Max (Robert Morley), the enormous overweight editor of a London-based gourmet magazine, has been told by his doctor that unless he loses some weight, he will die. Believing his body to be "a veritable canvas on which creative geniuses have developed their techniques," Max is not at all pleased by this news. He is even more alarmed when his favorite chefs are systematically murdered.
Is the killer Grandvilliers (Jean Rochefort), a French chef who was left off Max's list of the best culinary artists of Europe? Or are the murders the work of Robby (George Segal), an American fast-food king who is jealous of the affections the great chefs lavished upon his former wife Natasha (Jacqueline Bisset)?
Director Ted Kotcheff keeps the pace in this thoroughly entertaining film at a brisk clip. He makes good use of luxurious restaurants and other settings in Venice. Robert Morley is enchanting as the quick-tongued and very particular gourmet; Jacqueline Bisset gives the strongest performance of her career as a charming and talented dessert chef; and George Segal puts his best comic gifts to work as the crass and repentant entrepreneur who desperately want to win his ex-wife back. Mark this very funny movie as one of the season's most delightful diversions!