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Food porn. That’s essentially what this film is. The food is stunning. I felt my mouth watering as my imagination took over. I could taste the slow cooked meats, the simple pasta dishes, toasted cheese sandwiches. Thankfully, I’d had a big meal before we went to the cinema. The food baby I’d walked out of the restaurant with was worth it – it kept me sustained for the duration of the film.
Jon Favreau is one of those names you’ve probably heard of, but unless you are a film geek like me, you might not be able to immediately put a face to the name. He’s been around, on-screen, for years. His first feature film in the director’s chair was 2001’s Made with Vince Vaughn and Famke Janssen. Since then, he is probably best known as the director of Iron Man and the far-inferior Iron Man 2 (oh yeah, and I suppose Cowboys and Aliens). With Chef, he has gone back to writing, directing, and starring.
The film has the meandering plot of an indie-film with an A-list cast. It’s a coming of age story as well as a road trip, with life lessons in love, family, careers, and cooking. At times, the film is a little long, with extraneous scenes that might be fun but add little to the forward momentum of the story. But at its core, the film is fun, sweet, and incredibly tasty.
Plot
Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) has worked his ass off to be the Chef at a top restaurant in LA. The pressure’s on when a major food blogger (Oliver Platt) reviews his food. Carl’s creative and artistic menu is shot down by the restaurant owner (Dustin Hoffman), and he’s left having to serve the same old thing he’s always done. The reviewer is unimpressed and gives Carl’s food a scathing review. Spurred on by a naïve understanding of social media, the ensuing spat between Carl and the reviewer goes viral.
Carl quits his job but finds it difficult to get work after his argument with the food blogger is everywhere on the Internet. His ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) encourages him to go into business for himself. With the help of her ex-husband (a quirky Robert Downey Jr.), Carl becomes the proud owner of one run-down food truck. Carl’s son (Emjay Anthony) and long-time friend Martin (John Leguizamo) help him get the truck up to scratch.
A road trip from Miami back to LA sees the food truck grow in popularity and allows Carl to rectify his relationship with his son.
Where’s the conflict?
Anyone who has done any studies involving story – be they for literature, film studies, creative writing or something else – will know that in any good story you put your character through hell. It might sound callous, but there isn’t really a story if there’s nothing to overcome. And the further along in the story you get, the more shit you throw at them. That’s what keeps the audience/reader on the edge of their seats. Of course, this is generally speaking, and rules are, after all, meant to be broken.
Break them, he does. Favreau’s sweet comedy completely lacks conflict. Ok, that’s unfair. There’s some conflict to begin with. He hates his job, his boss is an ass, then he’s jobless and struggling to relate to his kid. But he gets to the beginning of the second act and everything is basically resolved. There’s no final hurdle, things don’t get worse before they get better. They just keep getting better from then on.
This isn’t your typical story construction – there’s no tension keeping the audience hooked to see what happens. Instead, what keeps us interested, glued to our seats is a combination of that seductive food porn and general likeability of the characters. It’s simply enjoyable spending time with them. Does it matter that everything is just up, up, up? No, not really. We like them; we want things to go well for them. It’s more about relationships and learning than overcoming any great obstacles.
Clever characterization in small doses
Favreau shows us his writing chops with a series of clever, well-written characters he saves for his A-list guests. With limited screen-time he manages to create real-feeling characters. The trouble with that kind of story telling in film is that the intensity of the characterization (or shall we say, the intensity of those particular characters) would be hard to sustain over loner periods. He manages to avoid this problem, keeping them onscreen only long enough to propel the story along.
On the one hand, you might say that this is lazy. Using characters as plot props. But on the other, it’s quite nice. So many films – and novels – use side characters in such a way that you never really get a sense of them. They don’t take the time or effort to flesh them out further than silhouettes, given their lack of importance to the story. As such, I enjoyed seeing fringe characters with their own lives and personalities, especially Robert Downey Jr’s character.
Verdict: A solid feel-good film with lots of heart and respectable performances from everyone involved. Be sure to watch it on a full stomach.
