Chef

It’s rare that I leave a cinema feeling, for lack of a better word, happy. That’s not to say there aren’t lots of films that I enjoy, this year in particular has been a great one for cinema. Under the Skin was brilliant but I left the cinema feeling rather disturbed and uncomfortable. Twelve Years a Slave was incredible but everybody left the cinema in complete silence, unable to put into words how harrowing the film was. When I left the cinema after watching Chef I was happy, “Ow my face hurts from smiling and I feel warm inside” happy.

A lot of my praise is reserved for previously criminally underrated John Favreau, whose previous directing efforts in the past have flown under the radar with all the plaudits awarded to the men in front of the camera. In Chef he flourishes in his role as leading man and manages to bring the best out of the rest of the cast as director. The writing is fantastic with the dialogue feeling completely natural throughout the film, the pacing being perfect and characters are utterly believable the entire time. The casting is spot on, as are performances, with only Sophia Vergara as Favreau’s ex-wife, standing out as being wooden. Robert Downey Jr. makes a fantastic cameo in a role that may as well be credited as Robert Downey Jr. EmJay Anthon is perfect as Favreau’s young son with around whom the movie really centres.

As much as this is a film about a man deciding to ‘follow his bliss’ (to borrow a phrase from Joseph Campbell) it’s also a film about a father, a son and their relationship. Whilst it is familiar territory the growing relationship is developed beautifully and the chemistry between Favreau and Anthon makes it believable and touching. What is particularly striking is the fact that, as far as I can remember, they never actually say ‘I love you’ to each other but it is felt in nearly every exchange between them. This is just one example of the way that Chef is more than happy to show us something, rather than explicitly state it.

Again Hollywood is no stranger to the theme of somebody leaving an unfulfilling job to ‘follow their dreams’ and if done wrong can be as clichéd as that phrase itself but Chef manages to avoid this entirely. The journey feels natural and although it doesn’t stray from the well-trod path of films like Walter Mitty or The Pursuit of Happyness it never once feels stale thanks to the charm and quality of the writing.

The use and portrayal of social media in the film is done very well, with one of the highlights of the film being the mass tweeting on South Beach. The shot composition is beautiful throughout, with the sets themselves telling as much of a story as the dialogue. The best of example of this is when Favreau goes back to his “shithole apartment in Venice” after his road trip with his son and best friend ends. A simple touch like the baseball bat leaning up against the door frame tells us just as much as dialogue ever could.

The shots of food and cooking throughout the film genuinely made me feel hungry and the sandwiches cooked even sounded delicious. In fact it was the best tasting film I’ve ever seen. That’s a statement that shouldn’t make any sense but I’d wager that a lot of people would agree with it, as nonsensical as it is.

The only real criticism that I have of the film is that perhaps everything comes to Favreau’s character too easily. He never really faces any kind of struggle and his food truck is in fact just handed to him rather than him having to earn it. It could also be remarked that the ending comes about rather abruptly but neither of these complaints took anything away from the fact that it’s an incredible feel-good film.

Much as Favreau’s character makes the decision to eschew fancy fine dining in preference of delicious comfort food, Chef serves up a hearty plate of feel-good film that will leave viewers with a smile on their face rather than worrying about stretching the boundaries of the cinematic art form. And let’s be honest most days we’d all rather have a bacon sandwich than haute cuisine.