In recent years, director Jon Favreau has become known for big blockbuster spectacles. While he's certainly found great success working in that area, it has always felt like a bit of an odd fit for the guy who established his voice on films like Made and Swingers. Chef indicates that Favreau may have found that a bit strange as well. Here the director tells a story of a man going back to his roots, rediscovering his love for his craft. The movie breaks no new ground, but it has well more heart than whatever other big project Favreau might have been offered in the last few years.
Chef Carl (Jon Favreau) is in a creative rut. He's been working with the same menu for years, and the restaurant he works for won't let him experiment with his food. A bad review from the city's biggest food critic sends him on a spiral that gets him fired and turns him into a public spectacle. With no real prospects, he ends up getting a food truck. He goes on a cross-country road trip across the American South, rediscovering his love for cooking and reconnecting with his ten year old son along the way.
The film sticks to a pretty sturdy formula. This isn't Favreau experimenting: this is the director going back to his roots. There aren't any real surprises to be found here, the arc is fairly simple and openly telegraphed right from the start. But that's only really a problem in the final moments, when the film rushes to find a conclusion that fulfills the requirements of the formula. The rest of the film ably fills out the structure, fleshing it out with honest, personal moments of human connection.
The film's strongest moments involve Carl's relationship with his son. There is something painfully real about the distance that has grown between them, a distance that Carl has mistakenly been trying to close with little tokens of interaction. The film doles out the drama on a very human scale, finding the smallest moments that might mean something huge to two people just really trying to get to know each other again.
The film does run a bit long, but the snappy direction helps ease that problem. It also helps that all the food looks amazing. The film shoots the food lovingly, the camera lingering on every little sizzle, the aromas practically coming through the screen. If nothing else, the film serves as a pretty good tour of some of America's finest food landmarks. The cast, led by Favreau himself, brings plenty of warmth to match the overall sweetness of the film.
Chef scrambles in the end to find a clean way to wrap all this up. It's a little disappointing. For the most part, the film's appeal comes from its willingness to just hang out and explore its milieu, avoiding artificial conflict and just thriving off the natural drama of people doing the best they can. But the larger package is still pretty appealing. Favreau brings a compelling personal dimension to this picture, the director expressing feelings that his larger films could never convey.
My Rating:
