Chef
Open Road Films | Release Date: May 9, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 15, 2014
Chef is the best thing he (Favreau) has ever done, as writer or director or actor. It's the sort of thing of beauty that filmmakers are ultimately remembered for. Read full review
91
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 18, 2014
The film is loose and genuine and makes great use of place. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMay 8, 2014
If this all sounds fairly rote, it's far from it. That's because the filmmaker largely eschews done-to-death family dynamics, forced obstacles and predictable responses for authentic interaction, organic humor and a hopeful vitality. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 22, 2014
Best of all is Favreau. Instead of mass-producing another superhero epic, he has given the overfed public a dish of right-sized comfort food. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 15, 2014
An engaged, engaging voyage of (re)discovery that’s too in love with its subject to qualify as food porn. It’s food romance. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 15, 2014
There’s nothing terribly profound about Chef. But its message — that relationships, like cooking, take a hands-on approach — is a sweet and sustaining one. Read full review
88
USA TodayScott BowlesMay 8, 2014
A slow-cooked film that's one of the most heartwarming of the young year. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 8, 2014
Buoyed by a Latin-flavored score and Favreau's knack for improv inspiration, Chef is the perfect antidote to Hollywood junk food. Like the best meals and movies, this irresistible concoction feels good for the soul. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJeff BakerMay 22, 2014
Favreau's a big man who knows how to wield a chef's knife and shoots the food truck scenes with a hectic good nature that's infectious. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 23, 2014
Here's a film that feeds the heart and the soul. Read full review
80
Time OutChristina IzzoMay 10, 2014
A meandering middle and sticky-sweet third act can be overlooked if only for the savviness with which Favreau portrays the food world. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 21, 2014
Chef is filled to the brim with the kind of heart and vivacity that makes up for the film’s familiar storyline. Read full review
76
Film.comWilliam GossMar 9, 2014
If the Favreau-written “Swingers” concerned itself with the pursuit of meaningful romance and the Favreau-directed “Made” tackled the pursuit of a better living, then the slight if continually amusing Chef is clearly his paean to rekindling one’s passions, whether as an artist, a husband or a father. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Craig OffmanJun 5, 2014
Chef is compelling, somewhat convincing and, according to many who know better than I, it’s largely on trend. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 15, 2014
Funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters and not a ton of concern about telling a conventional story. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleMay 15, 2014
Favreau worked hard to replicate an authentic restaurant world, and it shows in every frame that involves chopping, dicing, slicing, sautéing or otherwise cooking (he also finds an ingenious way to visually portray Twitter, so vital in the marketing of food trucks). Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMay 10, 2014
Chef is Favreau’s most personal film since “Swingers,” an overlong comedy full of his food, his taste in music, his favorite places and a boatload of his favorite actors. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMay 9, 2014
This is comfort comedy, pure and simple. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisMay 7, 2014
The first two thirds of Chef crackle with hunger-inducing imagery and laughter-provoking gags. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickMay 7, 2014
He’s great as a celebrity chef who’s forced to re-examine his priorities in this extremely funny and big-hearted comedy that Favreau also wrote. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 9, 2014
A comfort movie about comfort food, Chef won’t knock your socks off, but it believes in itself — and for Favreau, that’s all that matters. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 8, 2014
Like so much in Chef, the plot resolution seems contrived and a bit silly. By then, though, we've had plenty of laughs, and generous helpings of warm feelings—the meat and potatoes of real life. Read full review
70
VarietyJoe LeydonMar 10, 2014
The final destination is entirely predictable — right down to the deus ex machina reappearance of an erstwhile antagonist — but the trip itself is never less than pleasant, and often extremely funny. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 9, 2014
There’s a pretty good movie buried somewhere deep inside the ungainly pastry that is Chef. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 15, 2014
Favreau's masterly light touch as an actor hasn't yet translated to a similarly deft offhandedness behind the camera. The movie, slick and shallow, is fairly entertaining anyway. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoJun 23, 2014
Eat well beforehand or you’ll be in tummy-rumbling, tongue-hanging-out agony as the merry band cook their way across America. Good fun and happy, filling fare. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMay 8, 2014
[A] shallow but enjoyable all-American morality play. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 8, 2014
Scenes of Favreau at the grill bantering with Leguizamo and Cannavale could almost sustain an entire movie. Read full review
60
The DissolveDavid EhrlichMay 7, 2014
It may not be for all tastes, but there’s genuine value in a feel-good film that works this well without making viewers feel bad first. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 10, 2014
The easygoing comedy keeps a familiar story going despite minor plot hiccups. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 7, 2014
For anyone who’s followed Favreau’s career since the mid-’90s, the temptation to read Chef as veiled autobiography will be overpowering. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnMar 9, 2014
By its later scenes, Chef only finds respite from its bland qualities through the scrumptious-looking dishes constantly on display. As self-indulgent vanity projects go, this one's pretty innocuous, if only because it's always easy on the eyes. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonMay 1, 2014
Chef is so charmingly middlebrow that it's exactly the cinematic comfort food it mocks: Favreau has made not a game-changing meal to remember, but a perfect chocolate lava cake. Read full review
40
TheWrapInkoo KangMay 8, 2014
Personal or not, this lazy fantasy doesn't offer many more pleasures than an Instagram account. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinApr 23, 2014
Jon Favreau's film comes off as flippant in its view of independent labor as a universally liberating experience for an artist and businessman. Read full review
16
The PlaylistDrew TaylorMar 10, 2014
While the more down-to-earth Chef does offer some fascinating autobiographical dimensions, the film is also an overlong, unfunny, largely insufferable bore. Read full review
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