The Automat (2021)

Automats are a type of fast food restaurant that readily provides prepared food through vending machines. This film documents the Horn & Hardart company and its chain of automat restaurants that were popular in New York City and Philadelphia. I love the concept of these restaurants and really wish I had been alive and in the areas where they existed. The film is a bit dry and I definitely zoned out for awhile, but it’s obvious the affection the various talking heads in this film, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg and especially Mel Brooks, had for the chain and the service they provided.