Wednesday 6 August 2014

Film Review: Chef

Genre: Comedy 

Cert: 15 Cert

Director: Jon Favreau

Screen writer: Jon Favreau

Starring: Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo , Bobby Cannavale , Emjay Anthony , Scarlett Johansson , Dustin Hoffman , Sofía Vergara , Oliver Platt , Amy Sedaris , Robert Downey Jr. , Russell Peters , Chase Grimm , Will Schutze , Gloria Sandoval , Jose C. Hernandez 

Running time114 min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: No sex or nudity.
Many sexual references and talk.
One person (for a flashing second) holds up a baguette as a huge erect penis.
Women show some cleavage in a few scenes.

Violence & Gore: A man yells at another man in a restaurant and makes a comment about vomiting those words back; he then slams on the table and squishes a piece of cake and throws it down while ranting and we see this scene repeatedly on cell phone videos.
A man carries a pig carcass wrapped in plastic over his shoulder into a restaurant kitchen and places it on a prep table where it is unwrapped and its head is cut off before cutting up the rest of the meat.
A man unrolls his collection of chef knives and ignites stove burners.
Two men (a chef and a restaurant owner) argue bitterly about a menu and the chef quits and leaves the restaurant.
A man (a restaurant owner) yells at another man (a chef) about the food he cooks and gives him a hard time about preparing "guts" that the chef describes as sweetbreads.
A man yells a threat (seems lighthearted) in a restaurant kitchen after finding a pan of unattended bacon and says, "Grab your ankles because here comes..."
A chef yells at his staff.
A review of a chef includes insulting descriptions like the food reminded the reviewer of the sagging moist cleavage of an elderly woman and he talked about the chef's "dramatic weight gain."
Two men argue over Twitter and make insulting remarks about lack of creativity.
A man yells at his son for throwing away a filthy tray instead of cleaning it out; the boy yells at him and runs away.
A boy watches a video of a man being shot by a cat with a machine gun and we see blood splatter on the screen.
A man on a city street performs with a skeleton marionette while playing a song with lyrics that include, "I'm so tired of being alone."
We see an extremely dirty and rundown food truck and a man and his young son scrub it and clean it out; the boy reacts to the odor when he opens the fridge and finds a tray of decayed food.
A boy says, "I think there's something dead in there" after walking through a rundown food truck.
A man puts on a pair of protective booties over his shoes and then slips on the floor a couple of times (he doesn't' fall).
A man tells his 10-year-old son that he cannot have kettle corn because it's just "carbs covered with sugar," but then we see them both eating kettle corn.
A man reprimands his 10-year-old son for using an obscene term.

Profanity:  About 45 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references, 51 scatological terms, 22 anatomical terms, 11 mild obscenities and 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Christ, Oh My God).
Anatomical terms include prick, pussy, nuts and asshole.
There is a discussion about whether an internet social networking tool is a way to "get pussy" and "get sex."
Name calling (haters, psychopath, artsy, sagging moist cleavage, Big Dog, crazy, turd, loser, stupid and lil' gangster.)
Conversations about "sleeping with" someone.
Three men hug and one of them says, "Let's just have a three way right here."
Two men and a boy pour corn starch in their pants and talk about the heat and humidity affecting their genitals

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: A man and a woman smoke a marijuana cigarette together.
People are shown drinking alcohol in several bar scenes.
People drink alcohol in a club scene.
Two men drink beers and smoke cigars.
A man offers a beer to a young boy and he takes a drink but spits it out"
A man drinks a beer while sitting on the roof of a food truck.
A man smokes cigarettes in a few bar scenes.
A man smokes a cigarette outside a restaurant.
A man puts a cigarette in his mouth but we do not see him light it.

Frightening/Intense Scenes:  There's some yelling but it's not intense.


Story: Carl Casper is an acclaimed chef with a family life that seems as decaying as his artistic freedom. Those frustrations boil over into a raucous viral-videoed public confrontation against a restaurant critic who panned his cooking of food that his boss ordered him to make against his instincts. Now with his career ruined, Carl's ex-wife offers an unorthodox solution in Miami: refit an old food truck to offer quality cooking on his own terms. Now with his young son, Percy, and old colleague, Tony, helping, Carl takes a working trip across America with that truck to rediscover his gastronomic passion. With Percy's tech savvy and Tony's enthusiasm, Carl finds that he is creating a traveling sensation on the way home. In doing so, Carl discovers he is serving up more than simply food, but also a deeper connection with his life and his family that is truly delicious in its own way.

Likes : Favreau definitely does his best directing work here. His two "Iron Man"s were bloated, rather boring effects fests that were also fairly soulless. Favreau shows that a movie like "Chef" is definitely where he should be.
The movie is good, and is well made. The characters are well drawn and you get involved in them and their journeys. The movie does go on for a while though, and is pretty loosie goosie, pacing wise. I was expecting a tighter film. But, I'm guessing that Favreau pretty much got Director's Cut here, and got to include everything he wanted to include.
Could i say this is a comedy, not in so many way yes it has it moments with the Gordon Ramsay impression which was funny as hell, but it more of a mellow drama with which pretty heart felt storyline between a father that always busy with work but try to make time to spend with he son it become a father & son journey to rekindle their bond as a family.
 There is also a lot of enjoyment to be had from watching the performances of the supporting cast, and perhaps this is because each of them play to their strengths: which is good scripting for a film playing to actors strength's .Scarlett Johansen looking gorgeous as always with a slight cameo role ,  Robert Downey Jr steals the scene as Casper's ex-wife's other ex-husband who is rich, and always looks like he's on the verge of doing something really crazy; the beautiful Sofia Vegara plays Casper's sweet, sexy, well- meaning ex-wife, who he is still great friends with; John Leguizamo, always an interesting actor to watch as he has natural comical instincts in him, but really has fantastic chemistry with Favreau  in this film with the young actor who plays his son, with some more meandering scenes in the film are made it interesting by his infectious energy; and Dustin Hoffman adds an element of compassion to a role that could have easily been reduced to a caricature but the character he plays come across as a a**-whole in this one like im the boss i do what i want attitude instead of listening what works from the kitchen.
It not a film everyone will necessary like as most people like the fast paced film's with action, this is more of a film for those that every now & then like to watch something they can relax & watch with a slow pace & stead storyline with entertainment. This is a film i recommend for those people but if you looking for a laugh out loud faster pace film this is not going to be something your going to like. but worth watching


Dislikes : The only thing i would say could of done with a few more funny moments for a comedy.

Overall : Great story-line, great directing from a actor, few funny moments.

Rating: 4.3 out of 5 for entertainment / 7.2 out of 10 story-line /concept.





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