tv's buffy finds herself on the other side of the supernatural spectrum in " simply irresistible . " 
sarah michelle gellar , that never-ceasing crusader against never-ending evil every tuesday night on the wb network , here plays a down-on-her-luck chef suspected of dabbling in witchcraft after her flailing restaurant receives help in the form of magically scrumptious meals . 
taste test results : some vampire slaying , though out of place , would have really livened this excruciating movie up . 
 " simply irresistible " is actually quite easy to deny , a disaster of culinary and other proportions pretty much from the opening on . 
gellar's amanda finds herself falling for harried henri bendel exec tom ( sean patrick flannery of powder ) around the same time she discovers an uncanny ability to mystically manifest emotions in her cooking , a secret ingredient that arouses both his interest in her and the public's in her tiny tribeca eatery . 
all this love and sorcery have a lot to do with the telekinetic crab that also figures into the story , a tale that at times plays like an american spin on 1993's mexican classic " like water for chocolate . " 
several differences : one , " like water " didn't have a telekinetic crab , and two , " like water " was a good film . 
 " simply irresistible , " on the other hand , is about as challenging as an easy-bake oven . 
amateurishly staged scenes cancel each other out in their badness , from an embarrassing seduction in a literal vanilla fog to an impromptu dance sequence where tom and amanda do their best fred and ginger - though fred and ginger never took part in anything this garish . 
the intrusive musical score distracts from the flat dialogue at regular intervals , but it's not like you're were going to miss much . 
in fact , take away the few instances of salty language and this has made-for-disney channel written all over it . 
but a majority of " simply irresistible " 's resistibility factor has less to do with the afore-mentioned overkill than the bland leads - tom and amanda are so thin and ambiguously defined that there's just no fun rooting for their inevitable " happily ever after . " 
nor do the otherworldly powers that serve to bring them together make sense , so we're left with a ho-hum relationship based on enchanted eclairs ; it's not going to last long , people . 
perhaps sensing this , the filmmakers have piled on weird supporting characters for acting vets like betty buckley , dylan baker and patricia clarkson , but they don't go anywhere either . 
in fact , nothing in " simply irresistible " goes anywhere save for gellar , and she doesn't go somewhere so much as you wish she'd go _somewhere_ - like to a better movie . 
already proving major talent with relatively few big- and small-screen roles , she's the sole reason this overcooked souffle isn't completely fit for the garbage disposal , looking smashing in her todd oldham-designed duds and investing much more in her perfunctory part than she ever gets in return . 
it's certainly a dish best not served in it's current condition , but one can only guess that , without gellar , " simply irresistible " would be strictly unwatchable . 
