Coming off of three massive studio blockbusters (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens), writer/director Jon Favreau has returned to his indie roots with Chef, a charming tale about the benefits of "starting from scratch" when life beats you down.
The film is very funny and features some of the finest food porn ever committed to celluloid. Some of the images and dialogue are so vivid that you can almost smell the barbecued pork wafting through the theater. Plan your day's meals accordingly.
Favreau brings an all-star cast out to play here, and with such a list of names one might think somebody isn't getting enough screen time. That really isn't the case. Think of Chef as a big pot of stew that gets its "zing" from the right balance of flavors that this cast brings to the material. Not a single character overstays their welcome.
Favreau stars as Chef Carl Casper with Sofia Vergara as his ex-wife (who the hell divorces that woman??), Dustin Hoffman as the overbearing restaurant owner, Scarlett Johansson as the restaurant hostess and Casper's occasional hook-up, John Leguizamo as Casper's close friend Martin, Bobby Cannavale as the restaurant's sous chef, Oliver Platt as the acclaimed food critic who sends Casper's career into a tailspin, and Robert Downey Jr. as the man who single-handedly snaps our hero out of it.
It's on the rare occasion that disbelief must be suspended in order to completely enjoy what's on our visual plate here. Vergara plays it way too safe as Casper's ex-wife Inez. They're supposed to be divorced, but the reasons behind their separation are rather ambiguous. Favreau and Vergara play so nicely together one would think their characters were married the whole time.
Also, no self-respecting, recently-promoted sous chef would ever leave a secure job to help start a food truck. Leguizamo does that here in a span of what appears to be minutes.
In the end Chef turns out to be the first, great, feel-good movie of 2014. It has the humor, the grub, the story, and the endearing characters to rival other great "foodie" comedies, like Big Night.
A-
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