★★★½
After several years of directing big budget pictures – most
notably the first two “Iron Man” films for Marvel – Jon Favreau returns to
directing the small independent types of films that gave him his first big
break. To me, “Chef” seems like it could be somewhat autobiographical as well.
I’ve always wondered what the real reason Favreau had for dropping out of
directing “Iron Man 3.” Could it be Marvel got too powerful and wanted to take away
the creative control from the director? Maybe, maybe not, but Favreau never did
direct the film so you can draw your own conclusion.
I think “Chef” may very well contain some parallels to
Favreau’s real life as a filmmaker. He plays Carl Casper, a renowned chef in
Los Angeles who runs the kitchen at a restaurant owned by Riva (Dustin Hoffman).
He loves his work to the point where he almost always neglects his son Percy
(Emjay Anthony). He does, however, have time to hit up the farmers market each
day, and for his new girlfriend Molly (Scarlett Johansson), the head hostess of
the restaurant.
Today, a well-known food critic, Ramsey Michel (Oliver
Platt), will be reviewing the restaurant. Carl begins to put together a
world-class menu for the review, but Riva insists that he cooks the usual menu
because that’s the reason people come. Sure enough, Ramsey writes a scathing
review of the food. This prompts Carl to call out Ramsey on Twitter, which
ultimately costs Carl his job. But that also boosts his online following.
At the insistence of Carl’s ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara),
Carl accompanies her and Percy to Miami. There, he meets with Inez’s first
ex-husband Marvin (Robert Downey, Jr.) about acquiring a food truck. His former
assistant in LA, Martin (John Leguizamo), is so excited about Carl’s new food
truck that he flies to Miami right away to help him get it started. Together
with Tony and Percy, Carl takes his new food truck back home serving up
delicious Cubanos along the way.
“Chef” is a much smaller concept film than anything
Favreau’s done in a long time, and it’s also the best film of his career.
Everything about this movie is immensely engaging and rather charming too. And
the food that Chef Carl cooks throughout the movie looks so delicious. It’s
like watching Food Network with a delightful storyline between cooking scenes.
You’ll want to being chowing down on a Cubano rather than that big bucket of
popcorn.
It seems to me that Favreau needed to make this movie to
keep his creative levels high after spending the last decade working with
Marvel. Not that Marvel saps the creativity from its filmmakers, but they do
have their own vision that may not necessarily line up with the individual
film’s director. Perhaps Favreau had a different idea about how “Iron Man 3”
was supposed to play out than what Marvel had envisioned. Conflict ensued,
resulting in Favreau to leave the project. That might not be what happened, but
it’s a thought. One that would make sense given the plotline of this film.
Favreau’s screenplay is exceptionally polished proving that
he’s not lost his touch. The main plotline and all the intersecting subplots
never feel out of place. Each subplot supports the others. The humor and wit is
on par with Favreau’s earlier work of “Swingers” and “Made.” I would take this
film over “Swingers” any day of the week.
He’s top notch in the role of Carl as well. He delivers this
character with many different levels of emotion. Even if you’re not an employee
of a restaurant, you’ll still find many different ways to identify with this
character. The real star of this film, however, is young Emjay Anthony. He
shares almost every scene with Favreau and steals just about all of them.
“Chef” is one of my absolute favorite movies of the year. I
can’t say it’s going to be a highly decorated award winning film by year’s end,
and it might not even end up on my Best Ten, but it is enormously gratifying
and pleasant to watch. It’s a nice break from the big budget franchise pictures
Favreau’s been making recently. He’ll go back to those some day soon I’m sure,
but this just proves he can still tell a great story on his own when he wants.
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