Being a foodie is perhaps the most depraved of snobbish pursuits, because no matter how exclusive, exquisite and expensive the cuisine, it’s all going to end up as poo anyway. Daniel Cohen’s broad French farce The Chef (marketed as Le Chef, presumably to sound more French) is pleasingly apposite in a post-MasterChef era when every lawyer and her clerk think they can sauté with the professionals.
Self-trained Jacky Bonnot (Michaël Youn) is always being fired from lowly kitchen jobs over his haughty aspirations for the food, to the chagrin of his pregnant wife (Raphaëlle Agogué). Specifically, Jacky adores the traditional French cuisine of veteran three-hat chef Alexandre Lagarde (Jean Reno), who is struggling to innovate a new spring menu. The mean CEO (Julien Boisselier) whose corporation owns his restaurant threatens to replace Alexandre with a nasty English prat (James Gerard) specialising in molecular cuisine. Jacky’s obsessiveness is Alexandre’s missing ingredient.
The film stirs in too much corn with unnecessary romantic subplots, but lots of unsubtle, gleeful comedy springs from lampooning the fine-dining world. Molecular cuisine, especially, is all iPad menus, liquid nitrogen and pompous Spanish chefs. This light, cheesy soufflé is perfectly digestible fare for a fun cinema excursion.
what
The Chef
when
In cinemas June 14
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