Chef [Blu-ray]

This was a fun, upbeat, sunny, bright film, very much unlike my usual fair of sometimes rather somber indie science fiction and horror films. It was citrusy if that is an understandable way to describe a film, that the more I watched the more I liked the film and found its upbeat music, its bright, sunny locations, its zest for cooking and music and food and family and friendship just a joy to watch. It also didn’t hurt it had a great cast either. The story focuses on chef Carl Casper (played by Jon Favreau, who also wrote and directed this film). Working as the head chef in a kitchen owned by a man named Riva (played by Dustin Hoffman), he is happyish. He gets to see his son Percy (played very nicely by child actor Emjay Anthony), has friends at the restaurant (notably Martin played by John Leguizamo and Molly played by Scarlett Johansson), and gets along well with his ex-wife Inez (played by Sofia Vergara). However, he doesn’t spend as much time with Percy as he would like, seems ambivalent about being divorced from Inez, and feels like he is stagnating at the restaurant, that he isn’t cooking to his full potential, that while he is master of the kitchen, he can’t make radical changes to the menu as Riva wants to play it safe and sell what they have been selling for years. Not really understanding Twitter or social media or the concept of things going viral, Carl gets into what he didn’t know was a very public fight with a well-established food critic, the entire response and counter responses going viral. Completely upending Carl’s – and Percy’s - world, what could have been an absolute catastrophe from the very public fight becomes a wonderful food-and-music-filled journey where Carl finds what he wants to do in life while reconnecting and deepening connections with family and his real friends. It’s a fun movie watching people cook (I want a Cuban sandwich so bad right now) and listening to some wonderful lively music, it’s a road trip movie, it’s a father and son film, it’s a romantic comedy, it’s a comedy (but not a slapstick, screwball, or raunchy comedy). Though there is some language and a few mildly sexual jokes that keep it from being completely family friendly, it is a light and positive film. The plot is mild and at times maybe a little slight, but it is definitely there and was more an emotional journey and a story of a zest for life (especially cooking) and of people bonding. These are people I would love to know and food I would love to eat. The places they go – both physically and emotionally – are places I want to visit now.

I started to watch this movie one night on Prime or Netflix just trying to get to sleep. the only bad thing I can say about the show is that that did not happen. I fell in love with the amount of effort and love that you could see he put into cooking the food. I found out later that Jon Favreau went to culinary school for 2 years for this movie. The cast selection is awesome yet you can obviously see he grabbed a lot of his friends from the Marvel world but no fault can be given for that since they are all great actors. John Leguizamo added so much to this movie in the form of comedy, family, and loyalty. I am not sure if it is true but it seemed like everyone in the movie had a great time making it cause it came together so well. I watch it at least once a month, most and watch his show "the Chef Show" on Netflix over and over while I am either in the kitchen cleaning, cooking or just getting seasonings ready for the next meal I am going to smoke. as a final review for this, I would say fun for the entire family and inspiring on so many levels. well done.

Love this movie - gives you a perspective for overcoming adversity and challenge and the development of a strong relationship between a father an son. Character development is on point thorughout the movie...and the cast is fantastic. HUGE fan of this movie. Funny, serious, great story.

Perfect movie. Thank you Favreau for making this.

Was looking for DVD movies to watch at home with restaurant/eatery-based themes. (Dinner Rush is one of our favorite movies, we watch it over and over again!) Purchased Chef, and it did not disappoint! - Great movie to watch if you enjoy restaurant/eatery-themed movies. - Simply a Fun To Watch movie that will make you smile and laugh! - Great filming. The movie perfectly catches the inner workings ... and sometimes chaos ... of a food truck. - A fabulous cast that blends together to tell the movie's story. Another great portrayal from the actor Dustin Hoffman. - A movie you can watch over and over again. I highly recommend this product.

To be clear, really this is what would normally be a 3 out of 5 stars movie - just the really, really well made version of a 3 star movie. Although this film may not have giant ambitions or a high stakes plot, the story is very well told AND told with a lot of heart. Jon Favreau knows how to assemble a film, and so despite a low-budget, the film's production value looks amazing. The cast us uniformly terrific. Everyone turns in great performances - even the bit turns by folks like Oliver Platt and Robert Downey, Jr. If you like cooking, delicious food and a good family dramedy, Chef is worth a spin. PS: On a separate rant, this film really underlines the problems with the MPAA. This movie is rated R because characters swear in a way that is accurate to how cooks talk in the kitchen. But despite that language (which I imagine kids have heard anyways), this is one of the most wholesome and loving films I've seen in years. I'd much rather have kids see something like this than the majority of the uber-violent PG-13 action movies out there.

Great movie!!

A great story about family, choices, life lessons, commitment and love.

As expected

Chef is a movie I have watched on the Movie Network a few years back and I really liked it. It's simple and yet quite good at what it's going for. It's a great drama/family movie and each actors played their roles really well. The included Deleted Scenes even made me appreciate the movie more because as ironic as it might seem, I'm really like that they removed those part as I didn't liked quite a few of them. (Yeah, the editing was good.) If you're looking for a family oriented movie about food and life orientation, this is a pretty good movie that might be just enough to fill you plate!

Great film

Aún cuando hay latinos trabajando en la película, no existe el audio latino en la película...🤨

Aprovado!