Entertainment

Toast

Helena Bonham-Carter, who played Freddie Highmore’s mother in the 2005 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” has fun as the actor’s evil stepmother in S.J. Clarkson’s mildly entertaining 2009 BBC telefilm “Toast,” which is mysteriously being given a theatrical run in this country.

HB-C turns up around the 40-minute mark as a garishly dressed housekeeper (it’s the 1960s) who seduces Highmore’s recently widowed dad (Ken Stott), partly through her culinary skills. This puts her in direct competition with the son, who as a 9-year-old (played by the wonderful Oscar Kennedy) took up cooking in self-defense against his asthmatic mother’s cluelessness in the kitchen.

Based on a memoir by Nigel Slater, a British celebrity chef who makes a cameo appearance, “Toast” also charts the budding chef’s growing interest in hunky, scantily clad guys. Be warned: Some of the regional British accents would benefit from subtitles.