A Sentimental and Satisfying Meal...

In order for a movie to succeed, it must connect with the audience.  Most films rely on sentiment to achieve this connection.  The difference between a bad and a good movie is often whether the audience views this sentiment as legitimate or as artificial.  In order to achieve legitimate sentiment, you need good acting and even better writing.  Chef achieves both of these.  

Written, starring, and directed by Jon Favreau, Chef follows Los Angeles chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) on his journey from head chef at an exclusive restaurant, to owner of a popular food truck. Carl’s restaurant is owned by a man (Dustin Hoffman) focused on the bottom line, as evidenced by the boring but popular menu foisted upon Carl.  When an important food critic (Oliver Platt) rips into the food as mediocre and without imagination, Carl goes berserk and loses his job.  This then leads to a re-examination of life, which includes an attempt to reconnect with his long-ignored son through a glorious road trip across America in his new food truck named el Jefe.

Favreau’s writing chops were proven in the 1996 cult classic, Swingers.  As a director, Elf and the Iron Man films showed he could also work behind the camera.  It is not difficult to see that Favreau’s experience as a writer, actor, and director led to this film.  The evidence is the emotional complexity that the actors bring to their performances combined with the solid writing and direction that brings it all together.  Favreau is very believable as the busy father who has trouble finding time for his son, wonderfully played by EmJay Anthony.  Over the course of the film, he rediscovers their bond and the connection between the two changes in a noticeable way.  This change appears to be organic and gradual; an example of sentiment with legitimacy.

Scarlett Johanssen, Amy Sedaris, Robert Downey Jr, Sofia Vergara, and Bobby Cannavale all provide very solid small performances in what is truly an all-star cast.  However, John Leguizamo, as Martin the line cook, shines brighter than any of the other supporting cast.  His energy, believability, and humor give the film a boost at key moments in the plot, especially in the road trip scenes on the food truck.  It is clear that Favreau and his team went to extraordinary lengths to gather the right cast for this film.  No miscasting in this production.

An ingenious plot device is employed by Favreau to provide dramatic tension.  Throughout the film, a Twitter war between Platt’s food critic and the chef is shown on the background of the screen as the viewer watches the film.  At first, I wondered how much Twitter had paid for this.  I had to overcome my own personal bias towards Twitter as a proto-Facebook for people with even LESS attention-span.  In the end, it was an extremely clever way to visually advance the plot and provided a great deal of comedy.

Chef barely earns its “R” rating.  With no sex and no violence, I would deem it appropriate for middle-schoolers and up.  A beautiful little film, Chef is the culmination of Jon Favreau’s growth as a movie-maker.  The sentiment is never artificial and the performances are outstanding.  This well-written film deserves your attention.

4 of 5 Stars.