Chef

 

Chef - 2014

Directed by Jon Favreau



 

 



 

 

Chef is an independent film directed by Jon Favreau the director of the 2008 hit Iron Man.  He also stars as Carl Casper, the Chef who this film is centered around.  In the film Carl was once an upcoming Chef who was spent the last decade in a rut and playing it safe with his food.  To combat the rut he is in he challenges the owner of his restaurant who is played by Dustin Hoffman.  Carl continues to push back for a new menu until he reaches his breaking point.  In the wake of losing his job he takes a gamble on opening a taco truck and Carl attempts to regain his passion for his food and for his life.

 

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I really liked this film.  It was a nice relaxing film at a peaceful pace.  The humor in this film is very subtle but very enjoyable throughout the whole film. The part of this film that I really thought was clever is it's approach to social media like twitter or facebook.  There are two main reasons this film works as a great independent comedy.  The first reason is the food.  The whole film is filled with amazing dishes that cover a wide variety of food types.                     

 

  Even the grilled cheese they make in the film looks so amazing that even if you load up on popcorn or candy you will still want to find some of the amazing food that was in this film.  The foods they prepare from certain places like Texas or New Orleans.  The other reason this film is so successful as a comedy is the cast.  This film has an amazing cast.  Favreau called in a few of his friends to be in this film.  No one actor has a large part other then Favreau which I think is the reason he was able to get so many great actors to be in the film.  Sophia Vergara, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, John Leguizamo, and Oliver Platt wrap up the amazing cast of this film.  This cast plays well off of Favreau and although there are no real huge gut busting laughing you will enjoy the humor and chuckle along to the film and it's speed.  I would recommend this film to anyone who can handle the subtle type of humor this film is balanced on.  If you liked Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris then you will enjoy this film.