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A scene in Chef (Tribeca Film Festival/Merrick Morton )
What it's about:
Chef is the story of Carl Casper, who loses his chef job and cooks up a food truck business in hopes of reestablishing his artistic promise and family.
What we thought:
I feel bad that I don't like this film more than I do. It's a fun, light-hearted and quick-witted and makes your mouth water at every corner. However, I felt like something was missing from making it more memorable, as if the writer barely missed the mark somewhere.
Perhaps it was just that I wasn’t that emotionally invested in the lead character, who besides his flair with making some dream concoctions, seems to have forgotten about the rest of his character, besides his epic moment of anger geared towards one of the lowest form of journalistic creatures – critics (yes, I see the irony).
The film looks at the fading passion of a once-rising-star chef who rechecks his life after a bad review from a snide, cocky-as-hell food critic. He rethinks his life and starts a food truck with his son in tow. Now, so far it is very much a food movie. But then another element is heavily incorporated into the film – social media.
Hollywood has been a bit slow in incorporating the reality of social media into their plotlines and in Chef they decided to make it a big part of the story. Not only does it look at the consequences of doing bad social media, it also shows how good social media can boost any business. Although I am all for films to embrace this century’s most used form of communication, at some points it seemed like they went a bit overboard, as if it becomes one massive advertisement for Twitter. I was getting over their little bird tweets, but the visual representation of social media was well done. Even if I wanted to shoot that little blue bird every time it tweeted off.
The whole movie, from directing to writing to acting, is led byJon Favreau, who you might vaguely recognise as a minor character in the movie industry, most notably Tony Stark’s chauffeur in Iron Man (which is probably why there is a random cameo from the Stark man himself). What you might not know, is that he is quite a prominent director and writer, having directed the first two Iron Man movies, received an Emmy nomination for the series Dinner of Five and will serve as executive producer in the next Avengers movie. This time it he seems to have decided to step into the spotlight, and I think he deserves it.
One thing I can say about the lead actor/director/screenwriter, is that he genuinely looks like he loves making food and that it is a real passion for him. He might not have the looks, but Favreu’s passion for the culinary arts shines throughout and makes it way more plausible that he would land two sexy ladies of the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara. Throw in the adorableness that is the kid who plays his son and you get a cute family movie.
Compared to other food movies Chef doesn’t do too badly and I think foodies will get jealous over the food in the movie they haven’t managed to find at their local Neighbourgoods market. Also, I really want to visit New Orleans after watching this movie. And own a foodtruck. If I had any form of cooking talent. (My dinners mostly consist of throwing whatever I find in the fridge together).
Although the movie has a stellar cast and scrumptious-looking food, it is more of a relaxed film to watch at home with your significant other and some home-cooked yumminess rather than spending money on an expensive movie outing. But yum yum yum!
Chef is the story of Carl Casper, who loses his chef job and cooks up a food truck business in hopes of reestablishing his artistic promise and family.
What we thought:
I feel bad that I don't like this film more than I do. It's a fun, light-hearted and quick-witted and makes your mouth water at every corner. However, I felt like something was missing from making it more memorable, as if the writer barely missed the mark somewhere.
Perhaps it was just that I wasn’t that emotionally invested in the lead character, who besides his flair with making some dream concoctions, seems to have forgotten about the rest of his character, besides his epic moment of anger geared towards one of the lowest form of journalistic creatures – critics (yes, I see the irony).
The film looks at the fading passion of a once-rising-star chef who rechecks his life after a bad review from a snide, cocky-as-hell food critic. He rethinks his life and starts a food truck with his son in tow. Now, so far it is very much a food movie. But then another element is heavily incorporated into the film – social media.
Hollywood has been a bit slow in incorporating the reality of social media into their plotlines and in Chef they decided to make it a big part of the story. Not only does it look at the consequences of doing bad social media, it also shows how good social media can boost any business. Although I am all for films to embrace this century’s most used form of communication, at some points it seemed like they went a bit overboard, as if it becomes one massive advertisement for Twitter. I was getting over their little bird tweets, but the visual representation of social media was well done. Even if I wanted to shoot that little blue bird every time it tweeted off.
The whole movie, from directing to writing to acting, is led byJon Favreau, who you might vaguely recognise as a minor character in the movie industry, most notably Tony Stark’s chauffeur in Iron Man (which is probably why there is a random cameo from the Stark man himself). What you might not know, is that he is quite a prominent director and writer, having directed the first two Iron Man movies, received an Emmy nomination for the series Dinner of Five and will serve as executive producer in the next Avengers movie. This time it he seems to have decided to step into the spotlight, and I think he deserves it.
One thing I can say about the lead actor/director/screenwriter, is that he genuinely looks like he loves making food and that it is a real passion for him. He might not have the looks, but Favreu’s passion for the culinary arts shines throughout and makes it way more plausible that he would land two sexy ladies of the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara. Throw in the adorableness that is the kid who plays his son and you get a cute family movie.
Compared to other food movies Chef doesn’t do too badly and I think foodies will get jealous over the food in the movie they haven’t managed to find at their local Neighbourgoods market. Also, I really want to visit New Orleans after watching this movie. And own a foodtruck. If I had any form of cooking talent. (My dinners mostly consist of throwing whatever I find in the fridge together).
Although the movie has a stellar cast and scrumptious-looking food, it is more of a relaxed film to watch at home with your significant other and some home-cooked yumminess rather than spending money on an expensive movie outing. But yum yum yum!
