Coming on the heels of Iron Man 2, filmmaker Jon Favreau delivers his most personal film yet as a chef responds to a food critic by going back to his roots in 2014’s Chef.

Carl Casper (Jon Favreau), the head chef of Gauloises, is held back by owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman). Knowing that food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) is coming to eat, Carl would prefer to be innovative with the dishes and make a new menu. Riva prefers not to make any changes with the menu. It is a bad move on Riva’s part because the current menu leads to a negative review. As if things are not bad enough, Carl’s son, Percy (Emjay Anthony), signs Carl up for Twitter. Carl thinks he is sending a direct message directly to Ramsey over the platform. Nope–he’s replying for the masses to see. But before he knows it, he gains a following on social media, even offering a rematch to the food critic.

A rematch, however promising, does not happen because Riva prefers the current menu over innovation. Carl, who already has a bad relationship with the owner, decides to quit. Despite quitting, sous-chef Tony (Bobby Cannavale) ends up serving the same food to Ramsey. What happens next is the sort of sensation that goes viral–Ramsey writes a mean tweet, Carl melts down while confronting him at a restaurant. It turns out to be a good thing. Not because of counseling or anything but because Carl gets back to basics and starts a food truck.

But before Carl gets the truck, he meets with ex-wife Inez’s (Sofía Vergara) ex-husband, Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.), in Miami. It’s one of those trips that turn out to be a blessing in disguise. One, Carl gets his love back for Cuban food. Two, Marvin offers him a truck–okay, so it’s not in the best condition but it’ll do. In operating the food truck and driving it back to Los Angeles, it enables him to spend more time with Percy. Line cook Martin (John Leguizamo) joins them. New Orleans and Austin are among the cities spotlighted on the trip back. As a side note, Chef‘s world premiere came at SXSW in Austin.

When Carl and Percy get back to LA, it’s a happy ending for everyone. Inez even joins them in the food truck. What happens next is one of the most beautiful surprises. Ramsey, who sent someone else to buy an item off the menu, explains why he was so negative earlier. He’s enjoying this new side of Carl, seeing as how he is back to form. In fact, Ramsey actually wants to invest in Carl, which means not writing about the truck as that would be a conflict of interest. As if this isn’t enough, Carl and Inez end up remarrying each other.

The film is semi-biographical and this shows in many ways throughout the storytelling. Favreau, who came from a broken home, had been wanting to get back to making smaller films after putting in time at Marvel Studios on a few films. Making a film about a chef necessitated Favreau’s return to indie filmmaking. One can easily read the back and forth between chef and food critic as being similar to filmmaker and film critic. I’m not about to get into what other critics do with regards to their process. I just know that really hate to pan a film, even smaller indie films that end up giving me a five-star nap. When such films are bad and you see other critics piling on, the last thing I want to do is add to the pile.

We know Iron Man 2 did not receive the same critical response as Iron Man did when it kicked off the MCU in 2008. Despite this criticism, it didn’t stop Favreau from reuniting with Iron Man 2 stars Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. Both have small roles and Downey Jr. basically appears in a cameo.

When the film came out back in 2014, Marvel fatigue had yet to kick in. Granted, I didn’t read the many reviews of Iron Man 2 at the time but one can see how Favreau responds to critics by way of making Chef. Favreau’s chef is restrained by management of a fancy restaurant when it comes to getting innovative. When a studio feels that things are working correctly, they don’t want to change up the formula. What does Carl Casper want to do? Change up the formula, only management wouldn’t let him. Ramsey Michel doesn’t think Casper is making food with the same love as in the past. Is it a fatigue factor or a case where one just sticks to the same formula because it works? Maybe all Favreau needed was a change of scenery.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Jon Favreau
CAST: Jon Favreau, Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, Amy Sedaris, Emjay Anthony, and Robert Downey Jr.

Open Road Films released Chef in theaters on May 9, 2014. Grade: 4/5

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