Jon Favreau's CHEF Is An Overstuffed Cuban Sandwich Of a Movie

Now playing at an art house near me:

CHEF (Dir. Jon Favreau, 2014)

Jon Favreau's modest directorial follow-up to his critically panned 2011 sci-fi western COWBOYS AND ALIENS, could be seen as a plea for small scale indie cred away from the special effects and major studio interference, but it's likable enough to make me forget about that. It also made me very hungry - even though I came to it with a full stomach.

Favreau casts himself as an acclaimed Los Angeles chef working for a popular restaurant run by Dustin Hoffman. When a food blogger (a wonderfully smug Oliver Platt) gives our title character a bad review, Favreau takes to the internet and engages in a twitter battle with the critic. Of course, Favreau is new to the online world so his precocious, pre-teen kid (Emjay Anthony) schools him in the jargon, and before long he's trending.

Hoffman fires Favreau after he has a crazy meltdown in the middle of the restaurant in the presence of Platt, a cellphone video of which quickly goes viral, and the big lug decides to give his ex-wife's (Sofia Vergara) advice to give the food truck business a go.

This involves a one scene cameo by Favreau's IRON MAN buddy Robert Downey Jr. as Vergara's first husband, who hooks up Favreau with a old, beat-up truck that he refurbishes in one of the movie's many music-driven montages, dubs the El Jefe Cubanos, recruits his fellow friend cooks John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale, and hits the road.

With the help of his computer whiz son Anthony live-tweeting their cross country trip, Favreau's travelling cuisine-mobile is a huge success. The frothy follow-your-dream theme may be more than a little saccharine, but Favreau's film genuinely seems to believe in it.

With its wall-to-wall Latin-flavored soundtrack, overhead close-ups of immaculately arranged food cooking (lovingly shot by cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau), rambling rom com beats, and the orange-hued sampling of the culinary culture of Miami, New Orleans, and Austin, CHEF is an overstuffed Cuban sandwich of a movie.

Serving as triple threat (writer/director/star) for the first time since 1999's MADE, Favreau didn't trim any fat off when preparing this movie meal, resulting in an overlong, montage-heavy, second half.

Favreau even allows for a sing-along scene, in which he harmonizes with Leguizamo on the Hot 8 Brass Band's horn-driven cover of Marvin Gaye's �Sexual Healing.� This mildly amusing yet incredibly superfluous bit should've been only available as a deleted scene on the later Blu ray/DVD release.

Also, the casting of Favreau's movie star pals, such as Downey Jr., and another IRON MAN alumni, Scarlett Johanssen, as a hostess who gets turned on by watching Favreau cook, come off like phoned-in favors just to raise the movie's marquee value.

Still, the foodie-centric CHEF has a affable spirit to it - a party spirit with a lot of watchable activity, and familiar faces. Favreau's comedy dish here is no pi�ce de r�sistance, but it's a pleasant enough platter of food, folks, and fun.


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FADING GIGOLO: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening today at an art house near me:

FADING GIGOLO (Dir. John Turturro, 2014)

John Turturro�s fifth film as director doesn�t waste any time setting up its simple racy premise. In the first few minutes, Woody Allen as a Brooklyn bookstore owner casually asks his neighbor friend (Tuturro) if he�d take part in a m�nage � trios with a couple of high class Manhattan ladies (Sharon Stone and Sof�a Vergara) for $1,000.

That�s right, Allen, a schlep suitably named Murray, proposes to be Turturro�s pimp for a percentage of his profits, which will come in handy as Allen is forced to close up his quaint shop, and he has a young African American wife (Tonya Pinkins) and several children (3-4, I lost count) at home to feed.

But despite Allen�s dominant wise-cracking presence, the old school-sounding jazz soundtrack, and the familiar New York locales, this is Turturro�s movie, and he puts in an appealing performance as man of few words florist Fioravante. His brand of tall, dark, and handsome works wonders with the radiant Stone, so much so that she has trouble sharing him with Vergara.

Meanwhile, French actress Vanessa Paradis as a grieving widow of a Rabbi, who also has a bunch of kids (6, I think) may just benefit from Turturro�s services, that is, if a stern Leiv Schreiber as a snooping Hassidic neighborhood watchman doesn�t get in the way.

FADING GIGOLO, beautifully shot by cinematographer Marco Pontecorvo, is as measured and confident as Turturro�s character, but it often feels like a rom com that�s short on both rom and com.

There�s definitely some sultry chemistry between Turturro and Stone, as well as Vergara, who it�s nice to see not over-exaggerating her Spanish accent like she�s called upon weekly to do on Modern Family, but when the narrative goes the expected route of having Tuturro fall in love with the unassuming until the last minute Paradis, it�s more of a cutesy convention than it is convincing.

As for this being the first acting appearance of Allen outside of his own films since Alfonso Arau�s 2000 comedy PICKING UP THE PIECES (I don�t remember it either), it�s hardly a role that required any heavy lifting. Allen�s Murray is uninspiringly one of his scheming schlub archetypes that he�s embodied throughout his career from TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (1969) to SMALL TIME CROOKS (1999).

It could be seen that the amusement of such a character has been partly drained from Allen�s recent turn in the media spotlight when 20-year allegations of molestation resurfaced via statements from former flame Mia Farrow, adopted daughter Dylan, and his only biological child Ronan, but it seems to me and most movie-goers the 78-year old filmmaker is really only regarded as mildly controversial these days. Whether you�re an Allen fan or detractor, nothing in this movie is going to sway you to a different side than the one you come in on.

Turturro, who based the screenplay on his experiences with Judaism growing up in Brooklyn, stretches the premise nearly to the breaking point when Allen is kidnapped by a group of Orthodox Jewish officers and has to face a Haredi tribunal for the offense of corrupting Paradis. This bit is as forced as it is unfunny. Even the welcome presence of Allen�s DECONSTRUCTING HARRY co-star Bob Balaban as his lawyer can�t squeeze a laugh out of the situation.

As charming as some of their exchanges together are, there�s a comical distinction between Turturro and Allen worth noting. Allen is �on,� always desperately going for the joke while Turturro plays it cool, more into the sex scenes to care about whether things are funny or not. 

More succinctly put: Allen is the fading one; Turturro is truly the game gigolo. These tasty ingredients may not mix together into a classic comedy, but they're still worth tasting.

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