Review of Chef (2014) by Spencer S — 19 Feb 2015

A very simple concept drives "Chef" forward: food porn. Every other shot of this film is looking above a professionally staged plate of gorgeous food. Jon Favreau executes a savory and sweet film, based on food, and how it shapes us as people.

It can bring a family together, it can be your brilliant passion, or it can change your perspective on cultures and traditions foreign to you. The first forty minutes of this film drags the runtime into two hours all of which exists just to set up the main character, who is having issues with his son and ex-wife, and isn't as motivated and passionate about his work as he once was.

The rest of the film follows him, his friend, and his son as they travel the country in a food truck, learning the different local cuisines and using Twitter to go viral in different cities. The inclusion of Twitter was a little distracting and reeked of product sponsorship, but it was also a giant plot motivator in the first half of the film.

Besides that, it was actually really interesting to see the impact of the social media platform in the unique world of food trucks. It's not a new film, or one that will age well, but if you like food (which better be everyone) than this will be a film that you both appreciate and enjoy.