Chef

Written and directed by Jon Favreau and packed out with a classy cast, Chef boasts a colorful picture for any food lover.

Chef Carl Casper is passionate about food and loves to cook, loves to eat and loves to make people happy with his food creations. The movie begins by showing him climbing the ladder of success, reaching for an excellent food review that coming night at the expense of his son's desire for time with him. It's clear he feels awkward around his ex-wife while she acts naturally and comfortably in the role of the divorcee which she's played before.

Carl's passion to food is driven by tasteful creativity and his desire to wow the food critic clashes with the owner of the restaurant, played by Dustin Hoffman, who insists Chef Carl serves the critic standard menu fare. The critic is not impressed and rates his meal 2 stars. A twitter war ensues driving the restaurants publicity up which makes the Hoffman's character happy, though Carl knows people aren't happy with the cooking; it's just a trend.

After a heated argument, Carl is fired and demoralized. His ex-wife invites him to take a trip back to hometown Miami to get in touch with his roots and he buys a taco trunk. The rest of the movie is of him cleaning the truck, making really good food and making people happy while he and his pals cooking along the road home to LA. The movie ends with  the food critic becomes a pal after he tastes chef's real food and the estranged family is reunited.

The movie is colorful and the characters are real. The camaraderie between the chef and his staff is stuff books are written about and the relationship between Carl and his son is touching and true.

However, Carl is a passive character and really boring to watch. His lines are punchy and the most memorable scenes could stand alone, but everything that happens in this movie is caused by outside characters, outside forces and Carl stands there taking the one-twos.

Unfortunately, this is often real life. Even when we think we are the protagonist, it's often our son. It's the one who knows how to laugh, to love always and to be used to handing out forgiveness. The real hero is the one who explains things, who teaches and encourages. And tells us what Twitter is.