NONNAS

Here's the short version: this is a genuinely lovely movie, and most families will want to see it — with eyes open about a few specifics.

Nonnas tells the true-inspired story of a man who honors his late mother by opening an Italian restaurant staffed entirely by grandmothers. It's built on themes Scripture loves — grief carried in community, family stretching wider than blood, forgiveness practiced daily, prayer woven into ordinary life. The performances are excellent, the soundtrack is a joy, and the whole thing has real heart.

It also has real content. Ten obscenities, a handful of profanities, characters drinking throughout with one scene of drunkenness, some suggestive moments, and a former nun's storyline involving a same-sex relationship — handled with more sympathy than Scripture would extend, though she is shown returning to the church. None of it is graphic, but it adds up.

For adults and older kids: go enjoy it. For younger children: wait, and maybe watch it yourself first.

Joe grew up in his mother and grandmother's Brooklyn kitchen, learning that food is how this family says "I love you." When his mother dies, Joe is unmoored — restless in his job, unsure what to do with the insurance money she left behind. His friends push him toward something bold: open a restaurant, and staff the kitchen with grandmothers, so that customers can taste the same love he grew up on. He places an ad, assembles his Nonnas, and the real work — and the real family — begins.

Four stars is a strong endorsement, and here it's earned. The opening flashback in the family kitchen sets the tone beautifully — a movie that knows food is never just food. From there, the film rides on its cast: the performances are described as amazing, and the soundtrack does real work carrying the mood. This is craft in service of warmth, not spectacle — a small, well-made film that knows exactly what kind of story it's telling and tells it with care.

Underneath the pasta and Limoncello sits a genuinely strong, biblical moral core. Characters support one another through grief, pray with Scripture, and forgive each other — themes the film returns to again and again. It also carries a clear pro-capitalist thread: Joe builds something from nothing, takes a risk, and creates a community and a livelihood through honest work. The setting is thoroughly Catholic — a cross necklace, a statue of Mary, mentions of baptism, communion, and the rosary, a prayer to a saint that still closes "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Protestant viewers may notice the Catholic texture more than Catholic ones will.

The film is mitigated, though, by a few threads worth naming. There's a mild romantic strain where characters describe love and beauty as things you simply "feel in your gut" rather than choose or commit to. There's light feminist content about women refusing to feel invisible as they age. And there's a storyline where a former nun explains that she left the convent over a same-sex relationship the Church calls sin — the film treats her return to the Church warmly, but frames her original departure with more sympathy than conviction.

Even so, the film's deepest longing — people who've lost family finding a new one around a table — echoes something true. "God settles the solitary in a home" (Psalm 68:6). Nonnas gets the ache right, even where it softens the answer.

Nonnas is a genuinely warm film about grief, family, and the table that holds them together — well-made, well-acted, and mostly aligned with what matters most. It's also got language, drinking, and a storyline your family should talk through, not just watch. Our answer stands: worth the trip — older kids and adults. Choosing for younger children this week? See our latest.