Monday 30 June 2014

Film: 'CHEF'

From the trailer this looked to be passably entertaining - and so it turned out to be. Nothing more than that, but not less either.

There was one particular reason why I was reluctant to see it. I never watch any of the TV programmes concerning 'reality' cooking/competitions. Not because I wouldn't find them interesting, rather that I try to avoid the sight of meat or fish either being cooked or the finished product on a plate. In a restaurant with companions it's a mental hurdle to block out what others are having, which can be just a few inches from my face, though I've never mentioned it - at least until now, here. Luckily(?), restaurant visits these days are far less frequent than at one time. In the last twenty years, perhaps twice or thrice.

So, braving it with gritted teeth, I thought that, nevertheless, the film looked like it could be fun. In the event there was only one on-screen incident that was particularly difficult to watch, and it comes in the very opening few minutes - an entire pig's carcase being decapitated - though it's not shown with any protracted, grisly relish.

Jon Favreau takes both Director's helm and main role. (He directed the first two Iron Man films - as well as having minor parts in each).
He is senior chef at Dustin Hoffman's (just three brief appearances) L.A. restaurant (public face - Scarlett Johannson, with black hair) when he clashes with his boss on the menu after getting a stinking review from an influential restaurant critic (Oliver Platt), which goes viral on Twitter. He wants to change the menu but Hoffman insists on sticking to the tried and tested reliables. Result - Favreau leaves.
Visiting Miami with his ex (Sofia Vergara) and their 10-year old son, she suggests he turns to cooking and selling Cuban specialities. With a filthy and rickety mobile kitchen supplied by his ex's ex-husband (Robert Downey Jr in just a single scene) and with the help of his former, earthy-humoured assistant chef (John Leguizamo, whom I don't think I've seen since 'Moulin Rouge' of 2001), who has also left his newly-promoted sous-chef position at the restaurant, they get themselves set up, son assisting in major way, and are out on the road, their food products being a huge success immediately with money being raked in.

That's it, really. A film of two halves, the first in the restaurant, the second in the mobile kitchen - both halves equally entertaining without being anything extra-special. I did find much of the food, while being prepared and cooked, and in finished form, looked ravishingly tempting. I don't think mine was the only stomach that was rumbling.

It's an over-long film (nearly two hours), too lengthy for such a slight, though unusual, story, but it did hold my attention for most of the time. Passes the time satisfactorily (just).......................5.5   


10 comments:

  1. I think I might actually like this film I think.

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    1. I reckon you would, Sol, and it helps enormously if you like cooking or those endless TV shows. The preparation of the foods was interesting and colourful - if only this film had had 'smell-o-vision'!

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  2. Entertaining and Favreau cooks up (pun intended) a light comedy which is perfect for the summer season.

    I thought the animated twitter tweets amusing and a unique way to tell the story.

    My habit is to stay for the closing credits, although most of the audience members exit. I'm glad I did.

    As with you, it did hold my attention.

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    1. Damn and blast it! I was the first one out at the sight of the closing credits. Wish I'd known. I take it it was a collection of goofs? Might even have nudged my score up to a 6, who knows?

      Yes, the twitter aspect was an unusual feature, though I feel that very soon it won't be.

      Afraid I know hardly anything about tweets, how to do them, even what they are for. I take it one needs a mobile, something I've never had.

      Pleasant enough, then, and quite unusual. I wasn't sure it would be your kind of film but, not for the first time, I misjudged you.

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  3. This just opened here. Miracles! While in a waiting room last week, I read an article about another "food" film coming out titled "Hundred Foot Journey" but with it's French/Indian characters I doubt it will play here. Have you heard of this one?

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    1. No, I wasn't aware of '100' Journey', C. I've just looked it up and though there's no release date fixed yet it does look interesting enough to look out for - with my usual reservations about food films. Set in France, but in English, and with the ubiquitous Helen Mirren what's not to like? Thanks for the alert.
      Meanwhile, sounds like you are at least toying with the idea of seeing 'Chef'. Give it a go - and if you like cooking it's a must.

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  4. Ray,
    There is a reality TV show about a chef that screams at his staff. I've never seen an actual show but I've seen the promos and I've seen his ugly, twisted face. Unfortunately for me I don't consider this "entertainment", screaming at kitchen help. Thus I would be unlikely to see a movie about the same which I'm sure they would have for "interest." The only chef show I really like was Julia Child and the French Chef. Now there was a quality person with a quality show and not this rude, disrespectful reality show crap that has seem to overtaken our culture.
    Ron

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    1. I think, Ron, that the 'screaming chef' you refer to may be Gordon Ramsay, whose shows are popular here (though I've never watched any) precisely, I suspect, because he does have a reputation for yelling at and humiliating his staff. It's not my own thing either. There's hardly any of that, or none at all, in this film so one can watch it safely from that angle.
      But otherwise I'm as likely to watch a cooking programme as I am to watch a gardening or a motoring one. I'd rather read a good book!

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  5. Ray,
    What is it with the focus on restaurant shows anyway? Is it all because of that repugnant Gordon Ramsey? That's entertainment? I think not. I'll skip this movie. Thanks again!
    Ron

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    1. I can't imagine that missing this would be a big deal, Ron. The presence of a scattering of big or big-ish names maybe made it seem more interesting than it otherwise would have been with total unknowns.

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