If you love food at all, you'll love this movie.
Chef
Grade: B+
Director: Jon Favreau (Cowboys & Aliens)
Screenplay: Favreau
Cast: Jon Favreau (Iron Man), John Leguizamo ( Miracle at St. Anna)
Rating: R
Runtime: 114 min
by John DeSando
“I may not do everything great in my life, but I'm good at this. I manage to touch people's lives with what I do and I want to share this with you.” Carl Casper (Jon Favreau)
The sentiments in that quote by the titular character in Chef are an accurate reflection of the joyous spirit of love for cooking that drives the comedy right into the audience’s heart. While the shots of Chef Carl chopping green onions or slathering Cuban bread are part of the film’s energy, the optimism about doing what you love, in this case, cooking is worth all the hard work that goes into it.
Carl loses his job over a critic’s (Oliver Platt) unfavorable comments about his cooking, only to discover the joys of cooking Cubanos from a truck. But the real happiness is bonding with his son, Percy (M J Anthony), as they work with faithful sous chef Martin (John Leguizamo) to capture the excitement of running their own business and touching people’s lives with authentic food. Percy is just a small version of his dad, loving the adventure and the food.
Yes, it’s a comedy but also a drama if you consider that reconciling with his ex wife is about as tough as opening a restaurant. As we learn how social media can make personal and professional lives better, we also learn about Twitter’s lethal capabilities as well as its contribution to family unity.
The real entertainment of this film, however, is the love of food, which binds better than all the counseling a court could ever order.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
