Como um Chef

OK, so the critics didn't much like this frothy French comedy directed by Daniel Cohen, but the French can serve up a blundering wunderkind better than anyone else. Aspiring chef Jacky (Michaël Youn) is called in to save the day for the three-star wonder Alexandre Lagarde (Jean Reno), who may be on the verge of losing a coveted rating star and his restaurant in the bargain. There's never a moment's doubt how any of the plot lines will resolve, but it's the whole meal that makes this movie fun. It was released summer 2014 in the United States around the same time as the American comedy Chef, which created some box office confusion. Sweet and light as a perfect dessert soufflé, this French offering is a good antidote to, say, the Nightly News. Curmudgeonly Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a mere 48% rating, but audiences liked it more (59%). Said Moira MacDonald in the Seattle Times: Le Chef may not be a masterpiece, but it's nonetheless a treat. Some days, that's just right.

Nothing to be ashamed here, you can do worse than spend an evening with this comedy, but there's little here that puts it above other feel-good comedies with the exception of Jean Reno - who is, sadly, the only one here with real comedy timing. The main actor, Youn, is obviously a bit overstrained with carrying the movie.

Apart from the boring lead, the gags are OK and mostly good-natured, what's maybe missing is a bit more "bite" or bitterness in this altogether rather sweet mix. Some punches are thrown against stylish kitchen trends and star restaurants (which is OK with me, but those are easy targets).

Recommended for people who like cooking themselves (as we do).

This is laugh-out-loud funny. A French movie, with English subtitles, about a young overzealous chef in Paris, who keeps being fired because of his overzealousness. By bizarre happenstance, he becomes known to one of the great chef's of Paris. It pokes fun at molecular cuisine, something he must master or risk losing a star. It's hilarious. Don't know if one has to be a foodie to appreciate it. And on the same weekend I perfected my carrot soup recipe! C'est formidable, mais ce n'est pas molecular, mais c'est un peu foamy. I watched it on Netflix. You'll recognize one of the leads, Jean Reno, from Mission Impossible. The other lead actor I did not recognize, but he was formidable!

Of course, don't expect here a masterpiece or any attempt to make an original plot or anything like that : this is a mainstream production, and all we should expect from it, is just to be funny, well-done, and without bad taste ingredients. And so it is. A simple comedy, gentle, with a good rhythm, and nice characters. In fact, not only the main characters are good here, but everybody is, and the supporting actors here have their place, and contribute to our pleasure. Jean Reno and Michaël Youn compose a nice duet. There's not much that I can add. Except that even if everything was easily expect regarding the plot, what is never obvious to expect is that we'd have such a very good time.

Le Chef (2012)

Boy are there a lot of these kinds of cooking movies out there, and most of them fall into a familiar pattern. Luckily it's a pattern that works—in that feel good, root for the underdog way.

This is a very lightweight comedy, and the hero is a chef with unusual talents, but also with a lovely fiancée who is getting impatient with his other love—cooking. So he tries to get a real job, and of course that doesn't work and he ends up cooking on the sly. Which leads to a feeling he's "cheating" on his girl, at least mentally, and so on and so on.

The lovely parts of the movie are actually the cooking parts, where you see his talent come alive. There are the usual critics, the mean boss, the underdog friends who are there in a pinch, and so forth. Yes, it's a formula. And it's totally feel good fun.

And there's nothing more to it than that! Bon appetite. And don't confuse this title with "Chef" which is an American twist on the same basic formula.