Chef is a movie that reeks of what former Washington Post writer Lisa DeMoraes called "male pattern optimism." Male pattern optimism is when in a TV show or movie, a mostly average looking actor ends up with a ridiculously good looking actress cast as his wife and/or girlfriend. In this case, you have Jon Favreau who gets to be with both Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara over the course of the movie.
The movie itself is nothing spectacular. Favreau plays a chef who is more concerned with his food than his son. A bad review, followed by a social media blunder of epic proportions leads to the chef losing his job. The chef's ex-wife then sets him up to be his own boss with a food truck, and he and his son bond over a road trip from Florida to California. The movie is slow at points, and somewhat contrived, but largely inoffensive. At times, you may feel as if you are watching an ad for a certain social media company.
There are a lot of big names in the cast, but they are mostly wasted in cameos or roles where they are given little to do. This is not by any means a bad movie, it just suffers mostly from wasted potential and the feeling that it is going nowhere.
The movie itself is nothing spectacular. Favreau plays a chef who is more concerned with his food than his son. A bad review, followed by a social media blunder of epic proportions leads to the chef losing his job. The chef's ex-wife then sets him up to be his own boss with a food truck, and he and his son bond over a road trip from Florida to California. The movie is slow at points, and somewhat contrived, but largely inoffensive. At times, you may feel as if you are watching an ad for a certain social media company.
There are a lot of big names in the cast, but they are mostly wasted in cameos or roles where they are given little to do. This is not by any means a bad movie, it just suffers mostly from wasted potential and the feeling that it is going nowhere.