Long before the globetrotting television series and rapturously received book tours, chef and writer Anthony Bourdain cut his teeth working in kitchens — often amid considerable chaos. These experiences formed the basis for his bestselling book, Kitchen Confidential; now, those vivid scenes have been dramatized (and slightly fictionalized) in a narrative biopic that feels like a superhero’s origin story.
New Movie Tony Depicts an Idyllic, If Somewhat Clichéd, Summer for Young Anthony Bourdain
We meet Anthony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) — Tony, he insists — as he’s angling for a prestigious writing fellowship. He’s a freshman at Vassar who insists on introducing himself as a writer, despite the fact that he never seems to write much of anything. Assured of his impending ascension to literary glory, he flirts with a pretty classmate (Emilia Jones) and bristles at his condescending parents.
When he learns that he wasn’t selected for the fellowship, he spontaneously decamps for Cape Cod, where his would-be paramour is spending her summer. Finding her attached to a studly pizza maker, he gets drunk and causes a scene at a hole-in-the-wall seafood joint, only to be taken in by the restaurant’s wizened chef (Antonio Banderas). Reluctantly, the chef gives Bourdain a job washing dishes.
Many of the incidents depicted in Tony come from the pages of Kitchen Confidential, though some are borrowed from other stretches of Bourdain’s life — and others are pure fiction. The story is the film’s greatest weakness; it reduces its subject’s life to a juvenile running-after-the-girl plot, a disservice to the messier realities of life Bourdain was all too happy to depict truthfully. Even the role of drugs in Tony is presented as a side note, if an ominous one.
Fine Performances and Strong Atmosphere Elevate a Bland Dish
Sessa, who has clearly studied Bourdain’s mannerisms, finds a quiet and confused earnestness in the character. Banderas, playing a largely invented remix of one of Bourdain’s actual mentors, gives the film’s best performance.
Disappointingly, Tony has very little to say; for a movie about a writer, there isn’t much meaning to be gleaned from the words on the page. There’s some accidental meaning in the quiet moments, however. As Bourdain dries out on windswept beaches and studies the maneuvers of his mentor, there is real beauty to be found. Tony may not have settled on a point, but it almost stumbles into something undefinable when it takes a moment to breathe.
The film can’t hold a candle to the excellent documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, but it’s not without charm.
We’re Still Doing Insidious, and More Movies to Watch This Weekend
Improbably, the horror series Insidious soldiers on, with a sixth installment out this weekend. Insidious: Out of the Further (out of ideas would be more apt) repeats plot lines and jump scares from the previous 15 years of the franchise, introducing a new protagonist (Amelia Eve) plagued by extra-dimensional demons and struggling to protect her precocious daughter. Series regular Lin Shaye returns, despite the fact that her character perished five movies ago, but her earnestness can’t add much to a fundamentally soporific story. Fortunately for us, the horror genre has long since moved on from this brand of melodramatic nonsense. Don’t get your spooky season off on the wrong foot: skip Insidious.
Meanwhile, Jason Statham has to hurt people on a boat. That’s either all you’ll need to know to buy a ticket … or all you’ll need to know to go back to blissful ignorance of Mutiny, a new action flick from director Jean-François Richet. There’s some sort of revenge plot (isn’t there always?), but the important note is that Richet previously directed the surprisingly enjoyable throwback shoot-’em-up Plane, which may bode well enough for Mutiny. (Although it really should’ve been called Boat.)
Go See a Comedy and Releases You May Have Missed
A supremely funny quartet stars in Spa Weekend: Anna Faris (who really did quite well in the understandably underseen Scary Movie reboot), Isla Fisher, Leslie Mann and Michelle Buteau. While those names and a paper-thin premise — hijinks ensure when four friends go off on, you guessed it, a spa retreat — might not get you to run to the cinema, it’ll probably be an enjoyable streaming pick in a few months. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who wrote and directed the Bad Moms films, are at the helm.
Will this be the weekend that Spider-Man: Brand New Day finally vacates the top spot at the box office? Maybe, depending on how many people are interested in a sixth Insidious movie. (Tony will be more of a boutique hit.) If you’re among the few remaining people not to have accompanied Peter Parker on his latest adventure, here’s our review. Positive word-of-mouth should keep The End of Oak Street, which we reviewed last week, in cinemas for a while; it’s a bit more shocking than you’d expect, but it’s a good time. And don’t forget, even if Spidey is the champ, it’s still the year of Odysseus (or at least Anne Hathaway).
Keep exploring this summer’s releases with Sean’s line-up of the summer blockbuster season.
About the Author
Sean Collier is the editor-in-chief of Shady Ave and the arts and culture editor of TABLE Magazine. Before joining the TABLE Media team, he spent nearly 15 years as a writer, editor and columnist at Pittsburgh Magazine. As the in-house film critic for the top-rated WDVE Morning Show since 2009, he’s been Pittsburgh’s most widely heard voice on movies for nearly two decades. A Pittsburgh native, Sean has since 2020 appeared weekly on KDKA-TV’s popular Pittsburgh Today Live talk show. He’s the co-founder of Vigilance Theater Group and an active stand-up comedian and event host. He can be found on Instagram and Twitter at @seancollierpgh.
Story by Sean Collier
Photos Courtesy of Seacia Pavao / A24
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine’s print edition.
