Chef (2014)
Certified: 15
Duration: 114 minutes
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Jon Favreau, Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey, Jr, Amy Sedaris, Emjay Anthony
KRS Releasing Ltd
Jon Favreau is Carl Casper, a man whose life is not turning out as he thought it would. He is divorced and has a 10-year-old son named Percy (Emjay Anthony) from his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara). He wishes he would be more present in his son’s life.
Career wise, he feels he is at a dead end. He works at a restaurant and is quite popular but he often clashes with the owner, Riva (Dustin Hoffman) because of the cooking restrictions imposed on him.
The rest of the staff is made up of: sous-chef Tony (Bobby Cannavale), hostess Molly (Scarlett Johansson) and line cook Martin (John Leguizamo).
Everything explodes when food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) writes a very scathing review of the restaurant. Carl replies to Ramsey’s review on the social media, falling into a trap.
He quits his job and when Inez invites him to Miami, he accepts. This way he can see his son more often. Inez also asks her former ex-husband Marvin (Robert Downey Jr) for help and he gives Carl an old food van. With Martin along for the ride, Carl starts to cook his original recipes in the food truck and makes life for the people in Florida all that much tastier.
The film balances the drama and comedy aspects well
After having made Iron Man and its sequel, and giving Marvel the template on which to make successful hero movies, Favreau returns to his roots with this film.
He shows how much he can simply be off-the-wall in his approach, as the film shows aspects of charm, spontaneity and characterisation .
To his advantage, Favreau brought in Kramer Morganthau as cinematographer. The latter delivers crisp and clean visuals that bring the culinary art to the screen in a way that can tantalise the audience’s taste buds.
The film balances the drama and comedy aspects well. The father and son relationship looks believable and not a corny Hollywood exercise. Emjay Anthony, who plays Percy, is the genuine article as he comes off as actually wanting to know his father and get closer to him all.
The result is a warm and affectionate film.