The Perfect Host: Roast Duck

Year Released: 2011

Directed by: Nick Tomnay

Starring: David Hyde Pierce, Clayne Crawford

(R, 94 min.)

Almost too clever by half, this Netflix streamer featuring Frasier's David Hyde Pierce strives for a David Mamet cross/double cross complexity. And it almost achieves it.

Just when you're ready to abandon it as outrageously contrived or predictable, it pulls the rug out from under you and gets your attention again.

While the title abounds in irony, Warwick Wilson does, nevertheless, do up a marvelous Roast Duck, and he guarantees your wine glass literally runneth over, whether you like it or not. Here's a link to a a recipe for the bird that would please even the persnickety Warwick. Of course, Different Drummer's own Appetite for Murder: A Mystery Lover's Cookbook has a fabulous recipe for Roast Wild Duck with Orange Gravy that also includes a Fresh Sage, Rosemary, and Lemon Thyme Stuffing.

—Kathy Borich