Chef

A very enjoyable film, fun storyline, great acting, and an amazing soundtrack. Loved the journey and genuinely felt invested in the characters and story.

I did not expect such a talented cast of actors mostly in small parts. Jon Favearu has a lot of friends. The actor who played his son is a find. He was great. Low key, sweet and very natural and believable. The story is good. It is about the chef and then the food truck, but it really is about him and his son. I liked that he was friends with his ex wife, Sofia Vergara, who did a great job. That struck home for me, because my ex and I get along well and it brought a lump to my throat to see how happy that made their son. It is special when divorced parents can get along and do things with their kids. The story moved quickly and I loved how the son used twitter and they incorporated social media into the story. Very realistic. I highly recommend this movie. Really a joy to watch.

I guess some people thought this movie was long and boring. Even some said acting was kind of bad. Well I think the total opposite of this. And I cannot see why anyone would think otherwise. This movie as basic as the plots and story lines were, totally kept my interest. I think it's Jon Favreau's best movie ever. It's a masterpiece. This could be a cult classic for Father's Day, like It's A Wonderful Life is for Christmas. Of course the general sway of Hollywood shun's on a great family life. However Jon Fav didn't give a crap and he decided to celebrate how to celebrate living again. Yeah not much going on but if you don't feel good after watching this then you have a crusty heart and your problems have deep rooted issues.

I thought this was probably one of the better movies I have seen all year. Personally. I believe we really - really need more movies like this to remind us about how precious life really is and how to enjoy special moments just eating a real beignet from New Orlean's French Quarter, and in search of the perfect Cuban sandwich recipe, and perfecting the ultimate beef brisket slider. I totally was impressed by this movie for it's full hour and fifty minutes. I loved a great - feel good - movie - - I recommend for any dad and most everyone to see it This will surely restore a sense of how important a support group of family and good friends can be. Great job Jon Favreau! I kind of thought you were like Hollywood stuck up before seeing this movie. Now I know you are a real guy and cool ass family man.

At an early point in Chef, the title character cooks a grilled cheese sandwich for his 10-year-old son, Percy. It's a familiar recipe —bread, butter, and cheese — but the way that the camera lingers on the melting cheese, and the care taken in how the food was served, made me want to reach into the screen and take a bite. If Chef were a meal, it would be comfort food. When comfort food is done right, boy oh boy does it hit the spot.

Favreau directs and stars as Carl Casper, a celebrated chef at a swanky Los Angeles restaurant, whose creativity and integrity is compromised by the restaurant's controlling owner. After a video of him losing his temper at a food critic goes viral he becomes not only unemployed, but unemployable. With his reputation in shreds, he decides to get back in touch with his roots by opening a food truck and taking it – along with line cook and son - on the road, rediscovering his passion along the way.

The pairing of sumptuous shots of food preparation with Latin beats is hard to resist for most audiences, and the food shots in Chef are so luscious and evocative that you can almost smell what's cooking. The music, sensual and spicy, is perfectly matched to the food. There's a beauty and a rhythm in the food preparation scenes and the amount of them included in the film is just right, so as not to feel over indulgent.

There is also a lot of enjoyment to be had from watching the performances of the supporting cast, and perhaps this is because each of them play to their strengths: Robert Downey Jr steals the scene as Casper's ex-wife's other ex-husband who is rich, generous, and always looks like he's on the verge of doing something really crazy; Sofia Vegara plays Casper's sweet, sexy, well- meaning ex-wife, who he is still great friends with; John Leguizamo, always an interesting actor to watch, has fantastic chemistry with Favreau and the young actor who plays his son, and some of the more meandering scenes in the film are made interesting by his infectious energy; and Dustin Hoffman adds an element of compassion to a role that could have easily been reduced to a caricature. The stars featuring in the film stay firmly within their safe zone, and I couldn't help but remember what Hoffman tells Favreau early in the movie: play your hits, because no one wants to go to a Rolling Stones concert and not hear 'Satisfaction'. While this can have the potential to be boring, it bodes well for the film: we know we're in safe hands, and we're going to come out of this feeling satisfied. Special mention must be made of Emjay Anthony, who plays Favreau's son Percy with the perfect blend of maturity and innocence, and is really the emotional centre of the film.

While the film is certainly a feast for the senses, at its core it's about restoration: restoring the father-son relationship, and restoring passion. It's hard to ignore the parallels to Favreau's own career: after breaking out in the 1996 indie hit Swingers, Favreau has in recent years become a director of the mega-blockbusters: the first two Iron Man movies, and the less well-received Cowboys & Aliens. Here, he cleanses his palate as a director and returns to more down-to-earth, feel-good fare (there's even a dead-on remark about Casper's/Favreau's "dramatic weight gain". Ouch). A familiar recipe made with great ingredients, Chef will leave you feeling satisfied.

I can't help feeling that this movie is not only about a chef finding himself, but it's also about lead actor/director Jon Favreau trying to get back in touch with the kind of films he used to make -- small ones without guys wearing super-suits or cowboys drawing down on aliens. Here, Favreau's Carl Casper quits his big Iron Restaurant job and rediscovers himself, and his passion for food and family, by running a Chef-sized food truck. Results: excellent.

Films like this can be lost if the wrong kid is cast. Emjay Anthony is the right kid. He's great as Percy. I particularly enjoyed the way the film handled Percy's internet-savviness, and how he used it. John Leguizamo is a great fit as Carl's friend and sous-chef. Sofia Vergara as Carl's ex- wife is, as usual, capable and stunning.

See Chef, and bear witness as a good filmmaker continues his journey to becoming a great one.