Skip to footer

'Chef' has lively behind-the-scenes food shenanigans

( R ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Chef' is often sharply written, though the movie focuses too much on the relationship between dad Carl (Jon Favreau) and his son (Emjay Anthony).

|
Merrick Morton/Open Road Films/AP
'Chef' stars Jon Favreau (l.) and John Leguizamo (r.).
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

There’s a pretty good movie buried somewhere deep inside the ungainly pastry that is “Chef,” starring Jon Favreau, who also wrote and directed. He plays Carl Casper, a once-prominent L.A. chef tired of turning out the same unadventurous menu for the trendy restaurant he’s worked in for 10 years. Because its autocratic owner, played by Dustin Hoffman, doesn’t want Carl to experiment with the fare, a blowup ensues. A bad review from a popular food blogger (Oliver Platt) leads to a confrontation that goes viral.

Divorced Carl heads to Miami and, with his best friend (John Leguizamo) and young son (Emjay Anthony), launches a food truck. A cross-country foodathon, including a memorable stopover in New Orleans, follows.

Although overly familiar, the behind-the-scenes food shenanigans are often lively and sharply written. This film will, if nothing else, make you very hungry. But Favreau relies too much on the growing bondathon between father and son. At times the film is like a cross between something on the Food Network and “The Champ.” Favreau apparently believes the way to an audience’s heart is through its collective stomach. Grade: B- (Rated R for language, including some suggestive references.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'Chef' has lively behind-the-scenes food shenanigans
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2014/0509/Chef-has-lively-behind-the-scenes-food-shenanigans
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe