family and fellow villagers. Everyone wants a piece of the action as the miracle snack food becomes a much-needed tourist attraction.

Tortilla Heaven appears to aim for the same sort of ethnic laughs made popular by My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its many ensuing imitators. There are times when the lighthearted jokes got a slight smile out of me, but more often the script is trying too hard. There’s been an abundance of “Jesus sightings” in the world ranging from crying statues to a potato chip resembling God’s son. There was an opportunity for some satire to be played up, but then it may lose mass appeal as there’d be a greater opportunity to offend. As it stands, it’s going to be hard to offend anyone with Tortilla Heaven. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but I would have certainly appreciated a harder edge given for commentary.

Some of the film’s cinematography is pretty, although there were many points where Dumonet’s choice of angles made me feel dizzy. The camera moves all over the place with little effect or sense of purpose other than to get fancy. It doesn’t help the story and it only makes the film unnecessarily complicated.

Tortilla Heaven is like a piece of fast food: it’s simple and painless – even tasty at times – but it’s not overly nutritious. And when you’re done it’s not long before it lingers in the back of your mind.