Chef
Studio: Open Road
Directed by Jon Favreau
May 08, 2014
Web Exclusive
Does watching The Cooking Channel sometimes make you sweat? If you’re the type who gets their culinary rocks off just by watching food being prepared, then you’ll get a lot more out of Jon Favreau’s Chef than the average viewer.
The filmmaker plays Carl Casper, a celebrity chef at a popular Los Angeles restaurant who’s stuck not only in a creative rut—he’s been preparing the same dishes night after night for years—but in a personal one. He’s estranged from his wife (Sofia Vergera) and preteen son, and his fling with his smoking hot coworker (Scarlett Johannson) is grinding to a halt. He’s forced into re-evaluating his stunted career when a massive social networking faux pas soon costs him his job. (The movie’s so heavily inundated with Twitter references that it’ll feel as dated as You’ve Got Mail in five years’ time. Haven’t they heard that Twitter died?)
From that point on, the movie’s pure schmaltz. We watch Carl get his life in order and reconnect with his son over a shared love of food. Still, it’s nice to see Favreau heading back to his smaller, Swingers-esque comedic roots, and Chef’s cast—which includes Bobby Cannavale, John Leguizamo, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Downey Jr. in addition to the aforementioned Johansson and Vergera—is stacked to the brim. It’s nothing remotely groundbreaking, but the film is as broad and agreeable as they come. Though, consider this your fair warning about the egregious foodie pandering. A bit of advice: have the highest-rated Cuban restaurant in your ‘hood already cued up on Seamless before you sit down in the theater. (You’ll thank us later.)
Author rating: 5.5/10
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December 18th 2014
5:51pm
假期中終於有時間看了林行止的 漁火偷渡客 江上數峰青 好文章一篇 三十世代 與否 只要努力 上天是很公平的—大家一定會得到相應的回報 我以前的 professor 教我 “keep doing the good work and the rest will take care of theevmlses” 他說的是學術論文—先做好的研究 自然會有好的文章 但我認為同樣的道理 在名 在利 在影響力 都是一樣