Chef. Written, directed and starring Jon Favreau. Co-starring John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara and Emjay Anthony. Rating: 9 (out of 10)
You'll spit out that crappy theatre popcorn, guaranteed. Chef isn't just a feel-good movie: it's a looks-good, smells-good, tastes-good movie, if you use a little imagination.
Jon Favreau returns to writing and directing his own material - as he did with Swingers (1996) and Made (2001), both co-starring Vince Vaughn - after a period directing such smash hits as Elf, Iron Man and Iron Man 2. In Chef he plays Carl Casper, executive chef in a popular L.A. restaurant. He has a reliable team (Bobby Cannavale, John Leguizamo), state-of-theart equipment, and a loyal front-of-house manager who occasionally sleeps over (Scarlett Johansson).
What he doesn't have is the freedom to be the edgy culinary artist he once was, and it's eating him up.
Carl's creative passion is being reined-in by the boss (Dustin Hoffman) who tells him to "be an artist on your own time." His hit-list, which he's been playing for five years, includes crowdpleasers such as chocolate lava cake. Tasty, maybe, but hardly earth-shattering.
There are personal crises, too. "Why don't I cook you something?" is Carl's infallible pickup line, yet he doesn't have time to date. And Carl shares custody of his 10-year-old son Percy (Emjay Anthony) but usually ends up making the boy tag along on trips to the farmers market. If only he'd put half of his passion into parenting that he puts into his menu planning.
Things boil over when a food critic (Oliver Platt) writes a scathing review. Technologically impaired Carl starts a Twitter war with the man without even
realizing it, then blows up at him in person in a fracas that goes viral. Now he's kind of famous, and most definitely out of a job.
Carl's ex, Oscar's mom, Inez, has been telling him to go it alone for years (Sofia Vergara; does that woman ever wear sweatpants?). Inez cajoles
Carl into coming with her and Percy to Miami, then casually mentions that her other ex-husband may be able to help (Robert Downey Jr, in a memorably funny scene).
The solution turns out to be a food truck, serving delectable Cuban sandwiches, and now it's a road movie. Carl is joined
by his old assistant Martin (Leguizamo) and by Percy, while mom flies home to L.A. first class. Percy may have to steer clear of the fryer but he proves invaluable when it comes to marketing: the boy tweets, vines and facebooks every step of their journey, creating significant buzz and long lines wherever the El Jefe truck stops.
The food-prep scenes will make your mouth water right there in the theatre. "Food porn" seems to be the popular moniker given to this kind of food fetishism, and Favreau doesn't discriminate: there's equal love given to a killer grilled cheese sandwich as there is to a trussed-up squab.
It's a simple conceit enhanced by the easy chemistry between father and son and the wisdom (some of it questionable) acquired on the crosscontinental journey. Add memorable supporting turns (Amy Sedaris) and a lively soundtrack, and Chef is irresistible.
