If You Cook It, They Will Eat It (Movie Review, Chef)

It's been a long time since Jon Favreau has made a small  film - he is known now more for his Iron Man movies - and "Chef" is his return to the his indie roots.  The movie is the story of a celebrity chef, played by Favreau, who gets caught in an artistic rut, and gets a bad review from a food blogger. He then goes through a breakdown, culminating in a viral video that gets caught on YouTube. he then goes on a journey to "rediscover" himself and his cooking. This is a well made comfort food of a movie. It tells of how social media affects businesses both in building it, and destroying it. In some sense, it's a paint-by-numbers effort - I don't have to tell you how you think the story will turn out, but it has a kitchen full of honest performances that you cannot help but eat everything they serve (pun intended) Favureau never looked more relaxed, and John Leguizamo, as his side-kick is the perfect foil. Even Sofia Vergara manages to give a seet understated performance. And it's a foodie's dream movie - there are endless scenes of food that made my stomach grumble (I especially want to copy his version of the grilled cheese sandwich) For someone, like myself, who does not really enjoy movies about monsters and mutants, this is perfect counter-programming.