Chef: Inspiration via Food Truck

Jon Favreau’s Chef is a fantastic film about a man starting over. It is a refreshing piece of cinema that gives the viewer a cinematic high. Whether it be by the fantastic soundtrack, great supporting cast or massive amounts of beautiful food you get wrapped up in the proceedings and go all in.

When I heard about the film I was stoked that Favreau was coming back to indie cinema. He wrote the fantastic Swingers, directed Made and sat down for some great conversations on Dinner For Five. The man loves cinema and finds ways to make superheroes (Iron Man) or Christmas films (Elf) feel like revelations. After Iron Man 2 and Cowboys & Aliens this film feels like a palate cleanser that will lead to more interesting things by a reinvigorated artist.

Chef revolves around a talented yet increasingly selfish man who is tired of serving the same menu in a popular restaurant. Eventually, he is savaged by a popular food critic, discovers twitter and makes a mess of things. The rest of the film focuses on him becoming a better chef, father, husband, friend and twitter user. His unhappiness made him selfish and his new life gets him focusing on the important.

There is a scene I love where he and his son are setting up a Twitter account. The kid enjoys the learning experience more than any of the amusement parks or movies his father takes him to. The reason he likes this more is that they are simply hanging out and the father isn’t trying to pass the time via throwing money away. Favreau is terrific at finding realism in small moments and this scene encapsulates that.

My favorite part of the film is that John Leguizamo gets a solid role. He has long been one of my favorite actors and I’m glad Favreau wrote him a neat character that will hopefully spring board him back to the mainstream. If you haven’t watched his one man show Freak or read his book I totally recommend them. Leguizamo and Favreau have a lived in chemistry that makes the journey all the more interesting and real.

Chef is a feel good experience that never veers towards the cliche. You leave the theater happy, hungry and wanting a sequel where the characters just hang out in a kitchen and cook good food.

Watch Chef. Enjoy the experience. Prepare to be hungry and inspired.