John Favreau is a lucky man. Ever since he penned the indie
hit film ‘Swingers’ (primarily so he could be in it and therefore find some
acting work) he has been a respected actor and director. A man who has been
happy to earn enough to make life comfortable with no desire for a mountain of
cash to sleep on (paging Mr Cruise…), he makes films he wants to make and has
been shown to be pretty shrewd in his choosing. ‘Chef’ is his first script
since ‘Swingers’, apparently because he found himself with a story idea he just
had to tell, which gave him a fierce desire to write not felt since then. Of
course, he had to direct as well, and the result is certainly not some kind of
vanity project, it is instead one of the most honest films I’ve seen this year.
Favreau is Carl Casper, a very good chef. This is made very
clear to us as he prepares to greet a very important food critic and serve him
something to make him go bananas (though probably not actual bananas). The problem
is that his asshole boss (Dustin Hoffman) wants him to stick to the same safe menu
he has been doing for years. Inevitably, the critic gets the safe food and tears
Casper apart in
his review, disappointed because ten years ago he was the chef that made him fall
in love with food and now he is a hack. Casper
discovers tweeting because of this and accidentally starts a flame war with the
guy, culminating in a face to face freak out that, naturally, makes him an internet
sensation, something he definitely doesn’t want.
We follow Carl’s story as he wonders what to do next, knowing
that cooking is the only thing that makes him truly happy. Ex wife Inez suggests
he gets a food truck to be his own boss and rediscover the joy of cooking for genuine
customers, so he does and that’s where the story really takes off. What it’s really
about, as these things tend to be, is Carl rekindling his relationship with his
ten year old son as well as his one with food. It’s about a man remembering what
life is all about, and finding out where he left the passion he had a decade ago.
As you may gather, I liked ‘Chef’. From the trailer I thought
it should be okay, but was not expecting such a beautifully made film. Even though
it contains such well known faces as Robery Downey Jr, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara
and Scarlett Johansson it doesn’t need them. ‘Chef’ would stand up well if the
only person in it you’d ever heard of was Favreau himself. It trundles along
good naturedly, making you care for every single character as it goes along,
and making you want to eat every single thing Casper cooks up. An ideal ‘date’ movie, ‘Chef’
contains the sort of heart that you don’t get from big studio movies, so go and
see it.
Trailer:
