Chef (2014)
A review of Chef (2014) directed by Jon Favreau.
I absolutely love and adore food media to the bottom of my heart, so while I was hunting for my next movie to watch on Netflix, I stumbled across this movie. I literally thought it might be one of those corny chef reality shows at first because of the title (which they could’ve done better. I don’t think a simple Chef grabs the eye well enough), but then I read the synopsis and was quite interested.
Set in sunny Los Angeles, we follow a chef who’s quite disconnected. He wants to do his own thing, his ex-wife is rich, his son seems pretty disconnected from him and, to be frank, is quite the opposite of his father. It’s an interesting story, about rediscovering who you are passion-wise. Let’s dive straight into this review.
Content
Our main character is Carl Casper, a head chef at a restaurant in Los Angeles. He’s employed by the restaurant owner, who he constantly clashes heads with, because Casper wants to cook whatever he wants. The owner, Riva, wants him to cook more classic menu items, but Casper is quite resistant to that. The plot really begins to spark when a well known food blogger and critic comes by to the restaurant. Casper wants to cook him more innovative dishes, but Riva tells him not to.
Casper listens to Riva. He serves the blogger classical cuisine, and then promptly gets roasted online for his lack of imagination as he’s serving the same dishes as every other restaurant. Once upon a time, Food & Wine had named Carl the best new upcoming chef, which adds to his inner turmoil. This leads to a series of events throughout the rest of the film, where he is forced to reconcile with what he is truly passionate about. In an era where we tend to focus on stories of empowerment and following your passion, this is a film that tends to follow said status quo, except this about food and the restaurant industry.
As expected, there a lots of food porn shots. Some close-ups of bacon sizzling and crackling on the pan, and particularly appealing shots of Cuban food. Lots of Cuban food in this one. Makes me wish I had something Cuban nearby, but, alas, I have never had Cuban food before. I’m inspired now though. One day I’ll try it.
Also kind of pissy now that as I added the trailer to this post, the title says Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlet Johansson are starring in it. Yes, they’re in the movie, but they don’t really have big roles. I get that it’s trying to draw in hype, but it’s kind of sad to see the actors more prominent in the story pushed down for bigger names.
I think this is a universal film, about artistry and the fact that we need more freedom to truly be creative. Even without the food setting, it can be easily applied to something else that involves creativity and being who you really are. When Casper is set free, he is able to do what he wants and rediscover who he really is. And that transforms his life and his relationships. It’s a feel-good film at the end of the day.
Overall Thoughts
It’s a wholesome movie, not too tough for the mind. It’s also not pretentious at all, the music is good for the atmosphere, and it’s comedic at times to lift the heavier topics. There’s some weird scenes in it that are a bit iffy, and it gets stagnant in the last third. The only conflict tends to be that he’s fired, and then it becomes a good movie throughout then as in there isn’t much conflict. It’s inspiring, makes you a bit hungry (or a lot), and it’s worth a drunk Friday night at the end of the day.
