Review: Chef (2014)

Snap Judgment: A feel-good film about a down-on his luck chef whose entire life gets revitalized by the power of the food truck. John Favreau - the writer, director, and titular chef - is probably better known as the producer/director of the Iron Man franchise. As the chef, he works at a fancy restaurant, but his artistic dreams are constantly crushed by the overcontrolling restaurant owner who demands he play it safe. When a reviewer/food blogger - who is apparently the Stephen Colbert of the California food world - calls him out on his cooking being boring, safe, and insecure, the Chef loses it. Although, strangely, the reviewer is only saying what has been clear to the Chef all along - he is constrained and dulled by the restaurant owner's control (the reviewer says these things with a lot more personal insults, so I can see how the Chef takes it too hard). It takes far too long, but the Chef finally decides to start that food truck that his ex-wife has been encouraging him to get all along. He picks it up in Miami and drives it back to California, bonding with his preteen son along the way. Yes, it is one of those feel-good films, where the loving but struggling dad reconnects with his adorable moppet. This particular adorable moppet is incredibly media-savvy, and his social media promotion helps make the food truck a success as it drive cross country.


If you are a foodie or are feeling like an optimistic movie, this is a good choice. Yet there were are some plot potholes along the way that made the ride a little bumpier. For instance: Scarlet Johansson's character. Scarlet Johansson is around for the first half of the film as one of the Chef's restaurant employees who encourages and believes in him. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if Scarlet Johansson/the Chef were secretly hooking up, but Z maintains they were not. She does spend an entire scene watching the Chef adoringly (from a bed? a sofa?) while he cooks for her. It was a weird vibe, is what I'm saying. She abruptly disappears from the movie, which felt jarring. The superb Robert Downey, Jr. was completely wasted on this film, as almost all his lines sounded like dialogue ab-libbed while drunk. If John Favreau didn't know what to do with all his characters and talented actors (and he clearly didn't), I wish he had just cut them out of the film.

The other thing that bugged was the idea that a food truck selling Cubanos (Cuban sandwiches) was just such an amazing idea that people just had to line up for it. Maybe it is the fact that I'm from the food truck capital of the world, but Cubanos are not even in the top 50 most creative food truck ideas. The Chef was set-up as an innovative, creative guy, and then his food truck idea was: Cubanos. And the fact that they were high quality Cubanos? Franky, that is like the minimum you need for a decent food cart. I assume the reason that the Chef's foodcart did so well was 80% the Chef's notoriety from his epic and public meltdown, 20% the son's social media savvy, and 0% the food. But the movie portrays it as 100% the food, with maybe some nod to the social media campaign for getting the word out.

Grade: B+

Final Verdict: An enjoyable, uplifting movie that probably should've done more research on what actually qualifies as innovation in the food truck world. 

If You Like This, Watch: The Hundred Foot Journey, Julie & Julia, Begin Again, No Reservations