Details: Released in 2014. About two hours long. Stars Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson. Written and directed by Jon Favreau.
Chef is a lighthearted, fun, easily digestible drama about a… chef.
Jon Favreau plays Carl Casper, a prominent chef who gets into trouble after getting into a Twitter fight with a reviewer who insulted his food. After some more misfortunes, Carl decides to open a food truck and relearn his love for food as well as his relationship with his family.
Chef is a feel good movie that doesn’t dip too far into the emotional extremes. Don’t expect any tears, though the ending did move me a little.
What’s really interesting is how this movie respects the food. There are many time consuming, but interesting scenes of him just preparing food. I read somewhere that Favreau actually got some real chefs to come in and consult on how to make the food preparation real, and you can really tell that some respect and care were put into these scenes. It just adds to the feeling that this indie film was really a passion project for Favreau.
There’s also surprisingly long list of famous actors who have surprisingly small roles in the movie. You have John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr. and Sofia Vergara who were the names I mostly recognized. That’s a lot of star power for a supposedly small film.
Overall, this is a great film for some casual entertainment if you’re in the mood. Despite being about two hours long, I didn’t feel the film drag at all and enjoyed just about all of it.
Score: 7/10
