content: I love many of the actors in `Mistress of Spices', so it is with sadness that I must rate this the most boring, flat Indian movie I have ever seen.It is like `Chocolat' but without the interesting characters.Similar to `Like Water for Chocolate' but without the passion.Because the title character Tilo has a taboo that she cannot leave her spice shop, almost all of the `action' takes place there. A movie in primarily one location requires good drama, but most of the scenes wallow in monologues and narratives that fail to produce interest or drama. Tilo and Doug are the romantic love interest, but these two fine actors fail to produce a spark between them.The self-described "Rich Cinematography" is a pale imitation of truly visual feasts: `Devdas' or `Umrao Jaan'.The movie has turned the original novel into a bit of a penny romance; I wish it had either realism to be believable or more drama to make suspending reality entertaining.