Chef

Jon Favreau’s best film since 2003’s Elf, Chef follows Favreau’s Carl Casper, the head chef at a high-powered restaurant, as he decides to return to basics by quitting his job and opening a Cuban-themed food truck. It’s certainly not difficult to see the parallels between the movie’s storyline and Favreau’s own output behind the camera, as the one-time indie director has, of late, devoted himself to projects of a decidedly larger-than-life and over-the-top nature – with 2011’s Cowboys & Aliens marking an obvious low point for the once promising actor-turned-filmmaker. Chef‘s comparatively low-key and freewheeling atmosphere proves effective at capturing the viewer’s interest right from the get-go, as Favreau’s confident directorial choices are heightened by an engaging storyline and a whole raft of compelling supporting characters. (It doesn’t hurt, in terms of the latter, that Favreau has stacked the periphery cast with charismatic folks like Bobby Cannavale, John Leguizamo, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Downey Jr.) The pervasively affable vibe goes a long way towards compensating for Favreau’s less-than-disciplined sensibilities, as it’s ultimately clear that Chef, saddled with a running time of almost two hours, boasts a number of superfluous and padded-out interludes – with the repetitive nature of the movie’s midsection certainly emblematic of Favreau’s too-much-of-a-good-thing modus operandi. This is a minor complaint for a film that is, for the most part, an absolute pleasure to watch, with the refreshing lack of a third-act complication ultimately confirming Chef‘s place as a better-than-average piece of work.

*** out of ****