Eater.com's movie reviewer, Joshua David Stein, likes the new Jon Favreau flick, Chef because "it gets so many things right." That really is Favreau chopping zucchini. His apartment is a mess. His life is a mess. The owner of the restaurant where he works is a dick. So is the critic who comes to review the joint. So far, so good. Most people live surrounded by dicks and messes.
Then Stein reminds us that "Chef" isn't "No Reservations" (the fantasy-life of Aaron Eckhardt, Catherine Zeta-Jones). But wait, Favreau's character, who's kind of a schlub, has a drop-dead stunning ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) as well as a drop-dead stunning girlfriend (Scarlett Johansson). So don't tell me this is realistic.
In fact, "Chef" is a standard sitcom plot--not a mean line in the whole movie--of a boy with divorced parents. The dad works hard but doesn't own the joint. When he walks away from his job, he and the kid take off on a road trip. In a food truck. That serves Cuban sandwiches. I don't understand how such a dimwitted (if well-meaning) chef can run a Spanish-speaking kitchen without speaking two words of Spanish, yet have the letters JEFE tattooed on his fingers.
In real life, Favreau is a big-budget movie director (the whole "Iron Man" franchise), so he was able to corral bunch of A-list actors to turn up in his movie (Dustin Hoffmann, Robert Downey, Jr., Oliver Platt). Watching "Chef" is like eating a box of popcorn: doesn't quite fill you up, doesn't quite satisfy, but, gee, at least you didn't have the rocky mountain oysters or the poutine. And you walk out of the theater with a smile.
"Chef" screens at 7:30 on Wednesday, May 7th, at the SIFF Uptown Theater; general release on May 9th.
UPDATE: Read what the other critics say here.
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