 Like its cinematic cousins Julie & Julia and Ratatouille, Le Chef is a breezy, light-hearted culinary comedy that will mostly hit the spot for foodies and amateur chefs, and is best served before enjoying a meal at a trendy restaurant. French writer/director Daniel Cohen's screenplay follows a formulaic recipe, but it's made with a tantalizing pair of ingredients in the two leads. Michaël Youn is the sweet to Jean Reno's sour, and despite not providing much nutrition for the brain, the film goes down easy from the first bite to the last. (I'll end the food analogy here.) Alexandre Lagarde (Reno) is a classically-trained celebrity chef working for a corporate restaurant group led by an obnoxious CEO insistent on pushing the Cargo Lagarde restaurant toward the newest foodie trend: molecular gastronomy. If Alexandre doesn't adopt this nouvelle cuisine he’ll lose his restaurant and be relegated to overseeing the kitchen at a retirement home, where, incidentally, a ne’er do well culinary savant, Jacky Bonnot (Michaël Youn), is moonlighting in the kitchen (picture Remy the rat from Ratatouille). Jacky is a plucky, uncompromising chef who knows Alexandre’s recipes by heart and welcomes his invitation to help him save Cargo Lagarde. Both men have disappointed the women in their lives (Jacky’s pregnant girlfriend, Alexandre’s studious daughter), but those storylines are extra garnishes that detract from the film more than they enhance it. Le Chef is cinematic comfort food offering mostly empty calories; in other words, a crowd-pleaser. |  MSPIFF Sunday, April 6, 7:15pm Tuesday, April 15, 7:30pm Director: Daniel Cohen Producer: Sidonie Dumas Writer: Daniel Cohen Cinematographer: Robert Fraisse Editor: Géraldine Rétif Music: Nicola Piovani Cast: Jean Reno, Michaël Youn, Raphaëlle Agogué, Julien Boisselier, Salomé Stévenin, Serge Larivière, Issa Doumbia, Bun-hay Mean, Pierre Vernier, Santiago Segura Runtime: 84m. Genre: Comedy Countries: France/Spain Premiere: February 12, 2012 – Berlin International Film Festival US Distributor: Cohen Media Group |
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