Trailer Trashin’: Jon Favreau Gets Cooking in Chef
Happy Tax Day, dear readers! I hope a lot of you have gotten out and seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier by this point – because it’s totally awesome. And if you’re looking for something scarier at the theater right now, I recommend checking out the new horror movie Oculus. In the meantime, this week’s edition of Trailer Trashin’ steps away from the big summer movies and takes a look at the upcoming indie comedy Chef.
Premise: When Miami-born chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) tries and fails to open a restaurant in Los Angeles, he returns to Miami to fix up a food truck, which he names “El Jefe Cubanos,” and gets reacquainted with his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara). He plans to drive across the country to take another crack at success in L.A.
My take: As I’ve admitted previously in this column, my biggest blind spot as a cinephile is that I don’t pay a lot of attention to the world of independent film. It’s a very rare event that I know about an indie film before a trailer has even been released. Such was the case with Chef, the upcoming culinary comedy from actor/director/writer Jon Favreau. Now the first trailer for Chef has arrived, and it’s got me even more interested in the film.
The main thing that got me interested in Chef is the great cast. Most of our focus is on Favreau as Carl Casper, the titular chef. Favreau’s most prominent acting work recently has been as Harold “Happy” Hogan in the three Iron Man films, and it’s nice to see him back in a leading role. Scarlett Johansson, who worked with Favreau in Iron Man 2 (2010), plays Molly, who is described as “a restaurant manager and love interest of Carl.” Sofia Vergara from Modern Family and Machete Kills (2013) plays Inez, Carl’s ex-wife. Although their character names have not been revealed yet, we also see Dustin Hoffman as the owner of the restaurant where Carl initially works, John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale as his two buddies, Robert Downey, Jr. as the guy who sells Carl the old taco truck, and Oliver Platt as the important food critic. Not appearing in this trailer are Garry Shandling and Amy Sedaris, whose characters also have not been revealed yet.
As someone who enjoys both cooking and eating quite a bit, this trailer pulled me in right away with the beautiful shots of food being prepared. I’m sure I’d never be able to get a job at the kind of restaurant where Carl is shown working, but I can definitely appreciate the kind of craft and skill it takes to produce food like that. Looking at all these glamor shots of the various dishes, you really can almost feel your mouth starting to water. And I like that the trailer brings up that one of the best things about cooking is being able to create something other people will enjoy.
Jon Favreau and Emjay Anthony in “Chef.”
All in all, this is a good trailer, and I think it does a good job selling the film. Jon Favreau is a great filmmaker, and it’s nice to see him back in more indie territory after doing high-profile projects for most of the last decade. And when Favreau’s working with a great cast like this and on a subject I enjoy, this looks like it could be a lot of fun. When early May rolls around, I’ll definitely be checking out Chef, and then treating myself to a nice meal afterward.
Starring: Jon Favreau, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara, Dustin Hoffman, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Garry Shandling, Amy Sedaris, and Oliver Platt
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Jon Favreau
Timothy Monforton
