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Forget the popcorn. This independent film, which has just gotten a distributor and will have a commercial run soon, centers on an Italian community in Pittsburgh where the world of food will leave audiences hungering for a slice of warm bread spread with butter. 

Scott Baio plays a corporate high roller by day (and oh, what a convertible he drives) who works in a bakery by night with his brothers (Schuler Hensley and Zachary Mott). Tossing bread dough around a floured table top or cutting fine designs in the dough for pie decorations is relaxing, even for a guy who spends his days hiring and firing people. The couple who own the bakery (Rosemary Prinz and John Seitz), live upstairs and consider the boys part of their family. Of course, Grandma wants to see everyone happily married especially her granddaughter (Kristin Minter) and Baio. What happens next gives the word "scheming" new meaning.

Writer-director Melissa Martin’s script is based on real life incidents. Her husband left the corporate world to run a bakery. As the film plot unfolds the deep friendships that form and the respect for people as they are, nothing more, nothing less, feel authentic. The story picks up halfway through the film when Minter makes her appearance as the granddaughter.

Another side story is the relationship between Baio and his older, mentally challenged brother, Pino (Hensley). There are tender scenes where this brother who bakes delicate pies with intricate crusts is the one with the largest hands and sleeps in a bed shaped like a car. The easy way out is to always "do" for the older brother, but he is a person capable of understanding more than you think.

The spicy dialogue between the grandfather, Massimo (Seitz) and Baio at first sounds chastising, but this is how the two men bond, even though to outside ears it sounds as though a physical fight is imminent. Rosemary Prinz, who rose to fame in the 1960's as a soap opera star, glows as the matchmaker grandmother. Baio won a Best Actor Award at the Atlantic City Film Festival for his role as Dominic and the The Bread, My Sweet won Best Feature at the Santa Monica International and Marcos Island Film Festival. 

Like many independent films, there are problems with the production. At times, the sound isn’t the best. Director Martin trained as a playwright and the story goes from scene to scene like a play. The sets even look like sets from a play. The scenes showing Baio as a corporate person are awkward with little transition time. The editing is uneven. All is not perfection but the cast gives its all and there are no explosions, car chases or special effects to mar the effect of the story.

Copyright 2002 Marie Asner 5/31/2002