A minor but thematically important story thread in “Nonnas” sees Vince Vaughn’s character struggling to find just the right sweetness as he endeavors to recreate the Sunday gravy made by his late mother. What could the missing ingredient be?

A certain type of sugar? Honey? What?

Fortunately, “Nonnas” — a family-friendly film from Netflix debuting in time for Mother’s Day — has no such issues. The components that make it a heartwarming winner — the based-on-a-true-story narrative, the onscreen work of Vaugn and supporting cast members such as Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro and Joe Manganiello and the behind-the-camera work of its husband-and-wife filmmaking tandem, Stephen Chbosky and Liz Maccie — are easy to identify.

Vaughn portrays Brooklynite Joe Scaravella, who seems more adrift than ever after his mom’s passing. Members of his large Italian family try to comfort him with food. However, it’s his best friend since childhood, Bruno (Manganiello), and Bruno’s wife, Stella (Drea de Matteo), who try to offer him something more substantial: a push toward making a change in his life, aided by the $200,000 his mother has left him.

However, they are rocked when Joe, who has worked for years at a Metropolitan Transit Authority garage, tells them he has used all his inheritance to buy a space in Staten Island where he will open an Italian restaurant, Enoteca Maria, in honor of his mother.

“I meant, like, buy some new furniture or get a girlfriend,” Stella says.

“Right,” adds Bruno, “or, say, pay your mortgage, not start a business you know nothing about.”

Joe has two key ideas for how this will work: First, he’ll lean on his contractor pal, Bruno, to make the thousands of dollars in needed renovations happen; and he’ll hire actual “nonnas” (grandmothers in Italian) as chefs, bringing that Sunday-family-dinner feel to a dining-out crowd.

Bruno sees little choice but to do his part, even if he’s skeptical Joe ever will pay him what he’s owed — and Stella’s excited to chip in with some interior design — but enlisting the older Italian ladies isn’t so easy for Joe. Even Bracco’s Roberta, the lifelong best friend of Joe’s mother, takes a LOT of convincing. (When Joe tells her it may make her happy, she responds, “I’m 75 years old — I am DONE being happy!”)

Eventually, though, Joe has another three chefs: Antonella (Vacarro), whom he meets at an outdoor Staten Island market as she’s shopping with her neighbor Olivia (Linda Cardellini), Joe’s long-ago prom date on a night he regrets; Gia (Susan Sarandon), a hairdresser and salon owner with a gift for baking; and Teresa (Talia Shire, “The Godfather”), a former nun who left the sisterhood for reasons that will become clear.

You’d expect some of the conflict “Nonnas” is obligated to fry up would come from the ladies’ ability to do the job — perhaps with a health scare thrown in for good measure — but, no, they crush it in the kitchen. Well, OK, they don’t always get along in that small, sometimes-competitive arena, with the Bolognian roots and Sicilian heritage of Antonella and Roberta, respectively, putting them constantly at odds, and the other three having feelings about how Gia, um, displays a couple of her assets.

Mainly, the problems are financial, with Joe burning through money and favors, leading, predictably, to a blowup with Bruno. (In the inevitable bros-make-up talk, “True Blood” and “Magic Mike” franchise alum Manganiello is surprisingly terrific.)

We know this will all work out — or at least we’re pretty sure; Maccie’s screenplay keeps what doubt we do have well-seasoned well into the affair.

She also succeeds in peppering the film with references to Italian culinary delights such as zeppole, scungilli and capuzzelle — although that last one, involving the baking of the head of a lamb, can cause quite the pungent smell.

Food is captured beautifully throughout “Nonnas” by Chbosky, who is said to have told his wife that if another director dropped off the project — which, reportedly, is what happened — that he’d love to step in, calling the movie “a love letter” to her in the film’s production notes.

Chbosky, whose previous directorial efforts include “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012), “Wonder” (2017) and “Dear Evan Hansen” (2021), is pretty steady running this kitchen. He keeps character development on the stove’s front burner, the right choice, but does let the film simmer too long in spots. Plus, the slowly developing romance between Joe and Olivia is decidedly undercooked.

Vaughn (“The Break-Up,” “Bad Monkey”) is well-suited for the role of Joe, who’s earnest and charming; he's an imperfect fellow, to be sure, but the kind of guy the nonnas and even Bruno don’t want to let down.

We would have welcomed something more than the mini-reunion of “The Sopranos” cast members Bracco and de Matteo, but they do share a little screen time.

It’s hard to complain much about this recipe, which, while satisfyingly savory, also leaves the type of sweet aftertaste that would make Joe’s mom proud.

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‘NONNAS’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG (for suggestive material, language and thematic elements)

Running time: 1:51

How to watch: Netflix

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