Review of Chef (2014) by Matthew C — 12 Feb 2015

Clearly director John Favreau is a big foodie and this is a passion project of his. Unfortunately, this passion may blind him to some elements that end up being troublesome for the production. Still, the film is entertaining and most of the cast is quite good. Favreau (pulling double duty as the titular culinary master) in particular, anchors the film and is generally likable.

Here are some of the things that bother me. First, I can't stomach the rather patronizing explanations of the ins and outs of social media by the protagonist's son. Indeed, for a good chunk of this movie, I felt it should be renamed "Twitter For Dummies: The Movie." Perhaps the script was written over five years ago. I dunno. Whatever the case, the social media stuff doesn't ring completely true for me. It feels forced and out of touch -- like written by grandma out of touch.

Second, I'm not amused by the majority of the humor. Like the Twitter tutorials, much of the comedy is forced. Jokes often seem to be discovered mid-scene. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if much of the humor is improvised. The problem is that Favreau isn't a very good gatekeeper here. He allows mediocre punchlines to make the final cut. I suppose it's difficult to be as discerning as one should when he's making his passion project with the help of all the friends he's hired. This, incidentally, brings me to Robert Downey Jr. His cameo scene probably offers the most forced comedy of the entire picture. The actor improvises much of his way through a misguided performance wherein he plays a man so over-the-top obnoxious he cannot possibly be a real person (even in this fictional world).

Third, there's a somewhat deus ex machina moment at the film's close that isn't believable to me at all. Without too much away, I'll just say that a certain supporting character does a 180 degree turn that allows many of the protagonist's problems to disappear. Not only does the logic behind the character's change seem suspect, the protagonist doesn't need this proverbial reset button pushed as he has forged a new path despite his difficulties throughout the film. Why hastily re-establish his life to what it was in the first act when he has ultimately found success in unexpected ways by the third? It's all very forced and cheap.

Okay, here's the love:

Any scene involving food and restaurant politics.

Dustin Hoffman.

John Favreau's very well-acted confrontation with a food critic.

John Leguizamo.