Chef (Jon Favreau)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m not sure why I put the DVD of the 2014 film ‘Chef’ on my wishlist. Possibly Amazon recommended it to me because Dustin Hoffman is one of the cast, and I have previously liked films in which he featured. I was given it for Christmas, and we decided to watch it last night. We didn’t really know anything about it, but the image on the front and bylines on the back suggested an amusing ‘feel-good’ film. 

In the first fifteen minutes or so, I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it at all. The scene is a large kitchen at a restaurant, with the head chef Carl (Jon Favreau) frantically preparing food. There’s a huge whole pig carcass that they deal with; I closed my eyes during that segment, and hoped there wouldn’t be much more like that. I was also rather disturbed that there was an excessive amount of ‘strong’ language. It was perhaps a good way to denote stress, but rather spoiled the dialogue in my opinion.

Dustin Hoffman’s character is the restaurant owner, and he only appears a handful of times. He’s quite conservative and insists that Carl keep serving their classic menu rather than being creative. Carl thinks this is wrong, as they know that a food critic is coming to the restaurant. But he bows to his boss, and - inevitably - it’s a mistake. The critic (Oliver Platt is excellent in this role) gives a scathing review. 

Carl’s social and private life is a complicated one. He’s having an affair with Molly (Scarlett Johansson) who is the bartender. And he has quite a good relationship with his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara). They have a son, Percy (Emjay Anthony) who lives with his mother and is supposed to have plenty of time with his father. But Carl feels that he barely knows Percy, and his work always comes first…

Percy opens Carl’s eyes to social media, and some of the humour in the film comes from Carl’s total naïveté about the public nature of the platform. He sends what he thinks is a private message to the food critic, and it goes viral.

Most of the film happens after Carl quits his job, not wanting to kowtow to anyone. He knows he is an excellent chef, and wants more freedom to be creative. Which leads to him starting an entirely different venture, and his son gradually starts to get involved.

Despite my initial reservations, I was quickly caught up in the story, although I was more interested in the relationships than the cooking side. It was interesting to learn that the actor is not in fact a chef; in the titles at the end, we see a real chef doing a lot of the work, although clever directing and camerawork makes it seem as if Carl does it all.  And apparently the actor who played Carl was also the writer and the director. 

I particularly liked the way that Carl and Percy gradually develop a relationship. It’s not through going to the cinema together, or a theme park, or any of the other ‘fun’ places where Carl previously tried to take him. It’s through hanging out together, learning alongside each other, and talking through issues. Percy knows this: he is a lot happier talking about social media or cooking with his dad than having specific outings. 

I liked, too, the way that as Carl becomes happier in his work, his bad language reduces almost to nothing. That’s partly because of his son being around, but it also felt as if he no longer needed to swear. His expression and attitudes change subtly; and it does ‘feel good’ to see someone discover what they love doing, and enjoy it. 

There’s some humour in the film, although there’s also quite a bit that’s poignant, and some that’s quite stressful, as people express strong anger. I thought the ending was perhaps a tad too tidy, but it’s very nicely done and left us with a positive feeling. 

The rating is 15, due to the excessive ‘strong’ language. There are some sexual references, but nothing explicit, and no real violence. 

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