Nonnas, the charming new Netflix film, stars Vince Vaughn as a Staten Island mechanic turned restaurateur, who enlists a group of spirited Italian grandmothers to cook in his eatery dedicated to his late mother.
The film sparkles with comedic and heartfelt moments, largely due to the standout performances of acting veterans Lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro, and Talia Shire. As they clash and bond over their shared love of cooking, these formidable nonnas steal the show—and perhaps your heart. Here’s some more details on the performances and the careers of the women of Nonnas.
Insights: Lessons From the Cast of Nonnas
- Cultivate genuine connections with your castmates to create authentic on-screen relationships that captivate the audience.
- Identify and hone your personal charisma to create memorable performances that resonate with viewers.
- Study the work of experienced actors to understand the nuances of their craft and apply those insights to elevate your own acting skills.
The Snapshot: Nonnas in a Nutshell
After the death of his beloved mother, a mechanic opens an Italian restaurant on Staten Island, and employs real Italian grandmothers, or “nonnas,” as chefs.
Nonnas is now available for viewing on Netflix.
The Performances from the Nonnas Cast
There is something about Vince Vaughn that doesn’t exactly make him a national treasure, but it certainly comes close. He trades on a certain level of goofy charm that makes him a specific kind of movie star. You’re probably not going to see him perform big action stunts or appear in a superhero movie, but he does have a sort of je ne sais quoi that makes him eminently appealing, especially in the right role.
An almost perfect example of this is the new Netflix movie Nonnas, in which he plays Joe Scaravella, a real-life New Yorker who risked it all to open an Italian restaurant to honor his late mother. Vaughn is excellent in the role, one that calls for a great deal of heart and the automatic audience empathy that goes with the kind of career he’s had. Add in his natural sense of humor and expert comedic timing, and it’s very difficult to upstage him.
Of course, it’s particularly fun to see it happen over and over again in Nonnas, as old pros Lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro and Talia Shire do it throughout the movie’s rollicking second half.
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Bracco plays Roberta, best friend to Joe’s late mom for 60 years. Sarandon is Gia, his mom’s hairdresser and longtime pal. Vaccaro is Antonella, a neighborhood force who is close with Joe’s high school friend and potential love interest Olivia (Linda Cardellini). Shire’s Teresa is a retired nun with a secret or two who joins the team after answering a Craigslist ad.
There’s a tremendous amount of acting firepower in these four actresses, with literally hundreds of years of experience on screen. Vaccaro’s career goes back to the 1950s, Shire to the 1960s and Sarandon had her screen debut in 1970. Bracco’s a relative newcomer, with her debut in 1979.
It’s not like director Stephen Chbosky dropped a gaggle of ingenues opposite Vaughn. He put the actor up against a most fearsome foursome of actresses who came to play.
When each is introduced during the movie’s first hour, they show their considerable charm. It’s when they’re all together after Joe has brought them all in to see who will work best in the kitchen, that the fireworks start. Roberta and Antonella have an immediate dislike for each other because Roberta is Sicilian and Antonella is from Bologna, leading to a hilarious food fight as the others look on.
Throughout Nonnas, the characters are barking at each other, but the actresses are enjoying the heck out of themselves. So are the others, who watch them go at it. Vaughn is smiling as it happens, something that the real Joe might not have done, but the actor can’t help himself.
Two sequences change the tenor of the film and allow the four women to take center stage. The first is a makeover scene in which Gia brings the ladies to her salon to do their hair and makeup, bringing them out of their respective shells. It’s loose, fun and punctuated by Vaccaro looking at herself in the mirror and, as a proxy for the audience, exclaiming, “Fabulous!” Right after that comes a moment where the four of them get to know each other over a bottle of limoncello. The defenses come down, the secrets come out and the bonding begins.
It’s a scene we’ve witnessed many times over the years and is, to a certain extent, old hat. However, when these four do it, it’s fresh. It’s engaging, it’s exciting and it’s unlike anything else you’ll see on screen this year. Watching four women who are this good, and have been doing it for this long, should be required viewing for anyone who wants a career in this business. Not only do they succeed in stealing the movie from Vince Vaughn, but they will also succeed in stealing your heart away from you, and they’ll do it so easily, you’ll thank them for it.
Without giving anything away, there is a moment toward the end of the film when a restaurant filled with people stands and applauds for the four of them. Not only will you understand why, but you will also want to do the same.
The Acting Careers of the Cast of Nonnas
How do you wrap in a nutshell the careers of these four acting titans? Sarandon’s work speaks for itself over a career that has seen her win an Oscar and become something of a cultural icon. Bracco was working for a decade before she broke out in 1990’s Goodfellas (for which she earned an Oscar nomination), and has worked consistently ever since, with some of her finest work coming as Tony Soprano’s shrink, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, in The Sopranos. That role won her four Emmy nods, though she never actually won.
Shire first broke through in 1972’s The Godfather, co-written and directed by her brother, Francis Ford Coppola. She also appeared in the 1974 sequel, of course, and earned an Oscar nod for it. The role for which she is best known is Adrian, the mousy love interest of Rocky Balboa in 1976’s Rocky, which also earned her an Oscar nomination. She played that role for another 14 years, and then, for the next three-plus decades, has worked regularly in a variety of supporting roles that have kept her in the public eye.
Vaccaro is not just the oldest of the bunch (she’s 85), but also perhaps the most interesting case. Coming up through TV in the late 1950s, she showed up in a couple of movies in the ’60s before really making her mark in 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy, for which she earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in lots of ’70s and ’80s-era movies and TV before things slowed down for her in the ’90s.
In the ensuing years, there were a lot of single-episode guest spots on TV and small movie parts, including a walk-on in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 opus Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. This role in Nonnas is her first major one in years, and she knocks it out of the park. With any luck, others will see it and give her more chances to strut her stuff.
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