Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Name: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain
Genre: Documentary
Released: July 16, 2021
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 78
Cast: Anthony Bourdain

2021

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Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: July 16, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Anthony Bourdain

Summary: It’s not where you go. It’s what you leave behind . . . Chef, writer, adventurer, provocateur: Anthony Bourdain lived his life unabashedly. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon.

Director: Morgan Neville

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Janelle Bitker

Jul 16, 2021

Neville’s portrayal is gripping, emotional and therapeutic, but fans looking for clear-cut answers won’t find them. Read full review

Clint Worthington

Jun 11, 2021

Watching Roadrunner feels like engaging in a kind of collective mourning, a desperate bid to understand a man who meant so much to so many, even if we never met him. For those of us who cared about Tony, whether through the television or a recipe, this is essential viewing. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Jun 11, 2021

The film presents a psychological, almost novelistic portrait of how Bourdain evolved as a person during the years of his celebrity. Read full review

Screen Rant Mae Abdulbaki

Jun 26, 2021

Neville lingers long enough, painting a picture of a lost soul who brought so much of himself to the world while also wondering about his place in it. Read full review

Bethany Jean Clement

Jul 14, 2021

The redemption here — if there may, please, please, be some — is in the celebration of his life, and in the fact that all the love for him clearly cannot do anything but continue on. Read full review

The Playlist Jason Bailey

Jun 11, 2021

At its best, it does what Bourdain’s work did: “Roadrunner” makes you want to jump on a plane, discover a new place, a new culture, eat a great meal, and make a new friend. What could be more valuable? Read full review

Richard Brody

Jul 20, 2021

The documentary is a mere encyclopedia-like info-product, which reduces its rich audiovisual archival material and its heartfelt interviews with people who knew and loved Bourdain to freeze-dried sound and image bites. It hardly deserves the attention it’s received—and Neville’s audio stunt, far from marring the film, merely serves as a brazen form of self-promotional publicity. Read full review

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User Reviews

LisaLR1

Jul 22, 2021

"ROADRUNNER: A Film About Anthony Bourdain," directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville ("20 Feet from Stardom"), shines a light on the fast life and tragic death by suicide in 2018 of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. The documentary accomplishes this using archival footage from Bourdain's hit"ROADRUNNER: A Film About Anthony Bourdain," directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville ("20 Feet from Stardom"), shines a light on the fast life and tragic death by suicide in 2018 of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. The documentary accomplishes this using archival footage from Bourdain's hit television shows, "No Reservations," "Parts Unknown," "The Layover," "A Cook's Tour," along with interviews with him beginning in 1999 as he began writing his best selling book, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." The film also includes interviews with various Bourdain family, friends and work colleagues. The grief of his loss is still very raw, evidence of this shown through the interviews in the documentary, leaving the audience with many theories and unanswered questions as to why Anthony Bourdain chose to commit suicide. Much like Bourdain was in life, the film never stops moving, taking you along for the accelerated journey of a man who was inventive, tempestuous, extraordinary, and deeply flawed.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Dubeau

Nov 23, 2021

I loved that doc, and I hated it at the same time. I think it can be said the same thing about Anthony Bourdain. Love how the story unfolds and that you see/ear the guy talents. Hate the fact that he run from his problems and that the film is about suicide too. This isn't a joyful happyI loved that doc, and I hated it at the same time. I think it can be said the same thing about Anthony Bourdain. Love how the story unfolds and that you see/ear the guy talents. Hate the fact that he run from his problems and that the film is about suicide too. This isn't a joyful happy movie. I don't recommend you see that movie if you suffer from depression. But if you want to understand how peoples flee their problems and hide them into work, it is a great example of that. I think that Bourdain might have suffered from bipolar or manic depression, but he certainly wasn't relating normally to the world around him. I give the movie 75%. Maybe more because I liked how his friends have presented him, in a very honest way. Something he would have liked.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Aug 24, 2023

I think the most important thing about this documentary is that taking into perspective the life that Anthony Bourdain led - one that many might say they envied or coveted - it becomes evident that even amid the appearance of success, the inner emotional and mental struggles of an individualI think the most important thing about this documentary is that taking into perspective the life that Anthony Bourdain led - one that many might say they envied or coveted - it becomes evident that even amid the appearance of success, the inner emotional and mental struggles of an individual remain concealed. Consequently, any queries surrounding the rationale behind his decision to end his own life become inconsequential.

The tribute legitimately focuses on the achievements of one's own life and, in this sense, the documentary effectively achieves its purpose.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Brent_Marchant

Jan 28, 2022

After watching this portrait of enigmatic chef/writer/storyteller Anthony Bourdain, I came away sincerely convinced that I had watched a biography about a troubled, multifaceted talent, but I didn't feel as though I knew the protagonist any better than I did going in. That's particularlyAfter watching this portrait of enigmatic chef/writer/storyteller Anthony Bourdain, I came away sincerely convinced that I had watched a biography about a troubled, multifaceted talent, but I didn't feel as though I knew the protagonist any better than I did going in. That's particularly true when it comes to understanding what led to his seemingly impulsive, inexplicable suicide in 2018, a question that basically remains unanswered. To a great degree, these shortcomings are probably attributable to director Morgan Neville's ambitious, though nevertheless insufficient, ability to get a grasp on the picture's expansive subject matter and mold it into a coherent finished form, an aim that's perhaps fundamentally impossible to attain given the diverse nature of Bourdain's life, character and work. Consequently, viewers are essentially left with a somewhat overlong, encyclopedic dissertation of the protagonist's accomplishments and life events, one that's depicted through footage of an array of colorful incidents drawn from a wealth of archive material, punctuated by insightful interviews with those who knew and worked with him. But, while that may make for some visually intriguing eye candy with modest smatterings of heartfelt moments, it fails to coalesce into the kind of cogently organized narrative characteristic of some of the filmmaker's other works, such as "20 Feet from Stardom" (2013) and "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (2018). Bourdain was an innately complex individual, but, simply because of that, it may not be realistic to believe that the essence of someone with such a complicated persona can be sufficiently captured and depicted on screen. And any efforts that come up short of that, regrettably, just don't do the principal justice.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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