A Father-Son Road Trip Worth Watching

If you’re a foodie, I recommend this film.

If you’re not a foodie (which would include me), I recommend this film. It is good on so many levels.

First, there’s Jon Favreau – the eponymous character (also known as Carl Casper) who has such a love of the preparation of good food that he even makes grilled-cheese sandwiches with the best ingredients and the utmost care. Favreau is believable and charming as a gourmet chef who finds that he doesn’t just want to rest on his reputation and make the same old fare over and over again: he wants to create great food worthy of spending time and energy on.

Then there is Emjay Anthony – Carl’s son Percy; a doe-eyed child of 8 or 9 who wants only to be with his dad (who is currently divorced from Mom, Sophia Vergara).

The story is simple: Carl is in a dead-end job as head chef of a successful but dated restaurant owned by a man who is clearly interested in Money, but not in Quality and Ingenuity (Dustin Hoffman), Following a particularly embarrassing display of frustration, Carl quits and takes a road trip to reignite the passion for food he seems to have lost somewhere along his career. Joined by his son and one of his best friends who also happens to be a sous chef (John Leguizamo, in a small but hilarious role), Carl buys a catering truck (aka roach coach) and travels across the country offering the best food from the best ingredients he finds along the way.

Chef is a story of finding that love and happiness can “happen” if you live your passion.

As of the date of publication of this lens, this movie has not been released to DVD. So go to the movies. It’s that good.