“Chef” Review
“Chef” stars Jon Favreau (Right) as a chef who goes on a cooking odyssey across the country with his young son (center) and best friend (right).
Jon Favreau may be one of the unsung heroes of today’s filmmaking scene, being one of the “best directors you’ve never heard of.” After rising up as an actor in 1990s films like “Rudy” and “Swingers,” which he also wrote, Favreau became a director of massively successful films like “Elf” and “Zathura.”
Favreau then started the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the first two “Iron Man” films before working directly with Disney by making spectacular technical achievements in “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King” while also bringing new life to “Star Wars” with “The Mandalorian.”
However, while all of his aforementioned work has garnered love from both critics and the general public, his best and most underrated film is one that doesn’t rely on any technical wizardry, photo-realistic animals or an adorable Baby Yoda. Released in 2014, “Chef” is a deeply personal film for Favreau that details his love for cooking.
Favreau stars in the film as Carl Casper, an acclaimed chef who feels stuck in a creative rut at a restaurant whose owner (Dustin Hoffman) doesn’t dig Casper’s artistic ideas with food. When a critic (Oliver Platt) calls out Casper’s lack of originality with his cooking, the titular chef quits his job and gets a food truck.
With his kitchen-on-wheels, Casper decides to cook Cubano sandwiches across the country, with his best friend (John Leguizamo) as a sous-chef and his young son Percy (Emjay Anthony) as his social media guru, to reignite his passion for cooking and mend his relationships with his son and ex-wife (Sofia Vergara).
Much of what makes this film work is how much Favreau’s love for cooking is present throughout the film. As detailed by his many appearances on Binging With Babish, a YouTube channel in which chef Andrew Rea makes food seen in television and film, Favreau is a skilled cook with the director going to culinary school in preparation for this film.
The film’s love for cooking has inspired many including Andrew Rea: (Left) host of Binging With Babish on YouTube. Rea’s fame has grown to the point that both Favreau (Right) and chef Roy Choi (Center) who served as the inspiration for “Chef.”
As the star, screenwriter, producer and director, Favreau just has a natural love for cooking which is on full display. When Casper talks about food and how much he loves making it, it doesn’t feel like bullshit. Every single, solitary action and word Casper says is fueled by his passion.
If filmmaking is Favreau’s wife, to whom he’s relatively faithful, then cooking is his mistress with whom he has a torrid and passionate affair.
The entire cast, despite being star-studded, is well-realized and brings another level of entertainment to the film. Even bit roles from Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johanson and Dustin Hoffman add a good deal of atmosphere to the film thanks to their natural charisma.
Emjay Anthony is one of the highlights of the film because of how much he contributes to the plot. While most films would have the child star on the sidelines looking at the parental figure in awe like Jesus at God, “Chef” has Percy working directly with his father with the latter mentoring the former in the ways of cooking. Percy also helps his technologically challenged father by posting the food truck’s food, location and exploits on social media platforms like Twitter and FaceBook.
Just like “Ford V Ferrari” and “Ed Wood,” this film will ignite viewer’s passions, even if cooking is not their strong suit. Because the viewer identifies with and loves Carl’s journey, they will be inspired to go back to their passions and work on their desires which is a testament to just how powerful this film is.
“Chef” is a five-star film that is worth checking out. However, a word of warning, this film will make you hungry. So make a good meal before this otherwise you will want to purchase hundreds of dollars worth of equipment and ingredients.
