| Chef | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jon Favreau |
| Written by | Jon Favreau |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Kramer Morgenthau |
| Edited by | Robert Leighton |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 114 minutes[2] |
| Countries | |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11 million[3] |
| Box office | $46 million[4] |
Chef is a 2014roadcomedy-drama film written, produced, and directed byJon Favreau, who also stars in the film as a celebrity chef who loses his job at a popular Los Angeles restaurant following a public altercation with a food critic and begins to operate afood truck with his friends and his young son. It co-starsSofía Vergara,John Leguizamo,Scarlett Johansson,Oliver Platt,Bobby Cannavale,Amy Sedaris,Emjay Anthony, andDustin Hoffman, along withRobert Downey Jr. in a cameo role.
Favreau wrote the script after directing several big-budget films, wanting to go "back to basics" and to create a film about cooking.[5] Food truck owner and chefRoy Choi served as a co-producer and oversaw the menus and food prepared for the film.Principal photography took place in July 2013 in Los Angeles, Miami, Austin and New Orleans.
Chef premiered atSouth by Southwest on March 7, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on May 9, 2014, byOpen Road Films. It was well received by critics, who praised the direction, music, writing, story, and performances, and grossed $46 million against a production budget of $11 million.
Miami-born Carl Casper is the head chef of Gauloises inBrentwood, Los Angeles. Although popular with his kitchen staff and hostess Molly, he clashes with the restaurant's owner, Riva, who wants him to stick to the same menu of classical cuisine rather than innovative dishes. Carl also has a strained relationship with his rich ex-wife, Inez, and their tech-savvy preteen son, Percy.
When Carl has the chance to serve prestigious food critic and blogger Ramsey Michel, Riva demands he prepare old favorites at the last minute rather than the innovative ones he wants; Carl concedes, leading to a scathing review. Carl insults Ramsey onTwitter, not realizing that his reply is public, and gains a large online following. He comes up with a new menu that his staff loves and invites Ramsey to a "rematch", but quits after confronting Riva, who wants the old menu again.
At home, Carl prepares the menu he wanted, while hissous-chef Tony serves Ramsey the same dishes from his prior visit. Ramsey tweets negatively about Carl, provoking him into a confrontation at the restaurant. Videos of Carl's meltdown goviral, leaving him humiliated and unemployable.
Carl reluctantly accepts Inez's invitation to accompany her and Percy to Miami, where he rediscovers his love forCuban cuisine. At her encouragement, her ex-husband Marvin offers him a dilapidatedfood truck. Carl and Percy bond while restoring the truck and buying groceries, and Carl gives him achef's knife. Martin, Carl's friend and former line cook, turns down his promotion at Gauloises to join him, whose passion as a chef has been reignited.
Carl, Martin, and Percy drive the truck across the country to Los Angeles, servingCuban sandwiches andyuca fries. Percy promotes them onsocial media, and they find success inNew Orleans andAustin, where their daily specials includepo' boys,beignets and barbecuedbrisket, made with local ingredients.
Back in LA, having strengthened his relationship with Percy, Carl accepts his son's offer to help with the food truck, with Inez also joining them. Ramsey visits the truck to explain his bad review: though an early fan of Carl, he was disappointed by a meal he felt was beneath Carl's skills. Impressed with the chef's return to form, Ramsey offers to bankroll a new restaurant where Carl will have full creative control. Six months later, the successful new restaurant is open for Carl and Inez's remarriage ceremony.
MusicianGary Clark Jr.,Franklin Barbecue ownerAaron Franklin, and general manager Benji Jacob make cameo appearances as themselves.
Jon Favreau; the writer, director, and star ofChef; wrote the film's script in about two weeks.[6] He had long wanted to make a film about food and chefs, and felt that the subject was suited to a small-scaleindependent film rather than a big-budget production.[6][7] He citedJiro Dreams of Sushi,Eat Drink Man Woman, andBig Night as inspirations for creating a food-centric film.[7]
The script was semi-autobiographical, incorporating parts of Favreau's life into the main character, such as being a father while having a busy career and coming from a "broken home".[6] Favreau also drew a comparison between his career as a director and Carl's career as a chef; he stepped down from directing major studio films to go "back to basics" and createChef on a smaller budget, much like Carl's resignation from a popular restaurant to work in a food truck.[5]
Favreau contactedRoy Choi, a restaurateur who created theKogi Korean BBQ food truck, to serve as a consultant on the film; Choi was eventually promoted to co-producer. While the film was in pre-production, Favreau shadowed Choi in his restaurants and worked as part of Choi's kitchen crew after training at aculinary school.[7] Choi oversaw the menus prepared for the film and created the Cuban sandwiches that form a central part of the storyline.[8]
In addition to Favreau, the first actors cast in main roles wereSofía Vergara,John Leguizamo andBobby Cannavale. To prepare for his role as Martin the line cook, Leguizamo spent time working as an actual line cook atThe Lion in theWest Village.[9] It was announced thatRobert Downey Jr.—whom Favreau had previously directed in twoIron Man films—had joined the cast in May 2013.[10]Scarlett Johansson andDustin Hoffman were cast later that month.[11][12] Favreau felt the casting was one of the film's biggest successes, which provided him with "a tremendous amount of confidence"; in particular, he was impressed byEmjay Anthony, who was ten years old at the time of filming.[5]
Principal photography of the film began in July 2013 in Los Angeles.[13] Subsequent filming took place in Miami,Austin andNew Orleans—cities that Favreau chose to work into the story because they all "possess a rich food and music culture".[14] Filming locations in Miami included theVersailles restaurant, theFontainebleau Hotel, and the Cuban restaurant Hoy Como Ayer inLittle Havana.[15][16] In New Orleans, some scenes were filmed atCafé du Monde in the city'sFrench Quarter.[17]
In Austin, filming locations includedFranklin Barbecue and Guero's on South Congress.[18] Filming of the shopping scene took place in Los Angeles at Charlie's Fixtures.[19] Food prepared for the shoot was eaten by the cast and crew after filming.[7] Much of the dialogue in the food truck scenes between Favreau, John Leguizamo, and Emjay Anthony was improvised in order to capture the banter of a kitchen environment.[20]
Milan Records released aChef soundtrack on May 6, 2014, three days before the film's release.[21] The soundtrack is a combination ofLatin jazz,New Orleans jazz andblues, which serve as background to the storyline as it moves through Miami, New Orleans and Austin, respectively.[22] The film's music was chosen bymusic supervisor Mathieu Schreyer,[23] while additionalincidental music was scored byLyle Workman.[21]
Chef premiered on March 7, 2014, atSouth by Southwest, where it was the opening film of the festival and was attended by Favreau, Leguizamo, Anthony, and Platt.[24] It was subsequently screened at theTribeca Film Festival in April.[7] On August 19, Open Road Films announced to re-release the film in the United States on August 29 for a Labor Day weekend, which would grow 100 screens to 600–800.[25]
The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 9, 2014, beginning inlimited release in six theaters and expanding throughout May and June to a peak of 1,298 theaters.[26] Its total gross in the United States as of November 2, 2014 is $31.4 million.[4]
Outside of the U.S.,Chef performed best in Australia (earning $2.8 million), the United Kingdom and Spain ($2.6 million in each country) and Mexico (earning a little over $1 million). In total,Chef has grossed almost $15 million outside the United States.[27]
Onreview aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 87% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Chef's charming cast and sharp, funny script add enough spice to make this feel-good comedy a flavorful—if familiar—treat."[28]Metacritic gave the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29]
Rolling Stone'sPeter Travers gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, describing it as "an artful surprise and an exuberant gift" and "deliciously entertaining, comic, touching and often bitingly true".[30]Ty Burr ofThe Boston Globe also awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars; he thought it was "funny and heartfelt" and that, despite its weaknesses, the strengths "overpower the parts of the meal that are undercooked".[31]Chicago Sun-Times criticRichard Roeper gaveChef 3 out of 4 stars, finding it "funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters" but also noting the lack of plot and character development in some parts.[32] Gary Goldstein of theLos Angeles Times gave particular praise to the "terrific supporting cast" and the script's lack of cliché, such as in its presentation of family dynamics.[33]
Joe Leydon fromVariety found the film's plot predictable and slow-paced, but noted "the trip itself is never less than pleasant, and often extremely funny".[34]The New York Times'Stephen Holden describedChef as "aggressively feel-good" and "shallow but enjoyable".[35] Michael O'Sullivan ofThe Washington Post gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and found it "deeply satisfying, down to the soul", praising the "incredible" food photography, the "colorful supporting cast" and the "wryly observant" humor, raving, "There's nothing terribly profound about "Chef". But its message—that relationships, like cooking, take a hands-on approach—is a sweet and sustaining one."[36]SFGate film critic Mick LaSalle opined thatChef was Favreau's best film to date, highlighting the "natural and convincing" chemistry between Favreau and Anthony and the "vivid" scenes featuring big-name actors in small roles.[37]
USA Today's Scott Bowles gaveChef 3.5 out of 4 stars and called it "a nuanced side dish, a slow-cooked film that's one of the most heartwarming of the young year".[38] Ken Choy ofWide Lantern noted the structural problems but admitted, "If you ever saw theKristen Bell sloth video on Ellen, that was me during the entire 2nd half of the movie. Non-stop tears. It was happy-crying because Favreau's character was doing what he wanted."[39]
Slant Magazine critic Chris Cabin, gaveChef a 1.5 out of 4 stars and described it as Favreau's "most self-satisfied, safe, and compromised film to date", chiefly criticizing the film's lack of realism and credibility.[40] Writing forThe Village Voice, Amy Nicholson agreed that the storyline was implausible and summarized the film as "so charmingly middlebrow that it's exactly the cinematic comfort food it mocks".[41]Indiewire's Eric Kohn opined that withChef, "Favreau has no sweeping thematic aims", and that the end product was a "self-indulgent vanity project".[42]
In 2019, Favreau and Choi released a documentary television spin-off onNetflix,The Chef Show, that sees Jon Favreau and Roy Choi, "experiment with their favorite recipes and techniques, baking, cooking, exploring and collaborating with some bold-face names in the entertainment and culinary world".[43] A second season was released in 2020.
In 2017, the film was remade into an Indian comedy-drama, also titledChef, byRaja Krishna Menon, featuringSaif Ali Khan andPadmapriya Janakiraman in the lead roles.[44]
