Comme un chef (Le Chef) (2014)

Despite a light, breezy tone and a likable cast, this film doesn't really amount to much outside of some empty and hollow storytelling, with one incredibly racist scene.  It's a movie that hopes its breezy and light atmosphere will more than make up for its deficiencies.  It doesn't, that can only take you so far when you have a script as empty as this one.  You can just FEEL the director struggling to maintain a consistent tone.  There's no sense of direction, no sense of importance.  It lacked a focus that would've made the film, even as thinly scripted as it is, a little better.  You just don't get a sense of where things are heading.  That's good for a more artsy and experimental film.  Not so much when you're watching a lighthearted French comedy.  I still think the film has an idyllic French setting and I love France, so it makes it a little more tolerable.  It doesn't actually affect the film's quality one way or the other, but it's still a highlight nonetheless, even if they couldn't help the fact that France is a beautiful country.  The cast, as mentioned, is solid enough.  Not Little Miss Sunshine's cast, but serviceable enough.  This does lack decent laughs though.  They try hard, but most of the jokes simply do not hit.  Another positive is the fact that it moves at a rapid pace, it's over and done with in 80 minutes.  When you have a movie as lacking as this, then it's probably a good idea to keep it as short as possible.  This isn't an awful movie, by any means.  It is incompetently made, but it's not dreadful.  It's still no good.  If you want to see a movie about chefs, then you should watch Jon Favreau's great Chef. Yes, very creative title. That will satisfy all you foodies out there. This film, however, is past its expiration date.