Film review: Chef
“IT HURTS, I TELL YA!” Jon Favreau’s character in Chef yells at a critic who has given his food a scathing review, misliking the chef’s populist take on international cuisine.
CHEF
Starring: Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson
Director: Jon Favreau
Category: IIB
“IT HURTS, I TELL YA!” Jon Favreau’s character in Chef yells at a critic who has given his food a scathing review, misliking the chef’s populist take on international cuisine.
It’s unlikely such jibes will be directed at Chef, which is as cheerful a crowd-pleaser as you’re likely to encounter. Scripted and directed by, as well as starring Favreau, it plays out as life without the nasty bits — no problem is so bad it can’t be resolved with a hug, everyone tries to help each other, and everything always works out fabulously.
The fact that the film works at all is bemusing, as it lacks any dramatic tension whatsoever. Conflict has driven drama since plays were performed in ancient Greece. But aside from the flap over the food review, it doesn’t exist in Chef — and it’s certainly relaxing to watch movie characters being pleasant to each other for a change, and fun to spend some time in their company.
Favreau usually directs much bigger films than this comedy — his credits include Iron Man and Iron Man 2. This has a much stronger indie sensibility than expected from his bigger works, which tend to be big and loud, rather than cheerful and charming.
Favreau plays Carl Casper, a friendly chef who has one passion in life: cooking. He also has a marginally estranged young son Percy (Emjay Anthony), who lives with Carl’s angelic Cuban-American ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara).
When Carl has a run-in with food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), he hands in his notice to boss Riva (a well-mannered cameo by Dustin Hoffman), bids goodbye to supportive co-worker Molly (Scarlett Johansson) — and suddenly finds himself with nothing to do.
That’s when the wonderfully supportive Inez steps back into his life. She sends him to Miami to meet her first husband (Robert Downey Jnr), and he promises Carl a food truck so that the chef can keep on cooking.
The second half of Chef is a road movie that shows Carl building up his mobile business with the help of his son and his friend Martin (John Leguizamo).
Driving the story is a somewhat unbelievable generation gap plot about Twitter. Carl’s troubles multiply because he doesn’t realise that his argument with the food critic on Twitter is not private. It’s left to his son to clear it up and turn the internet to his dad’s advantage.
The financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn mean that daily life in the US is still difficult for many Americans. The feel-good nature of the movie, and its unshakeable faith in the American dream, has probably contributed to its success at home.
Audiences overseas can feast on the delicious food in the movie.
Chef opens on July 10
