Thursday, March 5, 2015

Food and feels...

Chef

I have to admit, I am a fan of John Favreau. Swingers spoke to me when I was younger and more romantic (you’re like a fucking bear with these claws). He directed Elf which changed the holidays in a sweet way during the most cynical times.  Iron Man alone started the world of Superhero movies as we know it and now Favreau has gone back to his roots and brings us Chef. Chef is the story of Carl Casper a formerly  acclaimed young chef who now is stuck in a restaurant that gives him little joy but pays the bills. His son is an accessory that he ignores mostly. He is a man on the decline of his life. His promise is fleeting, his family is stuck and his passion for food is stagnant. When a food critic trolls him into a vicious viral-video public confrontation his career is ruined.  Carl's ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) offers an unorthodox solution in Miami: refit an old food truck to offer quality cooking on his own terms. With his young son, Percy, and old colleague, Martin, helping, Carl begins a working trip across America with that truck to rediscover his passion and find the desire to remake his life again.

This is the type of movie where most everyone in it is an “Oh that guy/girl!” Scarlett Johansson is a hostess who sleeps with Carl. Robert Downey Jr shows up as Carl’s ex wife’s ex husband. Dustin Hoffman is the owner of the posh restaurant Carl works at who wants to keep Carl’s passion in check. John Leguizamo is Carl’s partner in crime who drops everything to help Carl with the food truck. The cameos are exhausting but the movie is so warm and inviting that they aren’t intrusive to the story. Each actor brings their own flavor (see what I did there) to the movie and they combine to give us a complete journey from Carl. A recipe to follow that leads to a dish you want to explore and engulf. Chef is a movie that makes you feel and motivates you to follow your passions even when they take you down different paths. I think John Favreau has hit it out of the ballpark again and maybe brought romance, idealism and family back to movies. It’s a great movie and free to watch on Netflix streaming.

In short...

Mr. Unhappy sez: Watch the fucking movie...

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