Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr, Amy Sedaris, EmJay Anthony, Russell Peters, Chase Grimm, Will Schutze, Gloria Sandoval, Jose C. Hernandez.

There is something rather good about seeing an actor, too often viewed as a great supporting actor to a main cast having an entire film in which to showcase just how good they can be. Never mind that Jon Favreau is a much respected person on the other side of the cameras or that he has gravitas in even the smallest of parts, perhaps arguably being the best thing alongside Michael Clarke Duncan in the otherwise forgettable DareDevil, to see an entire film with him just oozing charisma and being a treasured memory in his own film Chef, is the equivalent of finally tasting steak being prepared correctly after many years of eating it so well done that you would be accused by vets of killing the cow twice.

With a great supporting cast, including Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. making cameos that were vital appearances, the superb and vastly underrated John Leguizamo giving the film an exotic and terrific human feel and EmJay Anthony as Jon Favreau’s estranged young son, Chef digs into the menu of life and pulls out the meaning of special of the day.

Despite the film feeling as if it was a vehicle for the social media site Twitter to show why its popularity amongst the bite size society reigns supreme, one long big advert for social media, it still set the right tone for partial luddites to say proudly that it also showed exactly why social media at times can get people into more trouble than it is worth. The scene in which the public feud between Chef Carl Casper and food critic Ramsey Michel is filmed and immediately sent round the virtual world was both damning and entertaining. It highlighted the need for restraint when it comes to getting into an argument with somebody you don’t know, perhaps don’t even care about; you never know who will make you an unwanted star.

For Jon Favreau this must surely be considered an acting high in film and he bought out the very best in all his co-stars in a script that was exceedingly well thought out, exactly at the right pace and showed the relationship between critics and reviewers and the artist they are talking about to its purest and perhaps basest of emotions.

When it all boils down to it, everything is theatre, from your own day to the meal out you have saved up for all year, all is set on an organic stage and some will add to the experience and some will go out of their way to ridicule you for doing your absolute best, in the end it just depends on how much salt you decide to take with it.

Chef is a feel good film which you surmise wasn’t intended to be and yet works magically.

Ian D. Hall