This documentary was truly enjoyable. It follows Sirio Maccioni's restaurant Le Cirque from its heyday in the Palace Hotel decades ago when it was populated by people like Ronald Reagan and Joan Collins, to its close, then it's reopening in the Bloomberg building just a few years ago. Of course no story is complete without conflict and it doesn't get any better than conflict between an old Italian patriarch and his Italian-American sons who are either constantly being berated by their father or who try desperately to convince their father that things aren't as they once were; the arguments over whether the new Le Cirque should have a jacket and tie dress code get heated and are very entertaining and touching. My only criticism of the film is that it was too short. There were incidents such as the firing of the chef after only receiving two stars by the New York Times shortly after its reopening that were glossed over; I would have loved to see more of that hairy process. Towards the end I could sense the film was winding down and I got sad because I wanted more. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth seeing - it aired on HBO last night but I'm sure it'll air again so get to your DVR/Teevo now!

Click here for the trailer! It's worth waiting for the annoying ad to pass.

* Thanks to HBO for a screener of this great doc I was happy to review!