Jon Favreau has built a reputation and career on his light and entertaining comedies. He doesn't disappoint with Chef. The rapid-fire comedic dialogue and quirky, entertaining characters appear at almost every scene change, and the all-star cast of Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt and Sofia Vergara seem to know the talent of Favreau.
The story follows a chef (Favreau) and his journey from chef de cuisine of a ritzy Los Angeles restaurant to food truck cook of Cuban sandwiches. Along the way, the hard-working chef discovers how to become a good father to ten-year-old son (Emjay Anthony) and rediscovers his love for his ex-wife (Vergara).
The underlining spine to this film is how social media has become such an enormous factor in all our lives and our interaction with it. Juxtaposing the clumsiness of Gen X's understanding of the multimedia world with the Gen Y genius in this area, Chef not only had the audience laughing out loud, but was a great study on how the world is today. Judging by the audience reaction of the beautifully photographed scenes of food and the applause at the end, Chef will be a big hit this autumn. Just make sure you eat before you go and see it.
In cinemas 8 May
