Think back to the last time you were completely and utterly stuffed. Remember the time where you drank the sauce off the end of the plate? R...
Think back to the last time you were completely and utterly stuffed. Remember the time where you drank the sauce off the end of the plate? Remember when you had food paralysis and your belt buckle was slowing burrowing it’s way inside your expanded tummy, while you just slumped lifeless on the couch. Remember when you sat on the bowl for what seemed an eternity and the pins and needles forced you to crawl out of the toilet on your hands and knees after 2 hours.
Now remember the time when you had the greatest meal you ever had. Whether that was in a fast food outlet, a fine dining restaurant or wherever. It was just perfect. The ambience was right. The mood was chilled and relaxed. Every bite went down better, than anything you’d find in expensive hotel bars. You never tasted anything so good. These meals, lunches and dinners only happen once in a blue moon. It might be a once in a lifetime experience that you experience the perfect dining experience. Where everything just falls into place and when it comes to the end you can walk away instead of being carried away. That’s about the best way I can describe Jon Favreau’s Chef. This is the greatest meal you’ll never eat.
Chef tells the story of….a chef (Jon Favreau) who finds himself out of a job after a very public bust up with a well known food critic. With no job, Carl Casper finds himself getting more estranged from his son (Emjay Anthony) and ex-wife (Sofia Vergara). After some soul searching, bonding and a rather superb conversation with his ex-wife’s ex-husband (Robert Downey Jr.) he becomes the owner of a food truck. Alongside his son and previous kitchen colleague Martin (John Leguizamo) the trio hit the road, cooking up a Cuban storm as they go.
It’s a straight forward story, but as soon as you get your first taste you keep coming back for more. The casting here is rather inspired as the entire cast give some of the best performances of their career. Leguizamo is hilarious, likeable and just wonderful to watch. His chemistry with his fellow cooks is sublime. Sofia Vergara, while having limited screen time is as sultry as ever and just oozes personality. Downey Jr. while only on screen for a few minutes, delivers one of the movies greatest scenes with a wonderful exchange with Favreau. And speaking of Jon Favreau, not only does he write and direct here but he supplies an incredible performance here full of wonderful touches and subtleties. His meltdown is dazzling whilst heart warming and his rising from the ashes (which no doubt were from some awesome BBQ) is exceptional. With a supporting cast that includes Bobby Cannavale, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt and Amy Sedaris, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better ensemble this year.
These characters, especially Casper, get you to invest so much that for alot of the movie, you will be on the edge of your seat hoping and praying that nothing else goes wrong for these guys. When you’re not laughing, crying and being thoroughly engaged and entertained, you will be drooling from every orifice you have. The food. The food. The food. Holy shit. As someone who spends far too much time in front of cooking shows, I’ve never seen food shot so beautifully. The food shots are worth the price of admission alone. And when they arrive in Texas and get some BBQ’d brisket, if your stomach doesn’t start rumbling, you're dead! It’s amazing how a small independent movie can evoke so many emotions, especially hunger.Come to think of it, I can ever recall a movie evoking hunger. And all done without a computer generated steak or sandwich in sight. Chef really highlights the point that you don’t need a gigantic visual effects budget with the world falling down to be entertaining. However, visual effects do play a small yet brilliant role here and that’s when Casper starts using Twitter. I won’t give too much away, but the first time you see it, you might not see the gag. But then you do and it’s really, really cool, combined with a very familiar sound effect.
Speaking of audio, the soundtrack here which has a main course of brilliant latino sounds will have you tapping away and making a note to buy the soundtrack as soon as you get out of the cinema. It’s really hard to find fault with Chef. This is really something special and unique. If you’ve kids, you’ll hug them when you get home as the relationship between father and son onscreen is wonderful and incredibly moving. You’ll also immediately start cooking when you get home. Honest to God, the moment I got in the door I gave my son and extra hug and a kiss and immediately made an attempt at a Cuban sandwich.
You really, really need to go to see this movie. Genuinely it’s the sweetest and most touching movie you’ll see this year. With inspired performances,a lively, hilarious script and amazing food (I never thought I’d say that in a movie review) this serves up a serious contender for movie of the year. You must taste this!
