Big Night

With its colors looking a shade blanched and its edges carved away to fit squarish TV screens, Big Night now feels more like a stellar home-cooked meal than the four-star-restaurant feast it was in theaters. But heated over crudely or not, this dish mustn't be missed. It's served up unforgettably by Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci), first- and second-born Italian brothers trying to save their restaurant without selling their souls in a 1950s New Jersey shore town. They figure if they can get singer Louis Prima to pay them a publicity-generating visit, the Paradise's troubles will be history. Although they get a dispiriting lesson in American conniving, they discover something else: They're loved because they love creating oh-my-God-this-is-good food. The lesson makes watching Night near a kitchen distracting, but whether you watch on a full stomach or in a state of salivation, a loosened-belt contentment will be yours when it's done. A