Chef (2.5 stars out of 4)

Jon Favreau's Chef is a thinly-veiled rebuttal to his detractors. Although Favreau has never necessarily been seen as a great filmmaker, he has brought us very good films before with Elf and the first Iron Man film. He hit a streak of missteps after that though with Iron Man 2 and the critical and box-office disappointment Cowboys and Aliens. Favreau's character Carl Casper in Chef is burnt-out working for a boss who only cares about putting people in his restaurant's seats. Carl is also sick of critics tearing about his work which is designed to appeal to the largest audience possible. Like Carl, Favreau has decided to go with his passion instead of the money. He went from working in big-budget blockbusters to writing and directing the relatively small movie Chef. Favreau has written a charming and occasionally touching film about an artist who has to walk away from money and safety and try something adventurous. Much like Casper, Favreau isn't always successful but we applaud him for trying and when he is on, he is on.

Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) is in a creative rut. He is head chef at a popular restaurant owned by Riva (Dustin Hoffman), a businessman who cares about profit first and adventurous cuisine a distant second. Casper's creative rut is bleeding into his family life as he is becoming more and more distant from his son Percy (Emjay Anthony). When an important food blogger visits, Riva holds Casper back telling him that he should "play his hits" instead of trying something new and exciting. Casper listens to Riva and receives a blistering review that tears him apart and compares his past accomplishments to his current mediocrity. Casper blows up on the critic using the new-to-him medium of Twitter. This feud keeps building to a point where he confronts the critic face-to-face in a vulgar tirade. The argument is filmed, goes viral, and Casper is forced to step away from his position as chef. Casper now has full reign over his future and decides to use it to dive head-first into a food truck business. With the help of Percy and his former sous chef Martin (John Leguizamo), he sets out to rebuild his art, his passion, and his relationship with his son.

The first act of any redemption story can be frustrating. It is never fun to watch a protagonist fail. Unfortunately, the first act of Chef feels a good 15 minutes too long. You can only watch a person who are supposed to care about fail miserably and lash out at critics and naysayers so many times until you start to care less. Casper’s rants against critics don’t necessarily endure him to us. They just come off whiny and repetitive. It is also not necessarily believable that Casper would have no idea how Twitter works. When my Grandma has a better grasp on present social media than a popular chef does, you have a flaw in your story. During this section Percy is almost unbearable as he is given every chance to explain the latest technology to his knowledgeable rather. When you have a 10-year old explaining how "replies" are different from "direct messages" on Twitter it feels weak. With a bit of tightening and some slight story readjustments, Casper's character could have been that much better and easier to care about.

The second and especially third act is when Chef hits its stride. It essentially becomes a road trip movie with Casper, Percy, and Martin driving from Miami to California establishing their food truck brand. This is when the movie is at its most funny, entertaining, and touching moment. If the whole film had the pacing and feel of the last two acts, we would be looking at one of the most entertaining and successful independent pictures of the year so far. The last act is handled very well. While some might say that it wraps itself up too easily, it felt like a fitting conclusion to the story. It leaves the audience on an up note. The audience at the screening walked out beaming with smiles. 

One of the best areas in Chef is the supporting cast. Favreau has a habit of making friends with the people he works with and they tend to follow him from picture to picture. He seemingly called in every favor for this film and for the most part it helps the film out quite a lot. In almost all instances, these actors are playing against type. Hoffman is essentially the villain which is definitely not how we normally see him. Sofia Vergara plays Inez, Casper ex-wife and Percy's mother, in a surprisingly subdued performance. We have seen her on Modern Family hamming it up so much that we never really knew until now that she could actually be cast in a reserved role. Leguizamo is wonderful as the friend and co-worker role. It seems that every time we see Leguizamo on stage he is over-acting and flamboyant. Here, he is allowed to be a real person. He compliments every scene he is in. The only supporting roles that misfire are Robert Downey Jr. as Casper's food truck benefactor and Amy Sedaris as a publisist that attempts to reestablish Casper after his technological meltdown. Downey Jr seems to be playing himself in the role which results in a bit too much unbridled improvisation. His appearance in the film is almost distracting as we expect him to start shooting energy bursts out of his hand at any time. Sedaris overacts in her role as a publicist. She is given hammy dialogue that brings the film down quite a bit. Luckily, she is only in one scene and doesn't do too much damage.

Chef is a difficult film to disagree with. It is a story about an artist fighting mediocrity and trying new. It is bright, lively, and has enough food porn to satisfy the appetite of those who can't get enough at seeing expertly well-made culinary creations. Unfortunately, the first act of Chef is so lop-sided that it almost hurts the other two acts from ever hitting their true thematic capability. Chef is a crowd-pleasing film that many will no doubt like. It is hard to believe that they won't have the technological babble and short-comings of the first act to cloud their opinion though. If this is Favreau truly stepping out as an independent director seeking his passion we should expect good meals in the future. The meal we are given here is a burnt appetizer, with a good entry, and a wonderful dessert. You will still taste the sugar in your mouth but the leftovers from the beginning can just be thrown out.