Dinner Rush

Dinner Rush is set in a well-known Italian restaurant in New York that has become the centre of a chaotic evening. Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker who owns the place, already has plenty to handle: a demanding food critic to please, gangsters from Queens trying to take over the business, and tensions with his son, the restaurant's star chef, whose inventive cooking has made the business successful. One son works to keep the establishment popular with the city's elite, while the other, a gambler, brings trouble of his own. As various guests arrive and the evening unfolds, the situation moves toward a deadly conclusion.

The film was released in 2000 and runs 99 minutes. It was directed by Bob Giraldi, who had previously made Hiding Out and would go on to make the documentary P. Diddy Presents: The Bad Boys of Comedy. The screenplay is by Rick Shaughnessy and Brian S. Kalata, and the film was produced by Patti Greaney and Louis DiGiaimo. Danny Aiello leads a credited cast of 42 as Louis Cropa, alongside Polly Draper as Natalie Clemente, Alex Corrado as Paolo, Zainab Jah, John Rothman and Michael McGlone.

Made for a modest budget and earning limited returns at the box office, the film found a warmer response among critics, whose rating of 7.5/10 from 45 reviews sits slightly above the audience scores of 7.2/10 on IMDb from 6,600 votes and 7/10 on TMDB from 86 votes.