Written and Directed by Jon Favreau
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
If the thought of potentially sitting through yet one more mega budgeted, special effects driven behemoth of a movie starring either mammoth sized city demolishing monsters or costumed mutant superheroes elicits a yawn of fatigued disinterest, then please allow me to excitedly point you in the direction of something wholly refreshing!
Yes, dear readers, I know, I know. I have expressed to you many times upon this site of my fears concerning the current status of the movie industry with its preponderance of those aforementioned mega budgeted, special effects driven box office behemoth movies that are made and released so rapidly and at the expense of well...seemingly anything else, let alone a film that houses a filmmaker's deeply personal vision. With that sentiment, I have to also express to you that I have often wondered if the filmmakers themselves, the very ones who have directed those very box office behemoths, have ever felt any sense of strain or fatigue.
At this time, I turn your attention to Actor/Writer/Director Jon Favreau who first gained notoriety with his independent film hit "Swingers" (1996) but later graduated to the major Hollywood leagues with films like the holiday perennial "Elf" (2003). And let's face it, he essentially gave the Marvel Comics film universe as we now know it its spectacular beginnings with "Iron Man" (2008). Since then, in those major Hollywood leagues Favreau has remained, sometimes for better with "Iron Man 2" (2010) and sometimes for worse with the bloated and bland "Cowboys And Aliens" (2011). That film, in particular signaled to me a significant problem with the movies when filmmakers who possess a unique voice are co-opted by the industry to create films in which their personalities are diluted to the point of being invisible. Just think of some recent films by the likes of Tim Burton (2010's "Alice In Wonderland") and Sam Raimi (2013's "Oz The Great And Powerful") and you will understand what I mean.
Now who knows what Jon Favreau really feels about his role in this current status of mega budgeted, special effects driven behemoth movies taking over our multiplexes, but based upon his latest film, the enormously entertaining "Chef," a decidedly and unapologetically smaller, more personal film, I think that I can safely assume that he was just itching to leave the massive monstrosities behind for a spell and make something that ultimately feels that it was created straight from his two hands and the pureness of his heart, and the resulting effect serves as a most welcome cinematic palate cleanser for him as well as for us. Dear readers, Godzilla and the X-Men do not need our help whatsoever as they will make their fortunes hand over fist ten times over and again. Jon Favreau's "Chef" is the very type of film that can easily fall through the cracks if we don't give it our attention and support. If you have read my reviews and have felt that I did not lead you astray with my high rave for "The Lunchbox" earlier this year or if you even tried my advice to take on the adventurous and nearly impenetrable "Under The Skin," then please do take my advice once again as I am strongly urging you to head out to "Chef." I have a feeling that, like after eating an especially sumptuous meal, you will be more than satiated once the end credits begin to scroll.
"Chef" stars Jon Favreau as the celebrated Chef Carl Casper, a workaholic who manages the kitchen of a high end California restaurant owned and operated by the pragmatic Riva (Dustin Hoffman), who consistently urges Carl to not experiment with food or let his culinary imagination run wild and just serve the customers "the hits," a task that leaves Carl floundering in a creative rut. When Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), an influential food blogger/critic writes a scathing review that goes viral, thus enraging Carl who retaliates via Twitter, beginning a war of words that culminates in a furious public breakdown (and captured and uploaded onto You Tube, no less), and combined with Carl's refusal to just "play the hits," Carl is resoundingly fired.
To further complicate matters, Carl is attempting to navigate his tentative relationship with Percy (well played by EmJay Anthony), his 10-year-old son from his failed marriage to Inez (a warm Sofia Vergara), with whom he has remained friends. Upon Inez's suggestion, Carl eventually returns to his home of Miami to fix up a food truck, which he names "El Jefe Cubanos," to travel the country back to Los Angeles with his best friend and line cook Martin (John Leguizamo) and Percy in tow, beginning a journey that forces Carl to reconnect with his culinary passions and imaginations, as well as forge a newfound relationship with his son in the process.
Jon Favreau's "Chef" is a good natured, sharply written (especially with its critiques and celebrations of social media), joyously performed and lovingly filmed escapade that firmly takes Favreau back to his filmmaking roots but now with a greater command of his cinematic storytelling powers and craftsmanship due to his growth and longevity within the film community. As the film is indeed anchored by Faveau's writing, directing and his congenial performance as Carl Casper, he completely creates a party atmosphere as he has obviously called in some favors with his famous friends who appear alongside him, from veteran character actors like the terrific Bobby Cannavale to even Robert Downey Jr., who shows up for one sequence. Yet, this cinematic party is one where Favreau retains the fullest command of his story and emotional core, thus ensuring that Carl's journey would be one that we would thoroughly enjoy taking with him.
It would not be any stretch of the imagination to infer that "Chef" is easily Favreau's most personal film to date as we can easily substitute the film industry for the culinary world as well as Favreau/Carl Casper's ambivalent feelings towards both. The horrific review that Carl Casper receives could easily be seen as a variation of the bad reviews Favreau received for "Cowboys And Aliens." And Favreau/Carl Casper's wrath against critics who are obviously writing for entertainment and the laughter of other writers instead of offering any sense of actual criticism, was not lost on me either...and I am certain it will not be lost upon you as well.
Even so, what Jon Favreau achieved on a greater level was taking a story that was indeed so personal and somehow made it universal. We can easily look at Jon Favreau's possible or perceived struggles in the film industry and Carl Casper's loss of inspiration and purpose in the food industry and hold them both up as a mirror to ourselves in whatever line of work we happen to be involved with or whatever stage in life we happen to find ourselves. Favreau is asking of himself, his characters and all of us watching if we are living our lives and performing our duties with passion or are we just simply existing. With that sense of existential crisis at the core of "Chef," Jon Favreau has made a more idiosyncratic film that is undeniably and uniquely soulful in a way that the likes of "Iron Man," no matter how terrific it is, simply cannot be. Instead of just delivering what the people want, Jon Favreau is quite possibly giving us, and himself, exactly what we all need.
And yet, Jon Favreau has not forgotten how to entertain and "Chef" is indeed a film that possesses a certain formulaic aspect, is highly accessible yet also proudly meanders and happily has no hurry to arrive at its destination. In fact, there were several points during "Chef" where I was reminded of not one but two films from Writer/Director Cameron Crowe, the recent family film hit "We Bought A Zoo" (2011) and the unfairly maligned "Elizabethtown" (2005).
With regards to the former, Crowe utilized that film's true story of writer turned zookeeper Benjamin Mee to also house his own personal story of returning from a world of failure and mourning as he had spent six years nursing the wounds left from the critical beating and box office failure of "Elizabethtown" to the painful romantic loss that arrived from his divorce from musician Nancy Wilson. And to that end, Crowe weaved a story which also held a universal appeal as we all were confronted with how we can rise again from our own personal failures and tragedies.
More specifically, and with greater regards to the latter, I cannot express to you enough how enormously entertained I was by the wonderful road trip section of "Chef," much like I was emotionally transported by the majestic road trip climax sequence of "Elizabethtown." In Crowe's film, the road trip served to illustrate his suicidal leading character's re-connection to life itself through travel, music, people, landmarks, the Earth and the sky and stars. In "Chef," that exact same sense of connection is made through sequences set in Miami, New Orleans and Texas as Carl Casper, Percy and Martin simply drive, eat, joke, bond, cook, cook and cook some more, connecting themselves to each region they visit, the people they meet and enrapture through their cooking and ultimately finding themselves transformed along the way. Jon Favreau keeps this section in particular moving briskly but also (and again) with a pureness of soul that no moment ever felt to be prefabricated, the connective tissues formed between the characters felt organic and deeply felt thus creating a sizable amount of good will from the screen into the theater and that afterglow has lasted so deliciously long after I returned home.
In some ways, I can understand if some of you may feel that aspects of this film are more predictable than they needed to be. And perhaps there is this small part of me that maybe feels the same in regards to the tidy bow that Favreau wraps upon "Chef" at its conclusion. But, you know, that is more than fine with me as the entire project was easily a labor of love for Jon Favreau, who you can easily see his fingerprints upon every single frame of this warm and lovely film that explores with creativity and passion the roads on which art and commerce travel, congeal and separate and even moreso, how we reconcile ourselves to live a life of integrity even when the world is clearly desiring you to not follow that path.
I know that at some point, I will be more than ready to take on a mega budgeted, special effects driven behemoth again, especially as there is no chance that those films will vanish anytime soon...and frankly, do not want them to. But dear readers, I do not know what I would do if films like Jon Favreau's "Chef" were no longer being made, films where an artist only wants to show and share with us his or her heart as best as they are able.
I truly hope that you seek Jon Favreau's "Chef" out. Maybe I'll see you there as I am ready for seconds!
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