Chef (2014)

Yummy. Tears of joy, and maybe hunger, wet my face watching this story of a high-class restaurant chef going out on his own and connecting with his adoring ten-year-old son for the first time. We had a lot of fun, along with the opening day crowd. Jon Favreau wrote, directs, and stars (last script was Couples Retreat (missed it in 2009), last directing job was Cowboys & Aliens, last role was a small part in The Wolf of Wall Street, last role I blogged was a cameo in Iron Man 3) in a triumphant return to his indie roots. Emjay Anthony (the TV show Rake and movie It's Complicated, among others), who'll be 11 next month, is sweet as the boy. Sophia Vergara (was just in Fading Gigolo) and John Leguizamo (started out with acclaimed variety/stand-up comedy shows Mambo Mouth (1991) and Spic-O-Rama (1993), then movies To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), Summer of Sam (1999), played Toulouse-Laurec in Moulin Rouge! (2001), had small parts in Miracle at St. Anna and The Lincoln Lawyer, among many credits, with five more due for release in 2014) are in it all the way. Bobby Cannavale (most recently in Blue Jasmine), Dustin Hoffman (last role blogged in Barney's Version), Scarlett Johannson (most recently in Her), and Oliver Platt (last in The Oranges) lend their considerable talents to the first act. Robert Downey Jr., no doubt honoring his Iron Man comrade, has a nice cameo in the middle.

Favreau's script hums along with lots of good jokes, lots of 21st century technology--the chef learns about Twitter from his son, accompanied by an amusing graphic--and a truly satisfying plot. We had not seen the trailer. If you can avoid it, do so. Some of the best bits are in it.

In addition to the scrumptious food stylings (it's not often I wish for smell-o-vision), this is also a road-trip movie, and features music from the various parts of the country visited. No composer is credited: it's all songs. Jack especially wanted me to mention the musicians in the Austin, Texas sequence: Gary Clark Jr. (listen to tracks here, and if the first song doesn't pull you in, keep going because he has a lot of styles--free download available from the site). And here's the poignant Al Green song from the marionette sequence.

Don't go running out of the room when the credits start! There's an excellent bonus, featuring Los Angeles chef Roy Choi, an executive producer of the project, giving Favreau a lesson in kitchen technique, during the music credits. Usually I read the music credits carefully, but this time I had ascertained the night before that there were lots, and maybe all, on imdb, as noted in the link above.

This is in the Producers Plethora category, with 24. It's also going to be #20 in the Food Movies list that I started soon after beginning the blog in the fall of 2008. Don't just take my word for it, Rotten Tomatoes critics are coming in at 87% and audiences at 88, even though it's playing on only 72 screens so far. For fans of statistics, it ranks third in average theatre box office right now, after Godzilla and The Immigrant. Get to those, too, but see this one first! It may be rated R but I find it suitable for any child who's allowed to hear some profanity.