Kiss the Cook: So schmeckt das Leben

I can't help feeling that this movie is not only about a chef finding himself, but it's also about lead actor/director Jon Favreau trying to get back in touch with the kind of films he used to make -- small ones without guys wearing super-suits or cowboys drawing down on aliens. Here, Favreau's Carl Casper quits his big Iron Restaurant job and rediscovers himself, and his passion for food and family, by running a Chef-sized food truck. Results: excellent.

Films like this can be lost if the wrong kid is cast. Emjay Anthony is the right kid. He's great as Percy. I particularly enjoyed the way the film handled Percy's internet-savviness, and how he used it. John Leguizamo is a great fit as Carl's friend and sous-chef. Sofia Vergara as Carl's ex- wife is, as usual, capable and stunning.

See Chef, and bear witness as a good filmmaker continues his journey to becoming a great one.

I did not expect such a talented cast of actors mostly in small parts. Jon Favearu has a lot of friends. The actor who played his son is a find. He was great. Low key, sweet and very natural and believable. The story is good. It is about the chef and then the food truck, but it really is about him and his son. I liked that he was friends with his ex wife, Sofia Vergara, who did a great job. That struck home for me, because my ex and I get along well and it brought a lump to my throat to see how happy that made their son. It is special when divorced parents can get along and do things with their kids. The story moved quickly and I loved how the son used twitter and they incorporated social media into the story. Very realistic. I highly recommend this movie. Really a joy to watch.

Stepping away from the blockbusters that have occupied his time and talents of late, Jon Favreau scales back the spectacle to deliver Chef, a thoroughly enjoyable story of redemption set amid the chaos and camaraderie of the kitchen in which Favreau delivers what may be his best performance yet. In addition to taking on the lead role of disgruntled chef Carl Casper, Favreau also wrote the screenplay and served as producer and director, putting himself firmly in the firing line if the film misfired. Fortunately, he has got most of it right and Chef overcomes any shortcomings through its refreshing take on relationships - particularly between Carl and his 10-year-old son Percy (Emjay Anthony) - and the power of technology and social media as both a destructive force and an instrument of considerable social currency. Confined to bit parts of late in the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street and the three Iron Man films, Favreau seems to relish the opportunity to take on this role of a man forced to re-evaluate everything that is important to him.

We first meet Carl as he begins preparations for the evening ahead at the restaurant at which he is the head chef. Once hailed as the next big thing in culinary circles, Carl's career and reputation has stagnated somewhat as he finds himself frustrated by the limitations placed on him by restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman). You see, Riva is more interested in maximising profit, while Carl is desperate to shake things up and broaden the menu, particularly with high profile critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) dropping in to sample the fare. It is not giving too much away to say that things don't go well and, when Carl unleashes at Michel in a tirade that goes viral, his tenure at the restaurant is over. At the urging of his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara), Carl heads to Miami and establishes a food truck that enables him to reconnect with his love of cooking and the son he has neglected. Much merriment ensues as Carl hits the road to redemption with Percy and best friend Martin (John Leguizamo) along for the ride.

The film very much celebrates the art of cooking and gastronomes will go nuts at the myriad montages of Carl at work in the kitchen, whether it be in the restaurant, the food truck or at home where even a toasted sandwich is prepared with passion and precision. The relationship between Carl and Percy, which is the crux of the narrative with the food truck as the conduit that brings them together, is refreshingly realistic and devoid of mawkish sentimentality. Young Graham is remarkably composed and naturalistic as Percy and the underrated Leguizamo makes the most of his best role in ages. The music is fabulously funky, creating the up-tempo mood that permeates the second half of the film. There really is a lot to like here, which makes it easy enough to overlook those aspects that go unexplained. For example, Inez lives in a luxurious house with an armada of domestic staff and is always making reference to her work, yet we never get any sense of what this work entails and ultimately Vergara seems to be simply rehashing her Modern Family persona, albeit not quite so shrill.

The sudden disappearance of Scarlett Johansson from the narrative is another mystery that remains unsolved. In the opening portion of the film, Johansson's Molly works as a hostess at the restaurant and there is clearly a mutual attraction between her and Carl. In fact, a scene in which Molly lounges seductively while Carl prepares a meal is sexier than most love scenes, yet once Carl leaves for Miami, Molly is neither seen nor heard from again. A cynic might suggest that Johansson's inclusion, along with a somewhat strange cameo from Robert Downey Jnr as another of Inez's ex-husbands, is simply Favreau calling upon his Iron Man co-stars in an attempt to secure maximum leverage for his film with multiplex audiences.

The film demonstrates the power of ubiquitous presence and power of social media; initially bringing Carl to his knees before ultimately playing a very significant role in his resurrection as a chef and a father. Despite a few unanswered questions along the way, Chef is a charming, refreshing surprise.

I'm no foodie but I really enjoyed this road-trip / father-son / buddy movie, written directed by and starring Jon Favreau, based on the recent life and times of a perfectionist chef who struggles to suppress his own innovation to the demands of his conservative paymaster boss. More than this, he gets involved in a spat with the town's number 1 food critic, sees his relationship with his son founder under pressure of work and still pines after his glamorous and super-rich ex-wife.

There's not much more to the story than that and I feared for all the anticipated parental-bonding scenes I would see the second I clapped eyes on his flop-haired 10 year old son but I was very pleasantly surprised to be engaged by this lighthearted, fast-moving, feel-good movie, right up to the predictable happy ending for all concerned.

With a busy but enjoyable soundtrack of soul and salsa in the background, nice realistic acting by all the leads right down to son Percy and of course lots of scrumptious shots of freshly made food, this movie certainly mixed its ingredients together well, delivering in the end a most palatable dish.

Perhaps the star-power cameos were a little unnecessary, maybe the father-son stuff did get a little hokey at times and the wraparound happy ending did seem somewhat forced but on the whole I found this a very watchable and occasionally funny movie which more than whetted my appetite for a decent Saturday night stay-in movie.

I really enjoyed this funny and heart-warming movie about a chef and his relationship with food and his son. The film is worth about 8.5 in my books. The current IMDb score is roughly accurate, despite the inexplicably negative reviews and voting of a tiny minority.

Leguizamo and Vergara light up every scene they're in. Quite a few A-list Hollywood stars are in this movie, but it's not a Hollywood movie at all. The performances by all the main and supporting actors were excellent. When I try to single one or two out, I just start thinking about how good the others were too.

You feel like the movie had no script at all, that's how natural the writing was. Remarkably cliché-free.

I was subtly but deftly moved at the end. This is an optimistic guy movie but women will enjoy it as well.

Kudos to Favreau (of course) and to everyone else involved in this film. I have a new respect for Favreau and will watch out for his films in the future.