Chef, director Jon Favreau‘s (Iron Man) latest film in which he also assumes screenwriter and lead actor credits, is a purely enjoyable film that should delight audiences of all kinds. Taking a break from directing the Marvel blockbuster franchise, Favreau returns with an intimate family comedy about a chef, Carl Casper (Favreau), a struggling divorcee who finds himself juggling a fledgling cooking career along with his barely-there relationship with admiring son Percy (Emjay Anthony) and loving ex-wife Inez (Sofía Vergara). The result of all these ingredients, handled in a loose yet free and fun directorial style, makes Favreau’s film a successful and uniquely alive one.
Favreau, conceiving an original screenplay here, returns to the big screen in confident stride to tell this low-budget independent movie. His natural warmth and humor as a person comes through in full and charming spades, as he crafts a story that self-runs off of its own good spirits and nature. This story about a scatterbrained yet passionate and talented head chef who struggles to recognize Percy’s admirations for his largely absent self, along with the good intentions wished by Inez, rewards audiences with genuine and honest emotional returns. In setting up this fast and loose crowd-pleaser, the film retains a playfulness and spontaneity that keeps audiences happy to be along for the ride, literally, as Casper takes Percy with him when he shifts gears, leaving a restrictive restaurant residency for a self-owning Cuban food truck business that he embarks on.
Chef uses its fast and loose shooting style to achieve a real vitality, which is paralleled with the spicy soul food that Casper comes around to realize, timed with his newfound love for his family, gives him the most satisfaction in life.
Even if the story seems easy to figure out, it dresses itself up with a number of fun elements, including a running storyline of Casper’s new taking to social media (the many tweets and pictures animated and floating above the actors’ heads add a freshness and spark), along with a smattering of A-list Hollywood talent to cameo, including Dustin Hoffman as Casper’s controlling boss Riva, John Leguizamo as Casper’s quick-witted bud and fellow chef Martin, Scarlett Johansson as Casper’s quietly tattooed receptionist friend Molly, and Robert Downey Jr. as Inez’s brash and loony ex-husband Marvin- all of whom give their best favors to the director, delivering rich supporting performances to keep the party fresh.
And of course, no movie about people cooking food would be complete about the review of the food itself. Which is also what, funnily enough, serves as the main driving storyline- that of heralded food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) bestowing a less than favorable review upon Casper’s food, which spurns the livid chef to hastily take to Twitter for the first time, calling out the critic and creating a social media firestorm which leads to consequences that force him to confront and reassess his life’s choices. This theme, of dealing with negative reception, along with reconnecting with family, are deeply personal dealings that one might assume were not unintentionally put into the movie by the writer/director/actor to comment on his own life’s work.
In fact, the similarities between the professions of both the chef and film director are seen as highly entwined here. High pressure and highly detailed work, employing a team to create that vision, all dealt with in a highly consuming manner that can sometimes fail to appreciate family, are but some of the shared drawbacks from both gigs. Which is why the movie scores; it’s heartfelt, honest, and entertaining. Chef uses its fast and loose shooting style to achieve a real vitality, which is paralleled with the spicy soul food that Casper comes around to realize, timed with his newfound love for his family, gives him the most satisfaction in life.
