Tony (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Between The Dirties (2013), Operation Avalanche (2016), BlackBerry (2023), Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie (2025), and Tony, director/writer Matt Johnson is one of my favorite working directors.
2. I hope Antonio Banderas is nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His performance is gruff, tender, smart, caring, funny, and likable.
3. You can tell that Johnson loved working with Leo Woodall. The guy takes over the screen whenever he’s around. 
4. Emilia Jones thrives in movies that take place in coastal cities. She is solid in CODA and Tony. 
5. I’ve never been more annoyed to have a shellfish allergy.
6. It knows exactly what it needs to be. 
7. Matt Johnson is on a legit (lobster) roll.
8. Grade – 7.4 Lobster Thermidors out of 10. 

After watching BlackBerry in 2023, I immediately felt the urge to message IFC and ask if there was a way I could interview director Matt Johnson. The ingenuity of the low-budget production was thrilling, and I wanted to learn more about the Toronto-based director. This led me to watch Nirvana the Band the Show, and then catch a special screening of Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie attended by Johnson and Jay McCarol. One of the highlights of watching a lot of films is when you witness an ingeniously crafted film. There’s something thrilling about watching collaborators make smart decisions that lead to a unique experience. Johnson’s winning streak continues with Tony, a well-made biopic that will hopefully earn Antonio Banderas an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Between Johnson, writers Matthew Miller/Todd Bartels/Lou Howe, and star Dominic Sessa knew exactly what they needed to do – and they did it.. Tony focuses on a formative three-month span of chef/writer/TV star Anthony Bourdain’s life, and it is easily Johnson’s most by-the-book film, but it’s done intelligently and with technical craft. You can still see shades of his early work in the close-ups and camera placement, but it’s a more polished and mainstream dish for the millions of people who loved Bourdain. 

The nice thing about this biopic is that it avoids a decades-long story that plays the greatest hits, and instead focuses on an eventful summer in 1975. A summer in which 19-year-old Anthony “Tony” Bourdain lied about winning a writing fellowship and traveled to Cape Cod (Provincetown, MA to be exact) to be near an older classmate named Nancy (Emilia Jones), who spent her summers on the peninsula. After a chaotic first day, which sees Tony lose all his money, drink way too much, and get knocked out by a local cook, he decides to call his impromptu trip off and head back home. When he learns he can’t afford a ferry, he starts washing dishes at the restaurant where he was kicked out of the night prior. The owner/head chef conveniently named Chef (Antonio Banderas) sees something in the little maniac and lets him sleep on his front porch hammock. When Tony runs into Nancy, he lies and says he landed a writing fellowship and is spending his summer in Cape Cod to work on the project. He also claims that his oyster-shucking coworker Sal (Leo Woodall) is a professor overseeing his writing project. Since it’s a coming-of-age film, the lies catch up to him, and the aftermath propels him to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), in New York City.

During his months on the peninsula, he learns how to cook, does copious drugs, and learns that food can bring people together. Nothing is especially hard for the guy, but he needed to get away from his loving parents (Dagmara Domińczyk, Richard Sommer) so he could get beat up for a summer. Many of his problems are self-inflicted (so many lies), but several people see through his insecurities and see a witty kid who could become something. A lot of things that he comes across during the summer (drugs, kitchen work, community) play a role throughout his life, so it’s fun seeing it visualized on screen. 

One of the most interesting facts that I learned from the press notes is that Johnson was drawn to the project because of Dominic Sessa. Johnson and Sessa met after The Holdovers was released in 2023, and they had an hours-long conversation that ended with the two deciding that they needed to work together. Johnson had never read Bourdain’s book or watched his shows; instead, he was interested in directing Tony so he could work with the young actor. With Sessa and Johnson onboard, the cast quickly filled up with a smorgasbord of legit actors. 

Antonio Banderas (who owns eight restaurants) should get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Chef. He’s funny, warm, tough, likable, and has excellent chemistry with the actors. Johnson directed the film because of Sessa, but it feels like he hands the movie over to Leo Woodall (watch Tuner – it’s good) whenever his chaotic presence is around. Leo’s character Sal is a hard-living maniac who is equal parts charismatic and evil. He never says no to anything, and he seems like he’s always about to get into a bar fight. Filling out the cast is Emilia Jones, who easily matches Sessa’s wits and is so cool that you understand why Tony creates a world of lies so he can be close to her.  

On the technical side, the movie looks and sounds really good. Johnson and DP Patrick Bauman used long lenses to stay in Sessa’s face as he skulked around Cape Cod. Bauman brought in vintage Panavision glass to recreate the feel of a 1975 summer. It also helps that the production shot mostly on location, as the realistic settings work well with Johnson’s documentary vibe. 

Final Thoughts: Watch It. Matt Johnson is on a legit (lobster) roll.