REVIEW — “Chef”

John Favreau stars in and directs Chef, a film about food, family and finding yourself. Chef has terrific cast, infectious music and is the most mouthwatering film I will probably see all year.

Chef Carl Casper (John Favreau), is a head chef at a successful restaurant in Los Angeles. When he and the owner of the restaurant can’t seem to come to an agreement on what it means to make good food, Carl ,very publicly, quits. Forced to start over Carl goes back to where he started and ends up finding a way to do what he loves without having to compromise his creative integrity.

Everything about Chef, from the food to the people is so rich and full of life. The food, especially, is shot beautifully. These scenes jump off the screen and there were times I thought that I could smell it! Luckily I had some snacks to keep the torture to a minimum. But our dear Kaptain Keven was sitting next to me (sans snacks) and he was clearly suffering, poor thing.

The characters are so energetic and funny and everyone has great chemistry. The cast feels like one big family. Sophia Vergara, John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale are a blast to watch. It made me fondly reminisce on my own experiences of friends and family all working together to make delicious food to share with one another.

The Chef soundtrack complements the film perfectly. The music from various artists like Pete Rodriguez and Perico Hernandez brings the perfect energy to the kitchen scenes in particular and makes everything else come alive. I just might have to buy it for myself.

I have a few issues with this move. First is that it drags as you approach the end. It’s not a deal killer by any means but it’s definitely noticeable.  The second is that it’s one of those movies that is weirdly rated R solely due to language. However, in my opinion, the content of the film as a whole would be appreciated by a much wider (dare I say younger?) audience than a typical R rated flick.

4/5