Chef, The Movie

Good food. Passion. Ambition. Screwing up and picking up to have another go. Courage of conviction. This is what feel good is all about and this is what Chef serves up. 

That is all of it.

Since I saw John Leguizamo’s interview on Wendy, I decided I had to see chef, its been a long time since I saw a comedy that was both meaningful, warm, funny and unnecessarily uncomplicated, you know there are those types of comedies that take the long and winding route to get to the predictable destination. Chef is not one of those, this is straight forward heart warming and lovely. Some scenes could’ve done with being left on the cutting room floor, but they take very little away from the premise of the movie. Chef is about well, Chef Carl Casper, played by Jon Favreau, Head Chef in a prominent restaurant who is caught between a boss who would rather stick to the same old menu and a top flight critic who had long been an admirer of his food, before he went all clean cut, pristine and boring. Chef is about food, authentic and mouth watering, so orgasmic its almost a sexual climax just watching it. This film needs a cookbook.

Where there’s food, there’s bound to be some romance, isn’t that always the case? Chef’s personal life is not too hot either, his relationship with his son is faltering but its a working progress, progress helped through an education in food. He has an ex-wife who is still rooting for, and believes in, him more than he does. I love this relationship, thank goodness it wasn’t the cliched mad or angry woman.

There isn’t a hell of a lot to the movie and that in part is what gives it strength of character, its unexpected with a strong, diverse cast, and a whole lot of good. Definitely must watch. It should be out on DVD soon