CHEF

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Jon Favreau: Chef Carl Casper

Scarlett Johansson: hostess at Gualoises, an upscale LA restaurant

Emjay Anthony: Carl’s 10-year-old son Percy

Dustin Hoffman: Ravi the restaurant owner

John Leguizam: Martin, line cook

Bobby Cannavale: Tony, sous chef

Sofia Vergara: Carl’s ex-wife Inez

Oliver Platt: food critic Ramsey Michel

Russel Peters: a Miami cop

REVIEW

There is something to be said about taking a hard look at what is important to you and follow through. That is but one aspect of this humorous tale combined with some realistic father and son bonding. Add in a road trip across America and there’s lots to like. And did I mention food: close-ups of the preparation might prompt you to order in, even before the final credits.

The acting for the most part is uniformly good, the dialogue snappy and often funny but the one thing there is too much of is the swearing: there is no need to include the f-word in every second utterance. That simply detracts from the story line making it less plausible. And losing a star as a result.

CLASSIFICATION

 for language including some suggestive references.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• The wall clock shows it to be 2:32 and remains unchanged during a spirited discussion between the Chef and Ravi which took at least 5 minutes.
• While having a shooter in a bar and without touching it, Martin’s beer bottle rotates from one scene to the next showing the brand label.

P.S.

Subtitles would have been useful for those not fluent in Spanish to get the implication when Martin asks the workers if they will help lift the heavy equipment “or I can call immigration.”