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Chef's charming cast and sharp, funny script add enough spice to make this feel-good comedy a flavorful -- if familiar -- treat.
All Critics (184) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (160) | Rotten (24)
It's such a treat to see such an endearing slice o' life in the middle of this blockbuster season. There's not a single comic book character in sight. Jan 5, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…
It's such a treat to see such an endearing slice o' life in the middle of this blockbuster season. There's not a single comic book character in sight.
Liz Braun
Chef is a foodie-gasm of a film, directed by and starring Jon Favreau as a designer cook past his sell-by date, who goes on a road trip from Miami to Los Angeles to find his soul -- and soul food. Jul 7, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Chef is a foodie-gasm of a film, directed by and starring Jon Favreau as a designer cook past his sell-by date, who goes on a road trip from Miami to Los Angeles to find his soul -- and soul food.
Kate Muir
Here's Chef to show us all, for now and evermore, just what a vanity project really looks like. A public service, in its way. Jun 27, 2014 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Here's Chef to show us all, for now and evermore, just what a vanity project really looks like. A public service, in its way.
David Sexton
There's nourishment to be had, if you lower your expectations. But be warned: a lot of it is just watching Jon Favreau make toasties in a van. Jun 26, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
There's nourishment to be had, if you lower your expectations. But be warned: a lot of it is just watching Jon Favreau make toasties in a van.
Catherine Shoard
A sassy and mouth-watering concoction, bursting with flavour. Jun 26, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
A sassy and mouth-watering concoction, bursting with flavour.
Chris Blohm
Chef is compelling, somewhat convincing and, according to many who know better than I, it's largely on trend. Jun 6, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
Chef is compelling, somewhat convincing and, according to many who know better than I, it's largely on trend.
Craig Offman
Favreau is clearly a food buff and knows his stuff, creating in Carl a character that is believable both as a successful chef and a less successful family man. Mar 4, 2019 | Full Review…
Favreau is clearly a food buff and knows his stuff, creating in Carl a character that is believable both as a successful chef and a less successful family man.
Paula Fleri-Soler
Don't see Chef on an empty stomach. This is a film where the food is front and center (and it all looks great). Jan 31, 2019 | Rating: B | Full Review…
Don't see Chef on an empty stomach. This is a film where the food is front and center (and it all looks great).
Micheal Compton
It's well-acted and more importantly, it's fun. Jan 29, 2019 | Full Review…
It's well-acted and more importantly, it's fun.
Amanda Greever
This is a lovely, funny, wonderfully acted film. The big problem is, it's an 80-minute movie that takes two hours. By the time you get to the real story, you're out of gas. Nov 2, 2018 | Rating: 5/10 | Full Review…
This is a lovely, funny, wonderfully acted film. The big problem is, it's an 80-minute movie that takes two hours. By the time you get to the real story, you're out of gas.
Debbie Baldwin
Jon Favreau has gone back to making the kind of movies he loves, and I graciously encourage him to continue his career with this amount of honesty and passion. Nov 1, 2018 | Rating: 8.5/10 | Full Review…
Jon Favreau has gone back to making the kind of movies he loves, and I graciously encourage him to continue his career with this amount of honesty and passion.
Jennifer Heaton
Passion oozes through this film in the same way it oozed the grilled cheese sandwich on the grill. Aug 21, 2018 | Full Review…
Passion oozes through this film in the same way it oozed the grilled cheese sandwich on the grill.
Rosalynn Try-Hane
Never has food looked this delicious on the screen. If you watch this film hungry, you will probably starve, if you watch it full, you'll get hungry again. For a film about a chef trying to fulfill his dream of a food truck, that may be a no-brainer but actually plays a pretty big role here, because it's an important character trait for Favreau's chef. The great cast clearly had fun with his, quite a few dialogs feel improvised and very natural. The film also portrays a pretty realistic use of social media and the times we live in, if you'd wanna see that negatively you could say it's a long Twitter commercial. That'd be cynical, which the film is everything but. A light-hearted, lovable and entertaining feel good movie that makes you wanna eat delicious food and travel the US.
Super Reviewer
Competent and more or less charming, but the plot features little credible adversity and stakes that ring hollow. It's a slice of life, sure, but it just doesn't feel "real-life" enough. Insistent and borderline insipid.
This seems more like a project of pure egocentrism and self-indulgence from Jon Favreau, as he plays an idiot surrounded by gorgeous women like Sofia Vergara and Scarlett Johansson in a feel-good story that will only feel good to himself - really, it doesn't even have a real conflict.
A little-viewed gastronomical gem that was mercilessly mocked by "Esquire" magazine - a publication I ordinarily revere! Jon Favreau's not really my cup of French Onion Soup, but his "fat-strong" physicality really fits the character of media-maligned celebrity chef Carl Casper looking for his new culinary bliss. The little visual details (like the chef's knife tattooed on his inner forearm and his impressive speed-julienning skills) had me convinced that Favreau must be a real Epicurean. The food looks glorious, of course - a bon vivant's dream. The exposition goes on for too long though; the restaurant owner is so illogically pig-headed about not giving Casper free rein over the menu, which needlessly drags out the inciting showdown of chef vs. food critic. However, the father-son-mentor-apprentice-food-truck-road-trip-bonding movie that eventually begins is quite adorable and inspirational. There are small conflicts, but they are solved in realistic ways in good time, and the supporting gang of sous-chefs played by John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale adds some spicy ethnic flair. RDJ makes a very RDJ-esque cameo, ScarJo rocks a Bettie Page look, and Sofia Vergara's maternal instinct is impressively subdued.
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