Chef(2014) with Executive Chef & Standup Comedian Matt West
This week on Movie Wars, we’re serving up Jon Favreau’s 2014 foodie classic Chef—with a twist. Joining us is Nashville comedian and executive chef Matt West, who brings both laughs and firsthand insight from the kitchen trenches.
We dig into why Chef feels like one of the most authentic portrayals of the culinary world, from the tension between chefs and restaurant owners to the soul-crushing weight of critics. Matt breaks down how fine dining can be overrated, why Michelin stars are a “pay-to-play” game, and what the movie gets right (and wrong) about life behind the line.
Beyond the food, we explore how Chef doubles as a time capsule of 2014—when Twitter still had cultural power, food critics were kings, and social media could make or break careers. Favreau’s decision to cook every dish on screen, guided by Roy Choi, adds to the film’s authenticity and passion. And yes, we debate whether Favreau’s grilled cheese montage is the most erotic food scene ever filmed.
Takeaways from this episode:
- Why Chef might beat The Bear as the most realistic kitchen story
- The truth about Michelin stars, fine dining pretension, and accessibility in food.
- How food critics lost power as influencers took over.
- Jon Favreau’s personal connection to the story and why it was his post-MCU passion project.
- The most mouthwatering (and ridiculous) food scenes that still stick with us.
So grab a Cubano, feed your grandma, and join us for one of our most flavorful debates yet.The discourse navigates the intricate interplay between technological advancement and societal transformation, emphasizing the duality of progress and its repercussions. A thorough examination of historical precedents reveals that each significant leap in technology has invariably precipitated profound shifts in societal structures and cultural paradigms. We engage in a meticulous analysis of contemporary innovations, scrutinizing their potential to reshape not only economic landscapes but also the very fabric of interpersonal relationships. The discussion culminates in a contemplative consideration of ethical responsibilities that accompany such advancements, urging a collective introspection on the moral implications of our relentless pursuit of progress.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we discussed the profound implications of technological advancements on society.
- Our conversation highlighted the necessity of adapting to rapid changes in our environment.
- We explored the intricate relationship between innovation and ethical considerations in modern practices.
- Listeners were encouraged to critically assess the impact of their choices on future generations.
Transcript
Thank you so much for tuning in to Movie Wars.
his week we covered chef from:We'll dive into a little introduction and history of the film. Then we'll do something called the questions, which are funny or serious questions, designed to generate great discussion.
We'll do randos, which are the most interesting facts I discovered during my research of the film. And then we'll round it out with the war card. Five categories that we debate to figure out if we approve or disapprove of Chef.
Don't be afraid to hit that, like, button and share with your friends. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. I'm your host, Kyle.
Speaker B:I'm Seth.
Speaker C:And I'm Matt West.
Speaker A:Matt west, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker B:Not confused with Christian musician Matthew West.
Speaker C:I'm the Matthew West.
Speaker B:He's the Matthew west, which Matt just.
Speaker A:Informed me is the highest grossing Christian artist of all time.
Speaker B:Yeah, I had no clue. I would have guessed, like Stephen Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, anyone from D.C. talk.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A: are doing the movie chef from:And this is just an incredible alignment. Not only is he going to crack us up, but you're going to give us insights into the industry.
Speaker C:Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker B:How'd you get into cooking?
Speaker C:So can we get into the movie now or.
Speaker B:We can, if you don't want to talk about that.
Speaker C:No, no, it ties in, I think. Absolutely. So like, my parents owned a diner growing up, so that's kind of where I got my start.
And when we talk about the movie later, it was cool because there was both dynamics there.
You know, he had the kid with him in the food truck and then like, because I'd been on that side and then I'd also been at the upper echelon fine dining chef where he was in the beginning. So the movie was really cool because it. I felt like I could relate to both ends of it.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:So that's awesome.
Speaker C:Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, my parents had a diner growing up, so when I was about 12, I was tall enough to see over the burners.
I got put to work because child labor laws don't apply to family.
Speaker D:It's true.
Speaker B:It's very true.
Speaker C:But yeah, that's kind of how I got my start. I've left it and came back several times. When I was moving down here, probably about eight years ago, I wanted to get back into it.
But in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky, they're paying 12 an hour. You know, down here, fine shit.
Speaker E:Right.
Speaker C:And down here I could come make a living off of it, you know, and a decent living. So.
Speaker A:And for those that aren't in Nashville or the middle Tennessee area, something that's happened. I moved here in 09 and one of the craziest things that I've seen is not.
It's not we talk in general about the growth of the restaurant industry here, but there's really been something that I think is a plus and a minus, which is that there's been a massive almost fluctuation towards high end dining.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Especially downtown.
Speaker A:Some of my pubs got closed down that I used to go to some of my favorite place, which I liked fine and dining. But we've had a major fluctuation of higher end restaurants.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Here. And it's very competitive. And Covid was like a lot of metropolitan areas was kind of a. A true. A truth telling.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:For a lot of those restaurants here.
Speaker B:So it wasn't even just about how good your food was, but how well you were able to adapt to people not physically being able to be in your restaurant. So you kind of had to be.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Incredibly good with the food and then also make sure that your customer base was ready to order.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah. And I don't know, I have opinions about the fine dining stuff. Sometimes I feel like it's.
It's a little overrated, you know, as far as like the, the Michelin star rating system goes. I hate it.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:So much.
Speaker B:Why is the tire company telling us where to eat?
Speaker C:It's not even just that.
It's like generally when a restaurant gets one of those stupid ass stars, their food goes from, you know, 250 a plate to six because they have a star from a tire company. Like you said.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's like, I don't know, I'm.
You know, I grew up very, very poor and I just, I don't like when restaurants make it to where a section of the population can't come eat at your restaurant. I think, I think food should be available to everybody and. And you know, because it can only get so good.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I mean like it can only get so good before. It's just absurd. Exactly what I mean.
Speaker A:And so much of The Michelin, like clips that I see, we'll get to the movie. But this is just so interesting is it's a lot of shenanigans. Like they'll bring out a chicken wrapped in some like weird bag thing, like a balloon.
And then.
Speaker C:Yeah. Then they cut it open and it looks like a boiled chicken with no seasoning. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And that's actually not a chicken. That was a pigeon.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker E:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:What the hell.
Speaker B:The most plentiful bird in this country. And it was probably 800 bucks originally.
Speaker C:That would have been done in a sheep's bladder, you know, back in the day.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And now they have like special bags just for that method of cooking. But I have, I have never seen anything that's been cooked in those, like bag things that looks appetizing or seasoned.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, like that, that particular video you're talking about, it was just like a grayish piece of poultry.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:That actually turned out to be a pigeon. That's like a big thing in the Michelin scene right now is, is the use of pigeon, which is. I don't, I don't know. That seems like a bad bird to eat.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I don't know, maybe I'm just now ignorant.
Speaker B:You know, I think honestly, like, and this is speaking both here in Nashville, but also like in other countries that I've been to, I've really discovered that the best food that I keep having is sometimes the most simplistic stuff.
Speaker D:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:Like there's simple ingredients, it's all put together well. But you're not overcomplicating it with cooking methods. You're not trying to be cool.
Speaker C:There's a guy in Vietnam who has a taco truck that received. He's got two Michelin stars and you can, you can get tacos from him for $2.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And they, they told him if he didn't raise his prices, they were going to take his stars away. And he was like, please come get these plaques.
Speaker B:Yeah, get them off my food truck.
Speaker C:The level of pretension in that, it's, it's absurdly well. And, and what a lot of people don't know is they, they won't come here to Nashville and a lot of the cities in the South.
It's kind of a pay to play thing. Right. So I was in talks with a restaurant in Aspen, was called Bosque.
This has been a few years ago and they are a 25 seat restaurant, but it is super high end. Like.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Exclusive and I was in talks to work there. It ended up not working out because I didn't live in Aspen at the time. Even though I was like willing to move there.
He wanted somebody that was already based there. No big deal.
But he was telling me that he and a couple of other restaurant owners had paid the Michelin company to come there so they could receive that star. And it would. And from what I understand, it's just like a pay to play thing and they're not coming to your. Your city.
You can throw them some donations and then they'll be on their way.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker C:It's like again, that seems just. It seems like just a big circle jerk of people patting themselves on the back for nothing. Pretty much.
Speaker A:Do the tire companies know no bounds?
Speaker B:Come on, Bridgestone, you got to make your own stars.
Speaker A:Speaking of Michelin stars and tires, we've got a great, great movie here today. One that when it came out, I really just didn't expect anything. Not because I didn't think it'd be bad. I just.
f just came out of nowhere in:And I was like, I think I honestly just kind of threw it on and I was just loving it because at the time I didn't have as restrictive of a diet, so I could still eat anything and I enjoyed the food. I also. One thing I criticize a lot of movies of is I think a lot of new movies, especially straight to streaming movies, struggle with how they.
They show technology and how technology like cell phones, social media.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's so. It's so just kind of built in now. And I hate how they handle it. And it becomes a crux where like. And I even in the Batman, the.
The one by what's his face, Robert Pattinson, Batman, that like when. When like it was the voicemail on the cell phone. Like, you know, I'm just like, really?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like this movie is already 20 minutes too long and we couldn't cut the voice message scene.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:I just think they get fumbled a lot. But here I. At first I was like, oh, damn it, they're doing the thing. But then it became a really, really great commentary.
Speaker E:Yeah. 100.
Speaker A: search that I've done is that: Speaker E:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:Because until social media kind of became more embedded. It was one of kind of the. The things that people went online for was to read food critic. Actual things. And this is based on an actual food critic.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:That went after who Loved to go after chefs, even really good chefs, because that. They love the clicks. They love to being the one that brought down a big chef with their critique.
And so it went downhill from here because then the whole Twitter thing is actually kind of about how that became. The critic became less powerful because people were just going to go find. Like, on Reddit.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:They were going to go find the info they wanted. So this actually, in a lot of ways, is a time capsule of the food industry at the time.
Speaker B: lso crazy because you look at: Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like now Twitter has just devolved people yelling at each other over politics and bots.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's like, used to.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And porn. That's pretty much all it is.
Speaker C:All it is.
Speaker B:And that it used to be a place where. Yeah. Things could legitimately go viral, where you couldn't get them out otherwise. And now it's just. It's not the same.
There's so much of everything on every one of these platforms. It takes basically just a miracle to shine through at this point.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:Well, you know, and as somebody that has battled a couple food critics in my day, I appreciate. What I do appreciate about this is it shows that you can be like, no, fuck you youu know, your. Your review is bullshit.
You can respond directly to the critic and people can be part of the conversation. Because back in the day, you know, somebody would write a food critic article posted in the newspaper, and then you just.
You couldn't respond with it. Right. And I think that was the good thing about the movie is he, like, stood up to the critic.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Online. And then, like, the other aspect of it, the restaurant owner stopping him from doing the menu that he wanted to do.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:I felt that so deeply in my soul. Soul. You know, Like, I was thinking about.
Speaker B:That when I was watching it. I was like, oh, I'll bet. I'll bet Matt's gonna have some goodness.
Speaker E:Like, it's.
Speaker C:It's insane. It's insane how out of touch they are sometimes, but they think they're not.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it was like, he's like, I've been running this same menu for five years. You know, let's change it up. Which is insane. Like, it's. That's insane. But, yeah.
I mean, if they can, they will make it as hard on you as they possibly can.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, and what.
Speaker A:I listened to a podcast about this movie, and I try to remember the name of the professional chef. But he's like. He's like a TV chef now. He's like a really high profile guy, but he was really fun to listen to because he was really low key.
And he was talking about this movie because it also was kind of before the celebrity chef really took hold in society. Like, they were there. Like, we had Emerald, a couple, but it was before, like, it became the thing.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:And he was talking about how, you know, like, it's the. The dynamic with the owner. He said that was actually the most realistic part of the movie.
And he says that's the thing that a lot of critics don't understand is that. That, yes, you may be a very gifted chef, but you still don't own this place.
Speaker C:You're beholden. Yeah.
Speaker A:He said that. Dustin Hoffman dynamic. He said that was the realest thing in this movie.
Speaker C:Well, you know, it was crazy. For me, this entire movie felt like a reflection of my life, really. Oh, my God, dude. On so many levels.
I've been so excited to dissect this movie because it's like, literally my culinary career is that. Yeah, yeah, it's.
It's like there's so many levels to it, you know, Like, a lot of chefs have a very complicated romantic life that was represented well. You know what I mean? They really highlighted, I mean, even down to how he ate food.
I don't know if you guys noticed that or not, but it's something I picked up on because I have a problem with it. So, like, as a chef, like, when I do get to eat when I'm at work, I have to. It's like five seconds.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know what I mean? Because I got to get back to work, and what that's done to me over the years is caused me to eat very fast.
Even, like, when I'm going out to eat, you know, like on a date or something, I'm just like. It's almost like I get anxiety around eating. And it was like there was a scene in the movie where he gets, like, a sandwich, and I see him just like.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Shoving it, walking around. Yeah. And I'm just like, wow.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:They really did some research for this.
Speaker B:I mean, it's very clear that this was a massive passion project for Jon Favreau. Like, you genuinely felt like everything that was happening was.
Was either because he was very close to someone who experienced it, or, like you said, he was actually doing his research and watching chefs and seeing how they were acting when they were working and when they were not working, like, the. The the due diligence was put in. Like, he did a really good job at making sure he was respectfully portraying these types of people.
Speaker C:Yeah. And I mean, like, the. The whole, like, fine dining to food truck transfer. I mean, that.
I think 90% of the chefs I know are trying to do something similar to that because I. And that, you know, people have this misconception about chefs.
Like, one thing I get told about, like, I get people that get said to me a lot is people will be like, oh, you're a chef. I bet you eat all this amazing food. It's like, I really have an eating disorder.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:I get off work and I want peanut butter and pussy.
Speaker E:That's all I want.
Speaker C:I don't know if I could say that I'm sorry.
Speaker A:Please do.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker C:But, yeah. And I mean, that's. That's the reality of it. It's like, I eat.
I don't eat enough as it is because it's like working with food all day, that's like, you just don't want it.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:And I have to make myself eat because I'm like, I realize I got it. Like, that's not maybe healthy, but sure, I would consider it almost on the lines of, like, some sort of eating disorder.
And I think a lot of chefs suffer from that.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:And then people get weird about cooking food for me. You know, they're like, oh, my God.
Speaker B:Yeah, try this.
Speaker A:I would be self conscious for sure.
Speaker C:I mean, I'm just glad I didn't have to make it.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:You want to know what my favorite meal in the whole world is? Something I didn't make. You know what I mean?
Speaker B:So, preferably, at least with some salt.
Speaker C:But as long as it's not too salty.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:But, like, people are, like, always afraid that I'm going to just tear apart what they do. You know what I mean? There's this misconception about chefs that we're all angry.
And Gordon Ramsay's done a good job of making sure everybody thinks we're just miserable bastards.
Speaker B:But, you know, unless he's dealing with kids, then he's, like, shockingly nice.
Speaker C:Yeah, Yeah, I know. But, like, his mentor, Marco Pierre White is like, is such a piece of shit.
Speaker B:Oh, sure. Because he's French, right?
Speaker C:I don't know what he is. He sucks.
Speaker B:With a name like Pierre, I would assume he's somewhat.
Speaker C:I don't know. I think he's English. But, like, you would just have to, like. I think one time he quoted saying women are too emotional to work in the kitchen.
And, like, was he, like. They were like, hey, dude, that kind of sucks. And he just doubled down on it. But I don't know. The.
Him and Gordon Ramsay, they represent, like, the toxic element of what chefs used to be.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's changed drastically now because a lot of. And kind of how Gordon Ramsay portrays himself or they're cussing at you and screaming you.
But a lot of people don't realize is kitchens are a place where a lot of people go to start over. And I was telling Seth this earlier, but, I mean, you'll have. It doesn't matter what level of culinary you're in.
You could be in the upper echelon Michelin star places and then your cracker barrels. There's going to be criminals and gangsters all through all of it.
And it doesn't matter what level it is, because a lot of people go to the restaurant industry to start over and make a decent living while learning a good trade. And they also don't drug test.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's helpful.
Speaker C:So, yeah. You know, I've personally seen it myself.
People trying to do that Gordon Ramsay shit where they're talking shit, being mean, and then they get knocked the fuck out in the middle of service.
Speaker A:So maybe you're too emotional to be in the kitchen. Maybe it's hot and you need to get the F out of there and share Movie Wars. Quit. Quit trying to cook. You're going to cut your fingers off.
Speaker B:Let us cook.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I've watched Chopped. When they cook, their finger. They're out. When they cut their finger and they got to put the glove on.
If they get blood on anything, they're out of the competition.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's too much. You just need to sit down, eat something someone else made, and listen to Movie wars and share it with the grandmother who's probably also hungry.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Feed your grandmother.
Speaker A:Feed her and put on that in our theme. So it gets the grandmothers going every time.
Speaker D:Love y'.
Speaker C:All.
Speaker A:Share Movie wars makes them hungry. The questions, the questions. Which is a more accurate depiction of the food industry, the bear or chef?
Speaker B:I think they both kind of hit two different sides of the same coin. But like, we were kind of talking about before, before you even got here. Like, they don't fully show the whole story.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Either side of them. Even. Even the things that they do kind of COVID There's. There's some big stuff, and you'll be able to talk about this more, but I feel like there's.
There's some big stuff that they that don't fully encapsulate just because they're focusing on, like, either the stress aspect or the. The.
Speaker E:The.
Speaker B:I'm starting over. So here's the fun aspect. Here's why I got into cooking and love cooking.
But I don't think anyone as good as they both are, I don't think they all tell the whole story.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, and I've said this since the beginning.
That Chef Mo, the chef movie that we're talking about now, I. I think was probably one of the better representations of what we do, and the bear is too. But, like, they really. They don't. I would like, personally, if they would do a chef movie that was real gritty. You know what I mean?
Like, Christopher Nolan's the Chef. I think. I think that would be phenomenal.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because, like, I was.
I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of chefs that are, you know, and just either going through a lot, you know, or they're involved in the criminal world. Like, it's both of those movies really kind of just glazed over all that.
Yeah, they don't touch on that, but that's a real thing that you have to deal with. But, you know, I've been sober for a little over four years, so I'm not, you know, I'm very far removed from that. But before, you know, like, we.
I would get into these crazy shenanigans, you know, while I wasn't at work, and then, you know, wake up somewhere random, but always be at work, but be actively going through something crazy all the time, and everybody I was around would be, too.
And then because we work with each other every day, our lives would intertwine, so then it would create these whole new storylines, and that were always just insane. But, you know, once I got removed from that, it's. It's pretty chill.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah. Yeah. That's one thing I noticed. Like, I. I was a. I was a host and a waiter a lot in college, and I was never a chef.
But one thing I always noticed is that, like, every restaurant I worked in, like, if you were gonna survive, you almost had to bend to the.
To the personality of the kitchen, like, because I would walk in there, and if I did one thing wrong or said something wrong about the menu, I got my ass chewed. And I felt like I was constantly just trying to appease the people in the kitchen, and so I would end up being a dick because they were addicted me.
So I was, like, the way they accepted me was by me being addict to other people. And one Guy was like, yeah, that's right. What Kyle said. I'm like, finally, they like me.
Speaker B:Well, shut up, Kyle.
Speaker C:And, you know, that's. That's a. That's, you know, as an executive chef now, I don't tolerate any of that.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:From my staff, because that is one of those toxic aspects where you got the angry line cook. You know, at the end of the day, you guys are like servers and hosts.
They're the representative of the restaurant that are dealing directly with the guest. And you want them to, one, be excited about the food. You know, you want them to like it.
So a lot of times when I'm trying out new things for a menu, I bring them in, get their opinions, and kind of make them part of the menu. Because again, they're the ones that are going out there and selling my product. Right. They're selling my dish. So I want them to be excited about it.
I want them to be able to come back and tell me when something's wrong and not feel like they're gonna get their head bit off. Because again, we have to spend most of our lives at work together. And if I have to spend half my life with you, I don't want to hate you.
Speaker E:Yeah, right.
Speaker C:And I don't want you to hate me. That sucks.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:I also forgot to mention that this restaurant had mold in the ceiling.
Speaker C:And some restaurants are better than others.
Speaker A:High end establishment seasoning, you know?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I am a. That's funny. Just imagine mold in a bottle next to the gluten. I. My favorite current show that's running is the Bear.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I love it. And I have a lot of family in the food industry, in the. In the high end catering industry. So like.
Like five star catering, whatever you want to call it. And I learn a lot through that. It's different than restaurants, but some of the same stresses and pressures.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah. I mean, I've done a lot of that as well.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Different, but similar in some ways. And you know this, what I've read and agree with is that the Bear perfectly portrays the stress and the hell aspect of it.
But like you said, there's a lot of glazes over.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, a lot of the stuff I've seen in that I've heard confirmed from people in my family that are in that industry. But like you said, like, everyone in there is a rock star. Everyone. Like even the chef that they send, you know, to the Netherlands. No.
What do they send? They send her to the Netherlands to learn desserts.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think so. I, I haven't watched a whole lot of that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Just because it's like going to work.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, they're like, they send a chef to the, to, you know, to Denmark to learn perfectly from the best, you know, pastry chef in the world. And he comes back. Like, every person in there is like that. And it's like.
But like you said, every kitchen I've worked in, what you described made more sense. It's like looking for a new start.
Which Heat, the movie actually nails perfectly because remember, the guy that ends up being the driver just gets out of prison and he works at a diner. That element is really there. So I, I agree with that. I do think Jeff actually nails it more. I think it nails the business more.
So, yeah, the emotional hell that can happen in restaurant setting. The bear wins it.
But overall, I just think I'm watching and I'm like this, this, this diatribe between Dustin Hoffman and between Favreau's character. Oh, that was so real, dude.
Speaker C:So, like, I recently, probably about six months ago, I was working at a very high end Italian place here in town and the guy, the guy that owns it is from New York City and just the. One of the most intense New York Italian guys in the world.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:And he would cut.
I mean, we would, I like, we would have actual shouting matches, like, because, I mean, and you know, he would always come and apologize to me later, but it was like, you're not.
And it was always about just silly like that, you know, it's like, we're gonna run this and it's like we're getting reviews about how dry this duck is. Let me change it. Because some of the recipes were his, you know, his families, and they were generational, but they just generationally sucked.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know what I mean? It's like how many, how many reviews you're going to get before you maybe take a look at maybe you being the problem?
Speaker A:Well, food is so personal. Like, I get attacked for this podcast or a bad set or something that sucks, but I can't imagine, like, I'm feeding people.
Speaker E:Yeah. Damn it.
Speaker A:You may not like this now, but if the apocalypse happened and it was just me in here, I think you'd like my canned salmon. All right.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right. That's what you always say when you're making a point. All right.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Next question. You always. Do you always talk about canned salmon? I do 247 with the canned salmon.
Speaker B:Jesus. That canned tuna. But canned salmon I can deal with.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, that's a romantic.
Speaker C:I Just don't feel like this type of fish go into cans.
Speaker A:I know. It's kind of ironic, too. Think about being like one of the strongest fish women upstream. Upriver, you get caught and shoved in a can.
It's a bad way to go.
Speaker C:I just think those are both good cuts of meat. And to throw them in a can just seems disrespectful.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And let them sit there in their own juices, warm shelves for God knows how long.
Speaker A:I imagine this is the skid row salmon they're shoving. They're not. I don't know that they're putting the primo. This is the salmon.
Speaker B:Like, they got hooks for fins.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they're like eye patches.
Speaker A:And they're swimming in a creek or a river near like a. Like a data center where like, like waste is just being leaked into it. They got three on and three eyes in their veins. Seven fins.
You know, these are the. You know, this is the skid row, Sam. They're putting in half.
Speaker C:Their body is just microplastics.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I did find out that technically the. The cut of the meat, like, if you got a tuna steak would be tuna. And it's only when it's shredded up and put in the can is it called tuna fish.
Speaker A:I said earlier, I don't like it when social media and technology is misused in movies. This is. Is this the best use of social media in a movie?
Speaker B:It's absolutely up there.
It wasn't as annoying as it could have been because, like, I feel like now, like, kind of like you said, it's so ingrained that whenever they put it in, it's just like, okay, we're making a big deal out of something that's kind of like everyday life. That was still cap, like you said, with the time capsule idea. It was capitalizing on the novelty of someone who.
Who wasn't famous, is just good at his job, getting famous because he's taking on the food critic.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:And, you know, I'll say this, man, food critics can be complete assholes.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, I. And you know, it's. It's. What's crazy for me is to watch the evolution of them the past few years to turning to just influencers.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Which it kind of helps a little bit because, like, nobody really takes them super serious anymore.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know what I mean?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:If they give you a bad review, you're like, oh, that guy just sucks. You know what I mean?
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker E:And.
Speaker C:But back in the day, I do remember a time where, like, the Food critic had a lot of power.
Speaker E:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:And when they come in, you try to do everything you can for them to make them, you know, feel good. And then sometimes you do everything possible under the sun, and they still give you a bad review.
Speaker B:I feel like now, because they're. They've turned into influencers, everyone's like, oh, see that person? Treat him like absolute dog, honestly.
Speaker C:Yeah. That's become a thing. I know. I have several chef friends that are like, we'll kick them the out if they announce that they're an influencer.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's like, walk, don't run to the new. The new Sushi Place on 8th Avenue. Oh, my God, you guys. You know, like, I just hate it.
Speaker B:What did you think of his flip at the end where he's like, I sold my. My Internet company, and I'm here to back you?
Speaker C:Well, see, and, you know, that's another thing like this. I'm saying this movie was fantastic for a lot of reasons.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:One thing that is common that has happened to me throughout the years is I through doing private chef services and just, you know, getting in front of the right people and then people being really, like, open and recognizing the art and ability that I do have, I've. I've gotten some situations where people are like, hey, I want to back you.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:On, you know, this project and this project, and it's actually something that's currently. I'm currently working on now is maybe not somebody that criticized me, but it's just somebody.
I've got a couple people that are looking to back me for a couple different projects and help me get to where I want to go. That's. That's a common thing with the chef industry, is just people recognizing what you do and wanting to support it, but.
Speaker B:Not outside the realm of possibility.
Speaker C:Oh, no, that actually happens quite a bit. Maybe not the. Again, the critic aspect, but just people seeing your talent as a chef and wanting to back you up.
I know several people that have been able to open restaurants and food trucks because people are just like, hey, you're. You're really good. You need a spot.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:One thing I loved about how they handled social media, again, as the person that hates it usually in movies, is that I think what it shows really accurately is actually, I think you can look at the. Like, the timeline of. Of Facebook comments, Twitter comments over time, if we can put them on a graph.
I think one thing we've seen, and this is really interesting, if we haven't listened to Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins podcast. It's called the Magnificent Others.
One thing that he talks about, and even though I grew up in that era and that was my music growing up, one thing I didn't really pick up on is that the music critics were very powerful.
Speaker E:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Critics in every industry have held a lot of power for a long time. Movie critics, food critics, music critics. And like, he talks about. And sometimes it gets annoying.
He talks about it so much, but he literally felt like it was a war against the magazine music critics. And I think one thing that. It's kind of sad that this is what's happened, but I think we've seen where now today we read comments.
It's like, oh, everyone's a critical. Yeah, every. Everyone is. And here's the real truth. And I'm sorry if you're a critic out there and maybe there's a couple of fair ones.
Speaker C:Ones.
Speaker A:But you critique because you can't do. Yeah, you critique because you don't do.
And the idea of a professional critique, a minus a small minority, which may have a sense of balance is preposterous.
The fact that in: Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Why are we. Why do I want to read some untalented assholes opinion on something that I professionally enjoy?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's what this. This podcast too. Because of the comments and because of critics.
Speaker B:I was about to say he says as he's on a movie review podcast.
Speaker A:Yeah, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. I don't call myself a critic. I call myself a professional appreciator.
And yeah, I'll call if I don't like it, but at the end of the day, I. I still want people to go see movies.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:We're also trying to be as respectful to the artist as we can.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:We're getting into the art form and. And I. I try to be fair. If I don't like a movie, I still say, well, you know, like with Tintin y. Attentive. And I'm like, you know what?
The animation was a huge step forward. That was pretty wild.
I tried to be positive, but overall, I just think that we've seen the nastiness of people in general, and I think it takes us look at critics like, wow, you want to do what they do in the comments professionally.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow, you want to get paid to do that.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker C:And I think, honestly, I feel like that profession is kind of died or take on taking on a new form.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because, like, nobody knows who critics are anymore.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's all just the influencers doing that job. But, yeah, I mean, it's insane. It's insane that that used to just be what people did. They're like, I'm going to go out to dinner and bitch.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And they're going to pay me. You know what I mean? It's like, like, fuck you.
Speaker B:I'm not even going to pay for the meal. Either the restaurant or the magazine is going to pay for it. Imagine being that angry at life that you can be that mad about eating free food.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker A:Especially with. With things that, like art forms that have emotional attachments. Like, you really said that earlier. Like food, you feeding people.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Great. You know, you meet your wife over dinner. You meet your best friends for dinner. Like, conversations happen, business deals happen.
Happens over food and coffee. And it's like. And you want to be the. That be like, if I don't like it. Yeah, I don't like it. It's just like, dude, this is an emotional experience.
So the way I eat a piece of food might be totally different than somebody else's.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, I have attachments to meals because I met. Maybe my first date, like, German Town or. Sorry, City Cat. City House here in Nashville. I took my. That was my first date with my wife.
I don't eat there all the time, but I have this crazy big place in my heart for City House because that's where I took my wife.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so. But some critic might go in there, like. Well, I just didn't like. It's like, well, bro, you have a different attachment to. Than it. I do.
Speaker C:The table is supposed to be like a neutral place.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Where we may not agree about anything at all, but when we sit down at this table, we can sit here and share a meal and gain sustenance together and at least agree that the food's good or bad.
Speaker A:Last question. Is Jon Favreau's grilled cheese montage the most erotic food scene ever? Zooming in on that melted cheese. I was just.
Speaker B:I'd say it's definitely top five. I know there's some other ones where I've just been, like, wet watching. Watching some stuff, but it's definitely up there. And again, it's like, it's.
It's. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker A:I just laughing because I get it. I get what you're saying.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker B:But, like, it's the simplicity of it.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, he's not over complicating it.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:He's got, like, two or three different kinds of cheeses. Cool. But he's. Was it. Was he using mayonnaise or butter on the. On the outside?
Speaker C:Butter.
Speaker B:Okay. So he butters the outside, puts the cheese in, cooks the outsides, smashes it together, flips it a couple times, and it's good to go.
Speaker A:And the string of multiple cheeses melted together. I was like, yeah, yeah, give it to me.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:When he's making the. The Cubano sandwich, I was like, that. Yeah, that right there.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I'd see.
And like, you know, I can make all that fancy stuff, those tweezer stuff, but I think for me, with the movie, he just highlighted how he just wanted to do some simple things. And I think for me, it's like, I. I can make all that fancy food in the world, but at the end of the day, I just. Give me a good brisket.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:You know, and a smoker and some bread and give me some. I'm good with that.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Maybe second to. In the movie erotic food scene was Leguizamo marinating the pork.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Citrus. And I was like, oh, he was.
Speaker B:So mad that he didn't get to cook that pork at the beginning. I was like, you just got a whole pig, and you're not gonna let him cook it?
Speaker C:Well, now. So that's the thing. I don't know if you noticed this or not, but throughout the entire movie, he was cooking it.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:There was. Took it Home.
Speaker C:There was so many scenes where he cooks bacon, and that was like. I was glad that you brought that up, because he gets the pig in the beginning, and then you don't.
You don't realize that he's cooking it throughout the entire movie.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Because they. They. They show him cooking bacon several different times, and they always zoom in on the bacon. I may be reading too much into it, but I just.
Like, when I was watching the movie and I saw them, like, zoom in on the bacon a couple different times, I'm like, what is the point of them doing that? I'm like, oh, they got the pig in the beginning.
Speaker B:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker C:You know what I mean? But maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker A:Rando Rendos, man. Great discussion. From the chef, baby.
Speaker C:From the chef.
Speaker A:Some of the stuff that I was sensing in this movie because, you know, Jon Favreau has established himself so much in mcu.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Lore. But, you know, especially by this point. Yes. And before this, he was really known more for the.
The movie Swingers and some other movies that were kind of.
Speaker B:And he was on Friends.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker A:Yes, he was. He was. He would show up in sitcoms. He was hilarious. He's a hilarious actor.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:A very gifted director.
But part of the reason he wanted to make this movie is because even though Iron man was well received, some of his later entries in the MCU universe where he was a producer, not always a director.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because of the critical backlash, he wanted to go into a mindset where a. He was kind of getting back closer to the.
The scale down filmmaking, the independent style of filmmaking, while kind of paying retribution to critics.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's where his mindset was. And so he went out and he became friends with and enlisted Roy Choi, who is a respected chef. You probably know.
I don't know as much about him, but he's New York or he's an LA chef behind Kogi barbecue truck. And he was a consultant on the film.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:But he asked Choi to take him through a boot camp. So he taught him how to cook and he also sent him to French culinary for a week.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so all the on screen cooking is Favreau. So even when you're not seeing his face, that's him cutting, that's him doing everything. Very impressive knife skills and stuff.
I mean, compared to me especially. But it was really cool. And also, Choi acted as a consultant behind the camera.
So usually they use like glycerin and stuff like that for food in commercials and in movies to make the food look appealing.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But one of his non negotiable Choi. One of his non negotiables for doing this for the movie was it had to be real food.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's honestly something I noticed was that this didn't feel like an over glamorized. Like none of the shots were trying to make the food look sexy. Yeah, the food just looked fucking good the whole time.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker A:Like the pasta, I can't. Is it called a pasta giglio? I can't remember what it's called, what he makes for Scarlett Johansson.
Speaker C:Yeah, it looked like. I was gonna say it looked like cacio de Pepe.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So that was real. And so.
And then part of the trade off too is that that when the scenes were over, they didn't want the food to get wasted, so the crew would just chow down after scenes. This may have been the best movie ever to make. Seriously, you Got everyone on sets of freaking. Also, even Favreau is now a French culinary train.
Everyone's making amazing food. I don't know how they all maintain weight, but. Yeah.
Speaker B:So I mean, I love the fact that they keep talking about how fat John Favreau is.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, that was funny.
Speaker A:Yeah, so funny. And even also Favreau spent time in. Under Wolfgang Puck in his restaurant too. So in one of.
Obviously he has a lot, but one of the ones he was cooking at at the time.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, you got to get that. The juxtaposition being in a high end kitchen versus just being around a very good chef who's also now running a.
Speaker A:Food truck, apparently based on. I mean, I haven't been able to corroborate this with a ton of research, but apparently he treated him like a chef. He was like. Or a line cook.
He was like, send it back. If people send it back. Like he made him recook, like all the things that you experience. Like he made John Favro.
He's like, if you're going to do this.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like you need to experience what it's actually like to be back here doing this. So I major respect to Favreau. I love the independent mindset. Getting back scaling.
Although this version of an independent, you know, film where you can get every single incredible cast member, you can afford to go to culinary school and you have a banging soundtrack with needle drop royalties.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let's not get too far down the path. But still, nonetheless, compared to his time with mcu.
Speaker E:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Love seeing people.
Speaker B:What's the budget for this movie?
Speaker A:The budget was 11 million.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it made 46 million.
Speaker E:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:No, that tracks.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:For independent stuff. That's. Honestly.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:You just want to make back the budget, the marketing and then double that.
Speaker C:87% on rotten tomatoes. Yeah, Some people liked it. What I thought was weird though is like Scarlett Johansson's character just kind of disappeared.
Speaker B:Yeah, I guess. I mean, the half the movie he's not in la and then she does pop in right at the end again, once he's back in la.
Speaker C:Yeah. It's just. I don't know. Like, I do want to comment on the love life part of it. Dating chefs is hard.
You know, we are full of anxiety all day and then like, it's like we go to work and we have all this shit going on and it's just like blood's pumping up, you know, I got Javier over here. He's been up four days on meth, but he cooks Salmon better than anybody in the city. So I gotta keep him. You know what I mean?
The cooler goes down, I gotta save all this product, and then when I get off work, you know, whoever I'm seeing asks me if I would love them if they were still a worm, it's like, what do you mean? Are you insane?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:The relationship he had with his kid was. Was interesting, too.
Speaker B:Yeah, Absolutely.
I, Like, I think he could have easily treated it as he's a shitty father, when the truth of the matter is he wanted to be a good father, but also was trying to balance the stress of everything.
And it's like, once he and his son were able to, like, be together on the truck, and he was able to really show his love of cooking to his kid, it's like, that's what they started bonding over.
Speaker C:I mean, but the kid. The kid wanted to. The whole time. Yeah, the whole time.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:And he wouldn't do it. And it's just like, you suck, dude. Yeah, you kind of suck.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then, like, when they're on the truck coming back, he's like, all right, we get back, you go to school. We're not. We're not gonna be able to do this anymore. It's like, shut up. You just don't want to hang out with this kid.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:He can be there with you whenever, dude.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:I actually had a question. I was like, is he a bad dad?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, it's awful. Yeah, he's off.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I thought that, too, like, because as a parent of four kids, like, I do go back and forth. Like, I think one fault. I see a lot with how people try to. Especially, like, fucking influencers, which. Fuck them.
But, like, there's very much a white collar, pristine. Dad works 40 hours, mom stays home.
Like, there's a lot of, like, kind of weird archetypal, like, formation we put around how to judge how well people parent.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think one thing that modern perception of how good of a parent is is, like, it doesn't.
It doesn't take into account multiple ecosystems like this, like, to have a family grow up in the tradition of cooking and, like, have that, like, you did, like, that shaped your life. Look what you do for a living.
Speaker C:Yeah, I know.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, and that's what you grew up in. And I'm not saying your childhood was good or perfect or great or whatever. You. That's up to you. But there are ecosystems.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, and, like, just because you came. You came from a homeschooled, but. But big but loving and family and I came from a family of drunks.
Like, there's ecosystems and what good looks like is different in all those situations.
That being said, if that's my belief system, which it is, that ecosystems can still determine how good of a parent you are within those circumstances. I still think Vavra could have done better here.
Speaker B:Oh, I think he could have done better. I just don't think fundamentally he's a bad father. I think he doesn't know how to be a father.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's like his journey throughout this is realizing, oh, this is what it means to be a dad.
Speaker C:And it's also. It's like, you know, he's got a very well off ex wife. He's got all the resources. It's not like he's scrounging.
Speaker D:Yeah, right.
Speaker C:You know what I mean? He seems like his character seems like he's also well off. Maybe not well off, but, like doing okay. It's not like things are a little less dire.
And it's like, hey, your kid wants to go to the farmer's market with you. Quit being a dick.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:And take him to the farmer's market.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A: ost infamous taker downers of:What's funny is the guy that plays the critic is also in the Bear, Oliver Platt. He's also the unk. He's unknown in the Bear. And. And Ryan Koppelman, who follows us on Instagram. Love you. Brian plays computer.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:But he's also known as his producer director for, you know, a lot of movies. Rounders.
Speaker B:I think he. He helped produce Billions.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker A:He created it. He's a show.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's what I thought.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker A:Thanks again for following us on Instagram. I'm just gonna keep saying it. Name drop. Shall we. Shall we cook it raw?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Shall we? Yeah. Shall we season it?
Speaker B:Shall we marinate some pork?
Speaker A:Let's war. Let's cook. Yeah, let's cook. We have. So this is how it works. We got five categories and the yes category, al dente.
Speaker E:Okay.
Speaker A:I tried to use cooking terms here. And negative. No. If you don't like it, send it back.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker A:Send it back. Which we. We should not. If you send it back, don't leave a bad review. If they. If they do, they make it up. If they make it better.
Why would you go leave a shitty review yeah, that's because you. You. Third row, horrible. I saw you wincing when Matt was talking.
Speaker C:But I mean, if they, if they're. If they don't try to alleviate the situation, by all means. Oh, yeah, hold them accountable, please.
Speaker A:That's right. Because there are. There's shitty food out there. Let's not be. Let's not say there's not shitty food. This is crazy. So cast.
All right, so this is a combination of top and supporting. You know who made the top bill cast? Can you guess?
Speaker B:Robert Downey Jr.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Jon Favreau. Robert Downey Jr. For 45 seconds. That's an exact.
Speaker B:Probably got paid like a million of that. 11 million for that 45 seconds.
Speaker A:I wonder if he had a relationship with Jon Favreau before. And Scarlett Johansson.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Two of those people you see the least in this movie. But that's the top bill. And then from there we go. Dustin Hoffman.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Indie cast, my ass.
Speaker B:Fantastic. By the way, as. As the restaurant owner. Like, what a. Like not, not loud, but like, real subtle piece of shit.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Real close.
Speaker C:He hit the nail on the head. Like, as far as some of the restaurant owners I've dealt with, especially like the one I was just telling you about, the. The Italian.
Yeah, Italian guy. Like, take him like in the movie and then turn the volume up to 15. Just angry Italian, you know, yelling about pasta and that.
That's who I dealt with.
Speaker A:It's my food, it's my napkins. I like it when he goes, I buy the napkins.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I was like, well, I guess you do buy the napkins.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, just.
Speaker C:Just like that.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker C:But just like, imagine that, but like pointing and yelling at you.
Speaker B:I buy the fucking napkins.
Speaker A:Every Italian friend I have, they just. There's always a point where they're yelling.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm not trying to be bigoted.
Speaker C:They just yell and, you know, like, I, I'm. You know, he's an Italian. Angry Italian. I'm a wild ass hillbilly. And I will match that energy. And I. And I used to. And it used to be great. Crazy.
Speaker A:I would love to hear that. Kitchen.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:The hillbilly versus the Italian.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Supporting cast. This is stacked, man. Dustin Hoffman, two of my favorite characters in this movie, John Leguizone was Martin and Bobby Conaval's Tony.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Bobby Carnival shows up in like, like the other guys. He just randomly shows up and he could do drama. Yeah, he's one of those other guys.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where he just like, he shows up and just does great work. I love him. And then we have MJ Anthony as the child Wild Percy. And then so Sofia Vergara as Inez.
Speaker B:Which she was super fun.
Speaker A:Like, was.
Speaker B:That was. The other thing is I like that she still cared about Jon Favreau. That. That she. She wasn't just writing him off as an asshole or a lazy piece of shit.
Like, she still saw something good in him and was trying to help him.
Speaker C:Well, and I think that, like, what it does really good to represent kind of what relationships are like with chefs, because, like, and a lot of times, like, people that we date, they realize that we are. Especially if you're in the restaurant industry, that we are. That it's almost like our job is like, our partner, you know?
And they know that, and they know they can't. Sometimes it's not good for them to be all the way involved, but they still love you. You know what I mean?
Like, he has that relationship with Scarlett, too. And that's just kind of what it is.
And that's kind of what it is for a lot of chefs, is they have these people that love them but know that it's maybe not good to be fully invested with them.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:So what do you think?
Speaker B:Oh, definitely al dente. Looking at the supporting cast and even everyone who was in the lead roles. Like.
Speaker C:Al dente.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:The fact that Jon Favreau literally went to two different culinary boot camps because he's like, no, I want to make this as accurate as possible. Really shows that as a guy portraying the character, he wanted to make sure it was as respectful and accurate it as he could. And then everyone just.
I think. I think his passion for this just came through so much in every role.
And we'll get to directing in a little bit, but just in every role that he played that everyone else couldn't help but follow along with it. So, yeah, I think everybody absolutely crushed it. So completely al dente.
Speaker C:Love it. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm the same.
I feel like this is the one of the only chef movies that I've watched that's kind of had a direct parallel with my own personal experience in life. So. Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, that's beautiful when that happens. Totally al dente. A lot of stuff here. I think Favreau is. Because he's become pretty much synonymous with MCU for a lot of people.
I just love him as an actor. Yeah, he's actually a very gifted comedic actor. He wrote this. I mean, he directed it. He's across the board here. Just.
Just aces it's funny because John Luke was almost a guy that, like, if you just zoomed in on him, you would think that his, his energy, his Persona, like it should be irritating.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But for whatever reason, it just works because he's excited.
Speaker B:He's just happy to be there.
Speaker A:And he can do drama. If you haven't seen, if you've seen Son or the Summer of Sam, which is Spike Lee's movie, he stars in Adrian Brody's in it as well.
It's an incredible take. A lot of people didn't like it. It's actually one of the lower rated Spike Lee movies.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker C:I love it.
Speaker A:You liked it?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's brutal. It's brutal.
Speaker C:It's gritty. I think they, they, they hit on some other things that were happening at the time, like the whole tension of the era.
They covered the blackouts and how crazy that was. I mean.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker C:And it was more than just a serial killer movie. Like they were really. There was a lot of social commentary there that I enjoyed.
Speaker A: lly I was a kid, I was older,:It was a comedy special, but it was a one man show. There was music and he danced and it was an hour and he was sweating. Remember this? And he just put on a show. I used to watch it, it all the time.
Yeah, I loved it. So he, he's truly, I think, underrated in a lot of ways. He always delivers. And then Bobby Conval again, as, as Tony here, just crushing it.
This, this is al dente across the board.
Speaker C:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:One to zero writing. Mr. Jon Favreau.
Speaker B:So this is gonna be a squeak over for me. Okay. In that, yes, the script is very well done. Dialogue was, was very solid.
However, just strictly from a writing perspective, there's nothing special about the writing. It's just. It reasonably mimics real life. But there's, there was never.
There's not like a line or, or a monologue or anything that really like stuck out to me. All of it was good. Like, there's nothing bad about it. But yeah, it's a squeak over for me. So. Al dente.
Speaker C:Yeah.
I mean, I think for me that like I, and I mentioned this earlier, I think they could have made it a bit more gritty, but that's just my personal opinion. But I will say the argument that he has in front of the staff with the Restaurant owner. I think that was very accurate. And it was.
And it was, it was well written.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:That I, I felt like the, the climax was this kind of lackluster.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:And they kind of glazed over the part where Robert Downey Jr. Was like implying that his son might actually be his.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:That was like a weird. That was like, wait a minute. That's like a, A. That's big news.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:They just didn't ever talk about it again.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, and it was like, I'd like to know more about that. But I mean, at the end of the day, I think overall I give it, you know, al dente.
Speaker A:I wanted to go in doing a resounding al dente. But after hearing everybody talk, it kind of reminded me of some sentiments I had, which I think I agree with you.
Which is the best written scenes in the movie are the restaurant scenes and they're the dynamic in the restaurants. But outside of that, the writing is serviceable.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But there's a lot of emotional arcs that they don't satisfy. Like the insinuation that it might not. Not be his kid. Like the insinuation that at the end that they get back together.
You know, not the insinuation they do there at their wedding. But the, the emotional payoff with that ending scene really doesn't get built in.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:To me. So. And him being kind of a bad dad, you know, and that, that's not really.
This isn't the type of movie where I think they felt the temptation to flesh that out.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I do think there's some elements of redemption or maybe some emotional arcs within like his realization of. Of how he father. Where it just didn't satisfy that. So I think it deserves a resounding al dente for all the restaurant dynamics. And then it's like.
Yes. It's a squeak above for. For the emotional arcs.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:So. But it's still enough to go. To go. Yes. On this. Directing Jon Favreau all over this thing.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now, again, al dente, he did a great job. We've gone very in depth about all of the depth that he put into this. So. Yeah, it's not even a squeak over. It's a full out dente for me.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah. I mean. And again, just his attention to detail. I mean, I like.
And again, I don't know, I think that like, like I was saying earlier, watching him eat, I don't know if that was something I was wondering. I was like, did he like mean to put that in there? But.
Because it's something that a lot of my chef friends like deal with is actually having anxiety around physically eating because we have to eat fast. And like every chef I know eats very fast. Even when we're like off work and we're just at dinner.
And it's just like when I saw that, I was like, if he actually put that in the movie and was. Went that deep in it, that's phenomenal.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Being able to cover every aspect of kind of what the culinary world is, that's. That's insane.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:So al dente for me as well.
Speaker A:My respect grew tremendously when I researched this movie because I liked it when it came out. But. But because I'm kind of like, I just don't love MCU stuff. I just made that very clear. I'm not into it. I am a hater. Yes. Welcome to my world.
But I love the dedication here. I love that he went and learned to cook in really high stakes situations and actually does it on screen.
I love the decision to use real food and to feed the. Feed the crew. Like for all the emotional arcs that are missing, really when you take that out of it, I have very few critiques.
And it's really just a neatly packaged fun like not to. To play on words. Consumable film. It's just, it's easy to digest. It's fun.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:The, the way it kind of comes at you, you're just kind of taking it in stride. You're loving the relationship.
I think the food truck thing, even though I. I criticize some of the emotional elements, I also think the food truck scenes are fun.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:A lot of great dynamic. There's just a lot of good decisions.
A lot of great dedication from Favreau as a director here showing us that he's not just a big budget guy, but he can also go in an 11 million dollar film and, and make. Make it rain. So love it. We are heading towards medium rare here to tell you how poor I was. Tortilla chips with Tabasco was a meal.
And it was two times a day a meal. And my. I used to do a bit about this. My mom used to. So we used to eat ramen. Like we would sometimes. We live on ramen for weeks at a time.
This isn't the fancy ass ramen in Nashville. This is munching. And sometimes we would eat the beef ramen.
But when she decided we've eaten too much beef ramen, we need to be healthy, we do the veggie ramen.
Speaker E:There you go.
Speaker A:That was a big Deal for us that was called health.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:In the way I grew up.
Speaker C:So nice.
Speaker A:Thank you mom for being a bipolar nut case. What's in front of us? Cinematography, production design, sound, costumes, editing, and all the stunts.
Speaker B:I am actually going to squeak under. Send it back.
Speaker A:You're gonna send it back?
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker C:I'm gonna go over. So I think for one like the kitchen, they had all that nailed. They had all that nailed on the procedures.
And those high end kitchens with their what they're like. They also, I feel like they highlighted the chefs being able to use social media to their advantage because he was able to really blow up the.
The food truck and really get a lot of attention and following behind it. And I think it was just shot well and then it just showing what we do and then using proper cooking procedures that weren't garbage.
And then actually the food that they were making was. That was high end, was very, very accurate. So I think, you know, camera wise, I think it was good. But you probably know more than I do about that.
Speaker B:So. My biggest problem with the visuals in this is I never felt like the food was a character in the movie. I felt like the food was just kind of there.
And I'm not even talking about dressing it up to make it look prettier. I am just talking about the way the food was featured in the visuals itself.
I never got this sense that it was supposed to overwhelm the rest of my senses that when we're focused on the food, it's truly about the food.
And maybe that wasn't the point of the movie, but for me, I think if you are going to make a movie about the food industry, the food has to be every bit as important of a character in the story as any of the actual people. So it's like, yeah, there were moments where I was like, oh, that looks like really tasty.
But I never got this moment where I just wanted to be enveloped by the food. So that for me is why it's a squeak under.
Speaker A:See I. So I'm with Matt on this.
I think it's interesting that you don't think that the food featured like that's why I asked a question about the grilled cheese. I'm living in that grilled cheese.
Speaker B:That was the only moment where I felt like it got close. But even then I felt. I didn't feel like the. The point of that scene was not the grilled cheese.
The point of that scene was just him being around his kid. And I never felt the, the genuine importance. I didn't think about the grilled cheese until you brought it up.
Speaker A:I did. I'm still thinking about it. The pork. The pork.
I love the, and see, for me, and maybe it's just the way we experienced it differently, but I love the way that they're enjoying Martin's pork.
Like the, the love that he, he put into the, the marinade and the way he's showing his kid how to enjoy it and the way they're giving him a hard time for not enjoying food. Like, I, I don't know, maybe, maybe.
I think I can see what you're saying, like, in terms of how it features, but the way the characters experience and relate to food is definitely featured. And I, I, that's the thing is.
Speaker B:The food is not the character. It's, it's the characters talking about the food.
Speaker A:Then why do I remember so many of these foods so viscerally?
Speaker B:Look, because it's your opinion and that's fine.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker A:When it comes to this category with cinematography, I, I don't think there's anything special being done.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I, I was engrossed by the knife skills. Especially like I keep saying knife skills when they kept zooming in on the cutting.
When I found out that was actually Favreau, I was like, I love that.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I wasn't necessarily even thinking about the frames or thinking about the camera technique or the sign of the, you know, the designs, because I was actually like engrossed by the process. 4 to 0. And it's too late to, to lose on this one. We got one category left. I call this one Whole Foods.
Speaker E:Oh, God.
Speaker A:What do we think about this? The cooking and the realism of food preparation, the processes, the kitchen stuff, anything relating to the food.
Speaker B:So this will be a squeak over al dente for me for the same reasons I brought up in the visuals category is I do feel like the food could have been like, just visually featured better. But you get the attitude of especially Jon Favreau and the guys that are traveling with him.
You do get the understanding of how much they're into the food and how much they love the food. I think it, it fell just a little flat for me personally, but not so flat that I can't say it wasn't at least reasonably well done.
But it's still al dente for me.
Speaker C:The only, the only issue, I'm gonna say al dente, but the only issue I had is when you were talking about the knife skills, where he's doing that.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Most chefs I know don't do that. That's really a show thing, is it? Yeah, because it's absurd, you know?
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker C:Yeah. It looks cool, but it's like. There's just too many things that can happen with that. I can do that.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:But I never do it. Choose not to. And all.
A lot of my chef friends do as well, because it's like, I would rather just take my time and make sure this is done right instead of speed through it, because you can get to speeding, and your cuts get off, and then everything's fucked up.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker C:It looks cool, but it's not. That's kind of a. Not a realistic thing.
Speaker A:I go out dente, too, and I think I. I understand what you're saying. There is a way to focus on food that. That really is more of a, like, kind of a food obsession. Like, it's funny.
The first thing that comes to mind is the show Hannibal. Like, the. The Silence. Like, they did the Hannibal Lecter. But a show is incredible.
Speaker C:I love that show.
Speaker A:Incredible. Do you remember how they focused on the food?
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker C:Yes. Yeah. I was like, dude, he is making some of the. The best shit.
Speaker A:Like, he was making Crazy with humans.
Speaker C:I know. So he had that whole. He had that one scene where he, like, built a clay pot over the top of, like, a leg, and he cooked it. And like this.
It's a French cooking method that. It dates from a long time ago, and I've never. I've always wanted to try it, but I've never been able to. Like, it's. It's a process.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:He builds that clay pot over the top of it while it's still raw. And then while you. You bake it, it bakes the clay to make a pot over the food, and then it gives it like a.
It's just a crazy, like, process of cooking stuff.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker C:And then you break the. You literally break the. The pot when the food's done.
Speaker A:Incredible. Yeah. So if you haven't watched it. So my. The first books I ever were obsessed with, heavily influenced as a writer, was the Red Dragon. Silence.
Thomas Harris's Hannibal. And this isn't really in the novels, but they did it for the Hannibal show. And I get a lot of shit for this. Mads Mikkelsen is my favorite Hannibal.
I'm sorry, hate to say it, all respect to Anthony Hopkins. Incredible. But I love Mads.
But one thing they do that's in the show is that he has this Rolodex, and it's beautiful cursive, because, you know, he's a Genius.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:And. And their recipes, but they're all classic humans.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Classic French recipes. But every year he throws a gigantic, like, soiree party for all of his rich doctor friends and lawyers.
But he's serving them all the food that he killed people that year.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:And he. But they look like extravagant and. But it's almost pornographic.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:The way they zoom in on the dish.
Speaker C:Oh, in his kitchen. That show, like his home kitchen. I'm like, God, I would kill high end.
Speaker A:So there is almost a pornographic angle where you, like, on the food and like, I can see what you say. Maybe if there was like a two minute scene where Favo really made something that was special and like in, like it zoomed in.
But I just don't know if that was the message of this movie. It was about the dynamics, the relationships, and it really focused on the business and this critical angle. I just don't know that there was time.
We've already got one disjointed.
Speaker B:You wouldn't have needed to add more time.
Speaker C:Time.
Speaker A:I just think so.
Speaker B:I just, I. I just think those scenes especially where he's getting creative again.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think those scenes could have been filmed a little bit different to make, to make the food more of a character.
Speaker A:Yeah. And I think too, though, he's. He's like an everyman chef. Like. Yes.
He's got a, he's got a reputation and he is beloved, but he isn't like Bobby Flay tv. I do think he's like kind of in that middle grade where he's, he's really good, but he's also, he's, he's known in Miami.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker A:But he's not necessarily like a world renowned chef. So I think maybe that's why they shied away. This is just my interpretation. They didn't feel the need to get really, like in on the food.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Hey, we're at five.
Speaker A:Oh, five. Oh. And this was incredible, man.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I want to go eat your food, like right now.
Speaker C:Yeah, please do.
Speaker B:We got the Goonies next week, y', all, with Matt west joining us again, so stay tuned.
Speaker A:I'm Kyle.
Speaker B:I'm Seth Map.
Speaker C:West.
Speaker A:Wars.
