Chef (2014), R, ★★★

Jon Favreau (direct of Iron Man) creates a scrumptious dish.

Who loves food? I do. Sometimes, a movie about realistic characters make food can tempt you to become happy and hungry simultaneously. It's delightful to watch behind the scenes what characters create with so many ingredients and so much texture to deliver the plate. Ratatouille is a prime example that is hailed as one of the best animated movies of the decade as far as I'm concerned. We see chefs working as hard as they can to move service, plus, we witness a talented rat helping a useless chef working his way up in the culinary business. Cooking is about passion, spontaneity, and enjoyment. And, Chef is authentically passionate.

Chef Carl Jasper (Jon Favreau) is a restaurant chef that prepares some good food and sauces. His co-workers, Martin and Tony (John Leguizamo and Bobby Cavanale), enjoy preparing the food but the latter is having a hangover from the previous night and his day does not start too well.

Everything starts to go well for Carl until he remembers he needs to pick up his son, Percy (Emjay Anthony). Percy lives with his mother, who is now Carl's wife, Inez (Sofia Vergara). Carl and his cohorts prepare themselves and their dishes for a food critic, Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) and his boss, Riva (Dustin Hoffman), bugs him to stick to the old-fashioned menu. All of the chefs are exhausted and celebrate by drinking wine and Ramsey reads the critic's review saying that the dishes are "needy and less ambitious" than a decade ago.

He is comforted by the restaurant's hostess, Molly (Scarlett Johansson) and after he creates a Twitter account which causes a viral riot where thousands of the food critic's friends retweet the critic's review. Carl and Ramsey exchange tweets and Carl replies back that he is going to prepare a new menu for him that night. After Riva gives Carl an ultimatum to cook the food on the menu or leave, Carl chooses to leave and he is left jobless. But, Carl has a plan and cleans up and restores his food truck to deliver his food to happy customers.

Carl and Inez (Sofia Vergara) serving food to happy customers.

Even though the story is predictable, it is pleasant to see all the characters communicating and happy to deliver delectable food. Again, this movie is about passion for cooking even though there are risks and consequences. It also is an inspiring film about making a business and how someone who is left jobless and unfruitful with the lack of passion can restore his life by showcasing his talent and love with all the people he loves.

Jon Favreau stars and directs an old-fashioned story about cooking that is self-aware of how to make customers pleasant. After a slew of unenjoyable films, he's back to making simplistic films with inspiration and creativity, like Elf with imagination and Made with fun. Iron Man is still his best work, but since that movie, he just got a bit too carried away. I thought the whole cast was fantastic, especially Robert Downey Jr. and Emjay Anthony, the latter delivering a subtle and a nice performance.

The movie gets predictable with his son promoting the food truck's business with social media and getting people to enjoy his food. Again, it is familiar and old-fashioned. But, the characters are colorful and enjoyable and the script is funny and sharp that it is almost impossible to deny this flavorful treat of a movie. Chef will inspire you to cook something with passion. It is a small gem from director Jon Favreau.

***