Chef (2014) - Review

I mentioned earlier in the week about how there were two films that I had seen this past weekend that seemed to be invoking old-time Hollywood emotional filmmaking, perhaps as a response to the present Hollywood of sensory spectacle. The mold obviously fits for Jon Favreau's Chef.

Favreau has spent much of the last decade directing big, effects-laden Hollywood movies, perhaps most famously as director of the first two Iron Man movies and then as director of the critically panned and commercial disappointment Cowboys and Aliens. The critical failure of Cowboys and Aliens in particular seems to inform Favreau's film Chef, which he wrote and directed.

Chef involves a one-time rising star chef (Favreau) who has begun spinning his wheels under the weight of a staid restaurant owner that wants to "play the hits" for an aging, upscale clientele. When a major food critic blasts Favreau's food and insults the chef personally, Favreau blows his top and goes after the critic. This creates a viral sensation that humiliates Favreau and costs him his job. While Favreau sulks and wonders what he'll do next, he tries to balance his relationship with his 10 year old son. Alas, Favreau's character is absorbed in his own problems and keeps cutting off the father-son relationship at the knees.

With nowhere else to go, Favreau agrees to accept some help from his ex-wife and lands a food truck. After fixing it up and being joined by one of his old aides, Favreau sets out on the road. Hoping to bridge the divide between himself and his son, Favreau invites the kid along for a cross-country ride. Along the way, Favreau finds what makes him happy and builds a true relationship with his son.

The popular belief is that Chef involves a surprising turn away from Hollywood movies and toward the indie milieu in which Favreau got his start nearly two decades ago. I don't really see it that way. Involving a cavalcade of familiar faces and even superstars (Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlet Johansson, John Leguizamo, Sofia Vergara, etc, etc, etc...), this is precisely the kind of star-laden, feel-good film that used to be considered A-list Hollywood staple.

This film is only a small, indie film in that the major studios have abandoned this kind of film in favor of tentpole upon tentpole upon tentpole, with a kid's film or three, punctuated maybe with one or two year-end high profile films designed to keep the studios in the Academy Award business (studios are also now dipping their feet in the religious pander pool, but we'll see where that goes).

That this really isn't indie fare as the term has been traditionally understood is not intended as a criticism of Chef. It is intended rather as a way of understanding that the film is not some esoteric film designed to appeal to the margins, but rather is a totally mainstream, completely accessible, feel-good, Capra-esque film for the whole family. This is old-fashioned Hollywood movie-making doing what it does best - filling the screen with charisma, plucking at the heartstrings, and telling a feel-good story about finding redemption through staying true to oneself.

It's not the weightiest material in the world, and it does not exactly trade in plausibility. There are a few implausible moments, but, perhaps as someone that grew up in Florida, the film's treatment of Cuban sandwiches as some kind of culinary revelation is something that I cannot understand and that has particularly stuck with me as strange.

The film is nonetheless entertaining and it genuinely manages to puncture at audiences' emotional center without becoming too mawkish. It is a genuine pleasure to see this cavalcade of stars radiate from the screen with their charisma and upbeat performances.  The only quirky performance is from Robert Downey, Jr, in a scene that is entertaining but that has a dash of menace that feels somewhat out of place with the tone of the rest of the film.

The personal angle to the story seems to come as a way of Favreau expressing to critics how hurt he was at the criticism he has faced for previous films (perhaps especially Cowboys and Aliens). Favreau stages a scene where he rages against a critic for saying mean-spirited, personal things without recognizing the sweat and tears that went into the effort. Favreau acknowledges he wasn't personally satisfied with the films he was making, and that they they weren't what he is fully capable of, but he also has a certain pride about the work he put into them. Perhaps sensing that if he just delivers this one "from the heart," the critics will again join hands with him, he gives even the would-be critic villain some redemption at the end.

The father-son relationship angle here sometimes teeters on the dangerous edge of sentimentality, but a good, low-key performance from Emjay Anthony as the son keeps things grounded (and Favreau deserves credit there too for refusing to pluck too hard on those heartstrings or to try too many cutesy ploys). While Favreau is sure to keep the film's focus on himself as the lead character, he's charitable enough and smart enough to know how to make his supporting actors look good. I'm sure that will help him the next time he's asking for some help from his famous actor friends on another movie.

The film ends a bit too neatly and with a somewhat preposterous bow-tie of "happily ever after," but, again, Favreau seems committed to making the audience feel good. He's done enough in the film to make the audience care about the lead character that, while there are some implausible moments, everyone is rooting for the best. Capturing an audience emotionally rather than visually shocking them into submission is a welcome respite in a summer movie season already well underway. If the burst of applause at the end of the movie from the nearly full auditorium I saw it in is any indication, there is still a plentiful audience for that kind of movie.

Screened in the theater.