Comme un chef
Director: Daniel Cohen
Writer: Daniel Cohen
Cast: Jean Reno, Michaël Youn, Raphaëlle Agogué, Julien Boisselier
Part of: Festival du film francophone

Plot:
Jacky Bonnot (Michaël Youn) is a passionate chef. Unfortunately his passion is a bit over the top and keeps on costing him his jobs. Since his girlfriend Béatrice (Raphaëlle Agogué) is too far along in her pregnancy to work anymore, Jacky has to take any job he can find. Which happens to be as a painter in a retirement home. But of all things, that’s where he’s discovered by Alexandre Lagarde (Jean Reno), star cook. Alexandre is struggling with the new management in his restaurant who think that he’s the culinary equivalent of a dinosaur. But maybe Jacky and Alexandre can help each other.

Comme un chef is good fun. It’s not an amazingly deep film and it won’t really surprise you, but it will make you smile and even laugh and it will entertain.

Admittedly, I went to see this film because of Jean Reno and not much more. And he was great – he should do funny more often. But I also really liked Michaël Youn. He really gets across a passion for food and a penchant for overdoing it that’s very funny to watch. (He also reminded me a bit about my brother, who is a cook, if not that much of a snob…)

The two of them really make for a good team and are a joy to watch. There’s really not much else you need for the film to entertain.

What I did find interesting, though, was that I couldn’t get a clear read on what Daniel Cohen thought of all this modern cuisine stuff. He really makes fun of molecular gastronomy and the weirder modern trends, but at the same time he’s also very clear about the need for development and incorporating the more “out there” movements. That is a more sophisticated approach to the “old vs new” question that most movie of its kind have. [I might be overthinking this a little  bit.]

In any case, I had fun with the film. Even though it probably won’t be my favorite movie of all times, I can easily see myself watching it again.

Summarising: lighthearted fun.