Jon Favreau moves from directing huge Hollywood blockbusters like Ironman and Cowboys Vs Aliens, back to his roots of independent cinema and boy does he do it well!
Chef focuses on Carl Casper and his trials as a father, chef and ex-husband. For such an "independent" film it does contain some of Hollywood's biggest names. His 2nd in command and friend is John Leguizamo, the ex boss is Dustin Hoffman and the Critic that drives Casper to follow his heart is Oliver Platt.
No one is out of place and everyone is perfect for their roles. Dustin Hoffman is the ideal choice for a set in his ways business man, who wants to have a great chef, but is keen to stick to what his restaurant knows.
Oliver Platt is a superb tech-savy reviewer to Jon Favreau's superb chef, inept social media user. This plays so nicely with his son helping him find his place and how it can develop his cooking outside of the restaurant.
Emjay Anthony plays the son whose devotion to his father is beautiful to watch. It is a touching story of a fathers struggle to be what his son wants and needs. It is the self discovery as a father who thinks he is not enough to realising that just being himself is all that is needed and that he can have a unique and perfect relationship with his son.
The story plays through Caspers life in the restaurant to owning his own pop up food van and how he can be all that he wants with his family and friends and not just what he thinks of as a chef or father.
It is a fantastic film that is currently on Netflix (UK) and one that everyone should watch. It is a fun 2 hours and well written, acted and directed.
It is a film you might have missed as it was not a huge release (like Iron Man) but it lets Favreau return to his perfect environment for making films (like Swingers) that is quirky, personal and just down right enjoyable.
