SPOONFUL CHARACTERS/TREATMENT
Characters:
Daniel Price - Central Character
Daniel is a 20-something slacker, he spent his years in college working in a
kitchen in a fells point like community, but after graduating has been unable to get a steady job after college. He has been working with a job counselor (at the behest of a family member) and doing part-time volunteer community organizing. He is used to moving around, and isn’t able to live a steady life. He grew up partially in a variety of southern locales, but spent most of his time in the D.C./Baltimore suburbs dealing with constant low expectations of him, and his own high expectations of society.
Reggie Sinclair
Reggie is a man in his late 20’s with a family, he worked with Daniel at two different restaurants, including Straw Dogs Pub, a restaurant that has since been replaced by Tais See. He’s a dedicated worker, family man, and especially dedicated to his craft. He works at Failte, an Irish Pub that is the stalwart original institution in the neighborhood after a string of corporate developments.
Peter Frankel - Opposing Character
Peter Frankel is the Executive Chef at Tais See, a proof-of-concept /flagship of a new upscale chain restaurant by the same guys as a well-known chain restaurant (that can not be named). He is overbearing on his employees, provides them with no leeway, expects the impossible …etc. and in all ways just a bad boss. He is obsessed in his own “art” to the point of being willing to sabotage others’
Mike Pell
Mike Pell is a little bit sketch, he works in a series of restaurants, and has tenuous connections with all sorts of characters (or so he says) from drug dealers, to recording artists, to porn stars. He is “dating” a woman with a child from a previous relationship, and frequently talks himself up.
Nobody believes him about anything, ever.
Billie Oliver
Billie Oliver was a server at Straw Dogs Pub, and now works banquets at a hotel in the harbor part time, and in a toy store the rest of the time, She is from the suburbs, the same Baltimore suburb where Daniel spent about half of his childhood. She sees herself as a “punk rock girl” but like Daniel, she can’t get past thinking she could find something better with less work.
Mia Hopkins
Mia is an obsessive vegetarian baker from a shop “just up the road”, she has "OCD" when it comes to her work, and she is a perfectionist. She can’t handle other people messing with her presentation, or her recipes. She is dedicated to getting people to “go green” in the sense of vegetarianism and actual green-party politics.
Devon Henderson
Devon keeps his work and family life separate, he’s by all accounts normal, but at work he’s a joker/prankster and is prone to asking random and crazy ‘what-if’ questions.
Sophie Milan
Former line cook at Straw Dogs Pub (although not at the same time as Daniel, Sophie is a student at a local second-tier state university (like UMBC or Towson) she works as an expediter, but has no interest in the cooking industry. She studies political science and is looking to ‘help the community’ and become involved with community organizing.
Kyle Wynn
Kyle is a worker in the career center where Daniel received training and volunteers with some of the same community-building organizations as Daniel. He is uptight about his work, but you can tell that he is always about one stressful situation away from not caring. Never the less his pestering is what keeps Daniel involved in community work.
The Representative
The Representative is a corrupt government official who hands contracts to corporate shills he is personally friends with. He sponsored legislation to give tax breaks to large corporations, and not to local businesses, that help 'revitalize' downtown neighborhoods.
LOCATIONS:
Straw Dog Pub - The pub that Daniel and others used to work at, it used to be where Tais See now is.
Tais See - Frankel's Restaurant, an offshoot of a popular chain restaurant.
Failte- A local Irish pub, one of about 100,000 in Baltimore.
SPOONFUL TREATMENT-
The whole chain of events begins with DANIEL PRICE tying his shoes, a subtitle reads "April 2006 - Baltimore, Maryland" he is dressed in a semi-professional fashion and is visibly excited for the day, the first time in a long time. He takes care of a few household chores, taking out the garbage, but visibly ignoring other things he needs to do, showing he has some drive but can't be bothered with other important things. He then leaves his house at 11:30 A.M. and walks down the street to his car. He proceeds to drive a short distance to a local metro/light-rail stop, and rides the mass transit into town (listening to the conversations the other passengers have along the way). He then proceeds to walk down the city streets, rocking out to music playing from a CD player (specifically not an MP3 Player) the whole time. He runs into several people he knows along the way and throws them a "power to the people" fist and/or a reverse-head nod as he walks down the street. He eventually walks into a storefront being used as a political campaign office / community organizing office / lawyer's office.
Upon walking inside the office, Daniel heads over to the receptionist desk where KYLE WYNN, in business-casual dress, is doing paperwork and SOPHIE MILAN, dressed in a hoodie and sweat pants, is waiting. Daniel and Kyle acknowledge each other, and Kyle introduces Sophie to Daniel, Kyle says has to run out and get some papers, and Daniel and Sophie make awkward small talk. Eventually, Kyle returns with a stack of papers, and tells Daniel that they're trying to get the local businesses to sign onto help with a community healthcare initiative. Furthermore, if they could get some of the businesses to sign on and support it at the upcoming chili cook-off in Fells Point, they could get a whole bunch of signatures from other districts in support of the initiative to send to the state senate president. Kyle tells Daniel to take Sophie with him, and that she's from the local university college green party / democrats / whatever commie-liberal student group they're working with now. Kyle tosses Daniel his keys and tells him to drive down there and see who he can get to sign up.
During the drive down to the neighborhood, Daniel explains to Sophie his connections to the town, and recounts several stories and some of the characters, at this point it is revealed that they both worked at the same restaurant, but at different times. Neither of them has had the time to make it down into this part of the city in the past 6 months to a year. They decide it's something to look forward to.
Upon arrival, they discover most of their favorite places have been replaced by chain stores, only several places remain open, an independent record store; MIA HOPKINS' bakery; FAILTE, an Irish Pub; a toy store, a flower store; and a select few other restaurants. They are heartened to a degree; however, to see Tais See, what appears to be a new independent restaurant doing healthier business than any of the other chain restaurants in the area, despite the fact that it has taken over the space of their old hangout/job. They walk into Mia's bakery, and get her to sign up quickly, although she gives Daniel guff for being a registered democrat. After having mixed results between some of the chains and independent shops, after a while they walk into Failte, while discussing how it was "a joke" while they both worked there. They find REGGIE SINCLAIR and DEVON HENDERSON working there, and they update Daniel and Sophie on the situation in the neighborhood, how local businesses are being driven out through increased rents, and how big business chains receive tax credits for "revitalization". Reggie also explains that he tried working at Tais See, but that the chef was just an all around bad person, and that it's really just an offshoot of a national chain.
When Daniel and Sophie decide to canvass Tais See, they run into PETER FRANKEL berating the front-of-house staff. Frankel mistakes the pair dressed professionally and holding a briefcase and clipboard as a pair of professional critics writing an article on his new restaurant, and insists on taking them on a tour. When Sophie is able to get in a word edgewise during the tour, he becomes agitated, and kicks them out, but not before telling them as they walk away "I'm not signing that crap - I listen to Rush Limbaugh"
As they are taking a break to calm down after themselves being irritated by Frankel, they run into MIKE PELL on the streets, whom they both recognize from different jobs. He recently 'quit' (read: got fired from a job), and was refused a new job at Tais See because Frankel saw his Kerry/Edwards sticker on his car. Over the course of the conversation they come to the decision that someone needs to "take Frankel down a peg", they Sophie notices that Tais See is going to have a booth at both the local Chili Cook-Off next month, and the Barbecue Cook-Off three months down the road. The chef from another local restaurant is signed up, and as a local institution they know he will beat him.
Daniel and Sophie return the next day with Kyle in tow, but are now wildly unsuccessful in getting people to sign up in support of their initiative, and after a while they decide to head into a locally owned toy store that "BILLIE" OLIVER works in. Kyle finds her to be too attractive to talk to, and knows he would just mumble around her, so he agrees to run and get lunch while Daniel and Sophie go in and try to get her to sign up.
Upon entering, they find Billie more than willing to sign up, but she confides in them that she has been warned by the store owner not to work with them, because it's a "scam to get credit card information" - or so they've been told by Frankel. After proving to Billie that they are indeed legitimate, she promises to get the union at her work to look into helping out. She suggests that the real way to get Frankel back would be to take down his restaurant by proving that the local crews can and always will do things better.
After exiting the store, they meet up with Kyle, who has purchased lunch from Tais See, not knowing they were the cause of all their recent problems. Sophie, despite her frustration talks Daniel into at least trying the food. They realize then that they actually could to better than Frankel, and given all the problems he's caused them, losing two competitions (one two a "rag-tag group of kids") would severely damage Frankel's reputation, and be "more than a jerk like him could handle." Daniel decides to go back to his skills he learned working in a kitchen throughout college, sign up for the barbecue cook off, and get together a team of all his old co-workers and take down Frankel for the good of the neighborhood.
Later, on the day of the chili cook-off, Daniel, Sophie, Kyle and several other organizers have decided they'll have to go out themselves and canvass for people at the event, with the added benefit that the representative they are trying to target the most is a judge at the cook-off. The day is a disaster, however, and we see Frankel talk to the representative, and the representative thanks Frankel for "campaign donations". Frankel asks if he and his wife are going to meet up later this week for their "weekly game of poker" and basically hint at the pair frequently swinging. When the representative approaches the local challenger to Frankel, the local businessman asks when the local businesses are going to get a helping hand like the big businesses. The representative dismisses him while his wife slips some ingredients into the mix to act as a laxative and clash with the flavors. Frankel still only wins narrowly, by receiving an extra amount of points from the representative, who declares it the "best he's ever tasted".
The day isn't a complete failure, at the end Daniel manages to convince Reggie, Devon, Mia, and Billie to sign onto his team, they turn in the registration and begin working on it. Sophie and Kyle also sign up, promising to 'spread the word' and get people to show up to the barbecue cook-off, which as opposed to being voted on by judges, is voted on by all attendees.
They then begin a meticulous preparation process, using their own home kitchens to come up with recipes for various dishes, meetings at which they discuss possible courses of action, eventually each character has an "a ha" moment throughout the course of the montage. Mia is discussing the ways that corporate influence has seeped into the different levels of governance when she realizes that she could make a multi-layer cornbread with different kinds of syrup, and special breads to go with her own veggie-burgers... etc. all from things she learned as a kid. Devon remembers a recipe his grandfather used to use for ribs - brought on during a conversation at work. Reggie discovers an amazing sauce that his wife and daughter make together (but accidentally put a wrong ingredient in). Billie asks Kyle out on a date, and through a discussion on beer they discover the perfect way to marinate pulled pork. Sophie picks up an other recipe from a homeless person she gives food to. by the end, only Daniel is at a loss for what to do for his part of the cook-off, a grilling part - more quick-cook than any of the rest. Mixed in with the rest of the epiphanies, Sophie, Kyle, and continue canvassing local housing in support of legislation, at the same time spreading word about their team, trying to get financial backing to buy equipment, and/or borrow/rent it. They are failing miserably, until by chance Sophie brings a camcorder with her and records the "funniest canvassing moment ever", which becomes a you-tube hit, and they receive donations from across the country, allowing to buy some of the best equipment available. Also, throughout the course of this, the different team members run into Mike Pell, and try to convince him to work with their team, but he is unwilling, and it is eventually revealed that he received a job at Tais See as a head line-cook (a significant promotion for him)
As the second cook-off approaches, the team is functioning smoothly, but Daniel is progressively slacking away from his responsibilities, and the group cohesion breaks down. Eventually, things come to a head, when Daniel despondent over his inability to come up with a fantastic recipe, and ever follow through with anything, gets into an ethnically tinged conflict with the other group members. He is told that his liberal suburban upbringing doesn't mean he really knows what's going on in the world. The group breaks apart and they stop talking to each other two weeks before the competition.
Two days later, Sophie runs into Daniel in his back yard looking at all the equipment they had managed to receive from donations, and their own hard work. He laments that they won't be able to stick it to Frankel, and she realizes that in Daniel's mind this man is an embodiment of all the problems in the world. Frankel's mediocrity in his "art", crass indifference to others, shameless capitalist approach, and Frankel's right-wing leanings represent a greater problem Daniel has with the political atmosphere of the time. Recalling the small talk from the office at the beginning of the film, Sophie reminds Daniel about how "John Kerry lost the election because he didn't stand up for what he believed in... He didn't just go with what he felt" this makes Daniel realize that he needs to improvise his cooking style, and that the one thing he learned as a kid was how to roll with changes, and that his best quality is his willingness to study and learn. He then gets a call from Mike Pell who knows exactly what Frankel is going to use for the grilling section of the cook-off. Mike can no longer stand working for Frankel, and wants to show him up at the cook-off, Daniel says the group kind of fell apart, and Mike mentions that he already been in touch with Kyle, Billie, and Sophie and they brought the group back together.
The group then meets together the day before the cook off to go over their plans. This includes a plan to switch the campaign booth for the representative from before, located in an ideal spot to get the most traffic, to their current booth, which is out of the way.
The day of, Billie's boss from the toy shop accidentally mixes up the booth location, and the representative is forced back in the corner, while the whole team waves to him from their prime location. The group runs more smoothly than before, Reggie's wife and daughter have come by as have Devon's family. They walk the convention raving about their team's food. Reggie, Devon, and Mike throw around jokes the whole day. Mike "liberated" all of Frankel's Liquid Smoke (a shortcut he used in his marinade) before he quit. Frankel spends the whole event micromanaging his team, and yelling at them for minor infractions, but he is still attracting a crowd, which Daniel attributes to a bunch of suburbanites who "grew up on Applebee's, TGI Fridays, and Ruby Tuesday". Mia's cornbread is an instant hit. In a running tally, Tais See, Failte, "Team Straw Dogs" (the main characters' team), and real-life fells point restaurants such as "Louisiana", "Pazo", Berthas", "Jimmy's" and "Slainte" are all within the top range. Eventually it comes down to the final "grill-off", a portion of the competition that takes place during the last two hours, where the whole team must grill specialty foods, in this case pork shoulder chops. "Failte" is in the lead, 5 points ahead of "Team Straw Dogs" who are tied with "Tais See", "Jimmy's" and "Bertha's" just behind them are a team from the local Culinary College. During this final portion of the cook-off things are frantic, and Daniel becomes clearly flustered, as does Frankel. Part of the way in, however, Daniel realizes he is in his element working at a fast pace, improvising, solving problems, and taking care of the large groups of people. Eventually, the portion ends, and the final tallying, and judging begins.
The team is visibly tense as the remainder of the ballots are counted, along with VIP ballots (that the team was previously unaware of). Frankel seems self-assured that he has pulled it off, as he has yelled 'extra loud' at his staff during the course of the final section. Eventually, the teams are asked to assemble as the final decision is announced.
The final ceremony is under way, with Frankel and the representative standing near each other confident of Frankel's victory. Mia win's the section for "Best Side" for her cornbread, and surprisingly for "Best Turkey", which she quietly whispers to Billie how happy she is that no one realized it was Tofurkey. Different winners for different sections are announced, with Frankel winning some, and team Straw Dog winning some of their own. Eventually, it comes down to Best Team, where the running tally comes into play, tension builds as they announce the third place, second place, and first place in ascending order. Third place goes to Failte, then in a heartbreaking moment second place goes to the Straw Dogs, Frankel expects to win and his excitement is visible on his face, when they call first place. Jimmy's wins first place, the local eatery has beaten out all the competitors. Frankel gives up and storms off. After the winner is announced, there is celebration among the Straw Dogs. The announcers go on to thank special guests on the big screen T.V. as they get to the representative, Kyle and Billie force the team to watch as a sex-tape from one of the representatives swingers' parties flashes on the big screen. Kyle then declares "That's why I went to four years of film school!" and mentions that he found the video on the web. Billie says that she thought Kyle didn't major in film in college, as he worked in community organizing, and he responds flippantly "like anyone gets a job doing what they learned in college". Daniel and Sophie then hang out until everything has been cleared away. At one point Daniel says "the reason they couldn't make this into a movie is that there's no romantic sub-plot". Sophie responds "are you so sure?" and leans over and kisses him, and then we see a montage of the crew opening a pub using their notoriety gained from the cook-off. Daniel narrates and explains that in the election, The Representative lost to the first green-party candidate elected in the state of Maryland: Mia. He then explains what happened to the rest of the characters after the end of the cook-off.
Daniel Price - Central Character
Daniel is a 20-something slacker, he spent his years in college working in a
kitchen in a fells point like community, but after graduating has been unable to get a steady job after college. He has been working with a job counselor (at the behest of a family member) and doing part-time volunteer community organizing. He is used to moving around, and isn’t able to live a steady life. He grew up partially in a variety of southern locales, but spent most of his time in the D.C./Baltimore suburbs dealing with constant low expectations of him, and his own high expectations of society.
Reggie Sinclair
Reggie is a man in his late 20’s with a family, he worked with Daniel at two different restaurants, including Straw Dogs Pub, a restaurant that has since been replaced by Tais See. He’s a dedicated worker, family man, and especially dedicated to his craft. He works at Failte, an Irish Pub that is the stalwart original institution in the neighborhood after a string of corporate developments.
Peter Frankel - Opposing Character
Peter Frankel is the Executive Chef at Tais See, a proof-of-concept /flagship of a new upscale chain restaurant by the same guys as a well-known chain restaurant (that can not be named). He is overbearing on his employees, provides them with no leeway, expects the impossible …etc. and in all ways just a bad boss. He is obsessed in his own “art” to the point of being willing to sabotage others’
Mike Pell
Mike Pell is a little bit sketch, he works in a series of restaurants, and has tenuous connections with all sorts of characters (or so he says) from drug dealers, to recording artists, to porn stars. He is “dating” a woman with a child from a previous relationship, and frequently talks himself up.
Nobody believes him about anything, ever.
Billie Oliver
Billie Oliver was a server at Straw Dogs Pub, and now works banquets at a hotel in the harbor part time, and in a toy store the rest of the time, She is from the suburbs, the same Baltimore suburb where Daniel spent about half of his childhood. She sees herself as a “punk rock girl” but like Daniel, she can’t get past thinking she could find something better with less work.
Mia Hopkins
Mia is an obsessive vegetarian baker from a shop “just up the road”, she has "OCD" when it comes to her work, and she is a perfectionist. She can’t handle other people messing with her presentation, or her recipes. She is dedicated to getting people to “go green” in the sense of vegetarianism and actual green-party politics.
Devon Henderson
Devon keeps his work and family life separate, he’s by all accounts normal, but at work he’s a joker/prankster and is prone to asking random and crazy ‘what-if’ questions.
Sophie Milan
Former line cook at Straw Dogs Pub (although not at the same time as Daniel, Sophie is a student at a local second-tier state university (like UMBC or Towson) she works as an expediter, but has no interest in the cooking industry. She studies political science and is looking to ‘help the community’ and become involved with community organizing.
Kyle Wynn
Kyle is a worker in the career center where Daniel received training and volunteers with some of the same community-building organizations as Daniel. He is uptight about his work, but you can tell that he is always about one stressful situation away from not caring. Never the less his pestering is what keeps Daniel involved in community work.
The Representative
The Representative is a corrupt government official who hands contracts to corporate shills he is personally friends with. He sponsored legislation to give tax breaks to large corporations, and not to local businesses, that help 'revitalize' downtown neighborhoods.
LOCATIONS:
Straw Dog Pub - The pub that Daniel and others used to work at, it used to be where Tais See now is.
Tais See - Frankel's Restaurant, an offshoot of a popular chain restaurant.
Failte- A local Irish pub, one of about 100,000 in Baltimore.
SPOONFUL TREATMENT-
The whole chain of events begins with DANIEL PRICE tying his shoes, a subtitle reads "April 2006 - Baltimore, Maryland" he is dressed in a semi-professional fashion and is visibly excited for the day, the first time in a long time. He takes care of a few household chores, taking out the garbage, but visibly ignoring other things he needs to do, showing he has some drive but can't be bothered with other important things. He then leaves his house at 11:30 A.M. and walks down the street to his car. He proceeds to drive a short distance to a local metro/light-rail stop, and rides the mass transit into town (listening to the conversations the other passengers have along the way). He then proceeds to walk down the city streets, rocking out to music playing from a CD player (specifically not an MP3 Player) the whole time. He runs into several people he knows along the way and throws them a "power to the people" fist and/or a reverse-head nod as he walks down the street. He eventually walks into a storefront being used as a political campaign office / community organizing office / lawyer's office.
Upon walking inside the office, Daniel heads over to the receptionist desk where KYLE WYNN, in business-casual dress, is doing paperwork and SOPHIE MILAN, dressed in a hoodie and sweat pants, is waiting. Daniel and Kyle acknowledge each other, and Kyle introduces Sophie to Daniel, Kyle says has to run out and get some papers, and Daniel and Sophie make awkward small talk. Eventually, Kyle returns with a stack of papers, and tells Daniel that they're trying to get the local businesses to sign onto help with a community healthcare initiative. Furthermore, if they could get some of the businesses to sign on and support it at the upcoming chili cook-off in Fells Point, they could get a whole bunch of signatures from other districts in support of the initiative to send to the state senate president. Kyle tells Daniel to take Sophie with him, and that she's from the local university college green party / democrats / whatever commie-liberal student group they're working with now. Kyle tosses Daniel his keys and tells him to drive down there and see who he can get to sign up.
During the drive down to the neighborhood, Daniel explains to Sophie his connections to the town, and recounts several stories and some of the characters, at this point it is revealed that they both worked at the same restaurant, but at different times. Neither of them has had the time to make it down into this part of the city in the past 6 months to a year. They decide it's something to look forward to.
Upon arrival, they discover most of their favorite places have been replaced by chain stores, only several places remain open, an independent record store; MIA HOPKINS' bakery; FAILTE, an Irish Pub; a toy store, a flower store; and a select few other restaurants. They are heartened to a degree; however, to see Tais See, what appears to be a new independent restaurant doing healthier business than any of the other chain restaurants in the area, despite the fact that it has taken over the space of their old hangout/job. They walk into Mia's bakery, and get her to sign up quickly, although she gives Daniel guff for being a registered democrat. After having mixed results between some of the chains and independent shops, after a while they walk into Failte, while discussing how it was "a joke" while they both worked there. They find REGGIE SINCLAIR and DEVON HENDERSON working there, and they update Daniel and Sophie on the situation in the neighborhood, how local businesses are being driven out through increased rents, and how big business chains receive tax credits for "revitalization". Reggie also explains that he tried working at Tais See, but that the chef was just an all around bad person, and that it's really just an offshoot of a national chain.
When Daniel and Sophie decide to canvass Tais See, they run into PETER FRANKEL berating the front-of-house staff. Frankel mistakes the pair dressed professionally and holding a briefcase and clipboard as a pair of professional critics writing an article on his new restaurant, and insists on taking them on a tour. When Sophie is able to get in a word edgewise during the tour, he becomes agitated, and kicks them out, but not before telling them as they walk away "I'm not signing that crap - I listen to Rush Limbaugh"
As they are taking a break to calm down after themselves being irritated by Frankel, they run into MIKE PELL on the streets, whom they both recognize from different jobs. He recently 'quit' (read: got fired from a job), and was refused a new job at Tais See because Frankel saw his Kerry/Edwards sticker on his car. Over the course of the conversation they come to the decision that someone needs to "take Frankel down a peg", they Sophie notices that Tais See is going to have a booth at both the local Chili Cook-Off next month, and the Barbecue Cook-Off three months down the road. The chef from another local restaurant is signed up, and as a local institution they know he will beat him.
Daniel and Sophie return the next day with Kyle in tow, but are now wildly unsuccessful in getting people to sign up in support of their initiative, and after a while they decide to head into a locally owned toy store that "BILLIE" OLIVER works in. Kyle finds her to be too attractive to talk to, and knows he would just mumble around her, so he agrees to run and get lunch while Daniel and Sophie go in and try to get her to sign up.
Upon entering, they find Billie more than willing to sign up, but she confides in them that she has been warned by the store owner not to work with them, because it's a "scam to get credit card information" - or so they've been told by Frankel. After proving to Billie that they are indeed legitimate, she promises to get the union at her work to look into helping out. She suggests that the real way to get Frankel back would be to take down his restaurant by proving that the local crews can and always will do things better.
After exiting the store, they meet up with Kyle, who has purchased lunch from Tais See, not knowing they were the cause of all their recent problems. Sophie, despite her frustration talks Daniel into at least trying the food. They realize then that they actually could to better than Frankel, and given all the problems he's caused them, losing two competitions (one two a "rag-tag group of kids") would severely damage Frankel's reputation, and be "more than a jerk like him could handle." Daniel decides to go back to his skills he learned working in a kitchen throughout college, sign up for the barbecue cook off, and get together a team of all his old co-workers and take down Frankel for the good of the neighborhood.
Later, on the day of the chili cook-off, Daniel, Sophie, Kyle and several other organizers have decided they'll have to go out themselves and canvass for people at the event, with the added benefit that the representative they are trying to target the most is a judge at the cook-off. The day is a disaster, however, and we see Frankel talk to the representative, and the representative thanks Frankel for "campaign donations". Frankel asks if he and his wife are going to meet up later this week for their "weekly game of poker" and basically hint at the pair frequently swinging. When the representative approaches the local challenger to Frankel, the local businessman asks when the local businesses are going to get a helping hand like the big businesses. The representative dismisses him while his wife slips some ingredients into the mix to act as a laxative and clash with the flavors. Frankel still only wins narrowly, by receiving an extra amount of points from the representative, who declares it the "best he's ever tasted".
The day isn't a complete failure, at the end Daniel manages to convince Reggie, Devon, Mia, and Billie to sign onto his team, they turn in the registration and begin working on it. Sophie and Kyle also sign up, promising to 'spread the word' and get people to show up to the barbecue cook-off, which as opposed to being voted on by judges, is voted on by all attendees.
They then begin a meticulous preparation process, using their own home kitchens to come up with recipes for various dishes, meetings at which they discuss possible courses of action, eventually each character has an "a ha" moment throughout the course of the montage. Mia is discussing the ways that corporate influence has seeped into the different levels of governance when she realizes that she could make a multi-layer cornbread with different kinds of syrup, and special breads to go with her own veggie-burgers... etc. all from things she learned as a kid. Devon remembers a recipe his grandfather used to use for ribs - brought on during a conversation at work. Reggie discovers an amazing sauce that his wife and daughter make together (but accidentally put a wrong ingredient in). Billie asks Kyle out on a date, and through a discussion on beer they discover the perfect way to marinate pulled pork. Sophie picks up an other recipe from a homeless person she gives food to. by the end, only Daniel is at a loss for what to do for his part of the cook-off, a grilling part - more quick-cook than any of the rest. Mixed in with the rest of the epiphanies, Sophie, Kyle, and continue canvassing local housing in support of legislation, at the same time spreading word about their team, trying to get financial backing to buy equipment, and/or borrow/rent it. They are failing miserably, until by chance Sophie brings a camcorder with her and records the "funniest canvassing moment ever", which becomes a you-tube hit, and they receive donations from across the country, allowing to buy some of the best equipment available. Also, throughout the course of this, the different team members run into Mike Pell, and try to convince him to work with their team, but he is unwilling, and it is eventually revealed that he received a job at Tais See as a head line-cook (a significant promotion for him)
As the second cook-off approaches, the team is functioning smoothly, but Daniel is progressively slacking away from his responsibilities, and the group cohesion breaks down. Eventually, things come to a head, when Daniel despondent over his inability to come up with a fantastic recipe, and ever follow through with anything, gets into an ethnically tinged conflict with the other group members. He is told that his liberal suburban upbringing doesn't mean he really knows what's going on in the world. The group breaks apart and they stop talking to each other two weeks before the competition.
Two days later, Sophie runs into Daniel in his back yard looking at all the equipment they had managed to receive from donations, and their own hard work. He laments that they won't be able to stick it to Frankel, and she realizes that in Daniel's mind this man is an embodiment of all the problems in the world. Frankel's mediocrity in his "art", crass indifference to others, shameless capitalist approach, and Frankel's right-wing leanings represent a greater problem Daniel has with the political atmosphere of the time. Recalling the small talk from the office at the beginning of the film, Sophie reminds Daniel about how "John Kerry lost the election because he didn't stand up for what he believed in... He didn't just go with what he felt" this makes Daniel realize that he needs to improvise his cooking style, and that the one thing he learned as a kid was how to roll with changes, and that his best quality is his willingness to study and learn. He then gets a call from Mike Pell who knows exactly what Frankel is going to use for the grilling section of the cook-off. Mike can no longer stand working for Frankel, and wants to show him up at the cook-off, Daniel says the group kind of fell apart, and Mike mentions that he already been in touch with Kyle, Billie, and Sophie and they brought the group back together.
The group then meets together the day before the cook off to go over their plans. This includes a plan to switch the campaign booth for the representative from before, located in an ideal spot to get the most traffic, to their current booth, which is out of the way.
The day of, Billie's boss from the toy shop accidentally mixes up the booth location, and the representative is forced back in the corner, while the whole team waves to him from their prime location. The group runs more smoothly than before, Reggie's wife and daughter have come by as have Devon's family. They walk the convention raving about their team's food. Reggie, Devon, and Mike throw around jokes the whole day. Mike "liberated" all of Frankel's Liquid Smoke (a shortcut he used in his marinade) before he quit. Frankel spends the whole event micromanaging his team, and yelling at them for minor infractions, but he is still attracting a crowd, which Daniel attributes to a bunch of suburbanites who "grew up on Applebee's, TGI Fridays, and Ruby Tuesday". Mia's cornbread is an instant hit. In a running tally, Tais See, Failte, "Team Straw Dogs" (the main characters' team), and real-life fells point restaurants such as "Louisiana", "Pazo", Berthas", "Jimmy's" and "Slainte" are all within the top range. Eventually it comes down to the final "grill-off", a portion of the competition that takes place during the last two hours, where the whole team must grill specialty foods, in this case pork shoulder chops. "Failte" is in the lead, 5 points ahead of "Team Straw Dogs" who are tied with "Tais See", "Jimmy's" and "Bertha's" just behind them are a team from the local Culinary College. During this final portion of the cook-off things are frantic, and Daniel becomes clearly flustered, as does Frankel. Part of the way in, however, Daniel realizes he is in his element working at a fast pace, improvising, solving problems, and taking care of the large groups of people. Eventually, the portion ends, and the final tallying, and judging begins.
The team is visibly tense as the remainder of the ballots are counted, along with VIP ballots (that the team was previously unaware of). Frankel seems self-assured that he has pulled it off, as he has yelled 'extra loud' at his staff during the course of the final section. Eventually, the teams are asked to assemble as the final decision is announced.
The final ceremony is under way, with Frankel and the representative standing near each other confident of Frankel's victory. Mia win's the section for "Best Side" for her cornbread, and surprisingly for "Best Turkey", which she quietly whispers to Billie how happy she is that no one realized it was Tofurkey. Different winners for different sections are announced, with Frankel winning some, and team Straw Dog winning some of their own. Eventually, it comes down to Best Team, where the running tally comes into play, tension builds as they announce the third place, second place, and first place in ascending order. Third place goes to Failte, then in a heartbreaking moment second place goes to the Straw Dogs, Frankel expects to win and his excitement is visible on his face, when they call first place. Jimmy's wins first place, the local eatery has beaten out all the competitors. Frankel gives up and storms off. After the winner is announced, there is celebration among the Straw Dogs. The announcers go on to thank special guests on the big screen T.V. as they get to the representative, Kyle and Billie force the team to watch as a sex-tape from one of the representatives swingers' parties flashes on the big screen. Kyle then declares "That's why I went to four years of film school!" and mentions that he found the video on the web. Billie says that she thought Kyle didn't major in film in college, as he worked in community organizing, and he responds flippantly "like anyone gets a job doing what they learned in college". Daniel and Sophie then hang out until everything has been cleared away. At one point Daniel says "the reason they couldn't make this into a movie is that there's no romantic sub-plot". Sophie responds "are you so sure?" and leans over and kisses him, and then we see a montage of the crew opening a pub using their notoriety gained from the cook-off. Daniel narrates and explains that in the election, The Representative lost to the first green-party candidate elected in the state of Maryland: Mia. He then explains what happened to the rest of the characters after the end of the cook-off.