Tony

No man in the film is a complete picture of healthy masculinity, but "Tony" seems to honestly reflect that issue both for 1975 and the present.

Matt Johnson creates a film that bridges the faux-doc jitteriness of his earlier work with the richness of classic one-perfect-summer cinema.

The beauty of “Tony,” ultimately, is that we don’t really care that this character is, or will become, Anthony Bourdain. Thanks to Sessa’s performance, Tony is a wholly unique creation.

Director and co-writer Matt Johnson offers an unromantic, warts-and-all portrait, inviting viewers to wonder how close Bourdain got to potentially throwing his life away before becoming a celebrated chef and author.

It gets at the heart of Bourdain’s everyman appeal, the universal need for belonging and purpose, and the struggle to find your voice, both as a young adult and as a writer. Beyond its dutiful biopic services, Tony reminds its audience of the sharp turns and unlikely encounters that can change the course of our lives and give us stories to share over the dinner table.

As a film about what it means to embrace what’s in front of you and not what’s in your mind, it’s a lovely and deeply likeable work.

If something seems cheesy in “Tony,” it was likely added in to create drama.

A movie where it feels like nothing happened but everything changed in the best way possible.

Stories about challenged individuals who manage to turn their lives around are immensely popular with moviegoing audiences. But there’s a big difference between those that depict individuals who beat the odds against them and those featuring characters who have to dig themselves out of their own self-created holes (and it should be easy to guess which ones are more well-liked). Such latter circumstances are the ones in play in this biographical comedy-drama from writer-director Matt Johnson, an origin story about how celebrity chef and culinary travelogue host Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018) got his start. In 1975, Bourdain (who curtly and routinely informed others that he simply wanted to be called “Tony”) (Dominic Sessa) was enrolled at Vassar College in one of the first classes to which men had been admitted to the former all-women’s institution. He was seeking (with brazenly conceited confidence and no credible experience) a writing fellowship that would allow him avoid going home for the summer, a prospect he viewed with palpable disdain. However, when he was turned down for the opportunity, he needed to find a different path. He decided to head to the coastal resort town of Provincetown, MA to pursue his romantic interest (or, more accurately, romantic obsession) from high school, currently a Vassar co-ed, Nancy Putkoski (Emilia Jones), who was spending the summer on Cape Cod. Tony told others that he was making the journey to work on the fellowship he didn’t win as a cover for his pursuit of a relationship with someone who typically responded to his advances with ambivalence. These conditions ostensibly forced him to wing it in every conceivable way upon arrival in P-town. And, as fate would have it, the “aspiring writer” was the same loutish narcissist there that he was beforehand. After a series of questionable misadventures, he sheepishly ended up taking a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant run by a demanding taskmaster chef (Antonio Banderas) staffed by an array of colorful co-workers (Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias) who were anything but positive influences. But, as Tony’s summer unfolded, he unwittingly began turning things around, largely thanks to the chef’s stringent tutelage, launching Tony down another new path that would lead him to a storied future. Bourdain’s subsequent success is not depicted here except in the film’s electronic epilogue, but it’s that implication that arguably grants this story its salvation in light of how it starts out. The protagonist is clearly depicted as an admittedly charismatic (though undeniably uncouth) bad boy who probably wouldn’t have otherwise been cut any slack were it not for his accomplishments later in life. Fittingly, Sessa capably makes the most of that characterization, turning in a badass portrayal and a remarkably on-point impersonation of the title character, even if it’s written rather monodimensionally and delivered through an uncannily familiar performance to the actor’s role in “The Holdovers” (2023) (which, unavoidably, raises potential questions about typecasting). It also doesn’t help that Tony’s back story is largely missing, with virtually no explanation behind his motivations, behavior and attitude at this time of his life other than through an epigraphic quote from Bourdain at the film’s outset. And this oversight, for what it’s worth, may leave viewers wondering why they should care about what happens to him. Those considerations aside, though, the picture has definite strengths of note, particularly the impressive supporting cast of Banderas, Woodall and Halkias, who do much to bolster viewer interest in the narrative. The film’s superb period piece production design and fine cinematography also add much to the picture, particularly the character of this release’s time frame. Overall, though, “Tony” feels as though it could have been stronger, better focused and more engaging. It’s modestly entertaining, but, in coming away from it, I felt as though I was only served appetizers and missed out on the main course.

Although I’d heard of him I’ve never seen any of Anthony Bourdain’s shows. In some ways it doesn’t matter, because this is a look at him before he was famous. After losing a fellowship in NYC, the young writer (Dominic Sessa) heads to Provincetown in pursuit **** (Emilia Jones). Meanwhile, he ends up working in the kitchen of a man whose influence changed the focus of his life (played by Antonio Banderas). Ironically, Banderas is the main person in the film with any sensitivity or real emotion, which he plays quietly. The Bourdain character is given virtually no vulnerability…he’s just an arrogant ass. I’m not sure if it’s Sessa’s limited range or the way director Matt Johnson wanted it. The film is full of chaotic kitchen scenes that are more about the obnoxious staff than the cooking process. There are attempts at poignant connections, but the slow pace and redundant scenarios make it more frustrating than appealing. And not really much of an insight into the future chef’s character.

Having never come across the name Anthony Bourdain before, I was surprised at the almost god-like status given to him by the culinary world primarily because he told the honest truth about the food that he had eaten - so strange to find the word "honest" (and its Thesaurus equivalents) used about cooking where a misstep can lead to death. So, given that this is about his early life as a late teenager and follows the cliché development of a "coming-of-age" storyline, it is extremely hard to empathise with the lying,self-opinionated, delusional, unlovable character portrayed so carefully by the actor Dominic Sessa. If this is how Matt Johnson told Sessa to play him, he succeeds in spades. I often found myself wondering why so much critical attention was being paid to what effectively could be one of those bleak Channel 4 biopics that would start off on an "out-of-season" Blackpool beach. Well here, the DP, Michael Bauman gives that same washed-up desolation to Provincetown, USA so no wonder bad things happen to the main characters. So many things just did not seem feasible - the chase and capture of the beautiful and clever fellow student Nancy; the adoption of Tony by a local , kind-hearted but unnamed chef /restaurant - owner (perhaps the original couldn't believe how Disney-fied he'd become and didn't want his name associated with the film) after said Tony had been left battered in the gutter after slagging off the wrong local; the not-totally unexpected meeting and adoption by the local bad boy that introduced him to the Provincetown world of drugs and easily-available female tourists but for me, the greatest implausibility was seeing this callow, clueless , pathetic individual move from being the kitchen hand washing dirty dishes to the assistant chef to the owner and knowing how to cook lobster thermidors in the space of one summer vacation. Even feelgood fantasists would have a hard time believing this. So why no 1* review you may ask? Primarily because of four star performances - Sessa has been mentioned already; Antonio Banderas in another mature-character role showing "gravitas" with a twinkle in the eye; Emilia Jones as Nancy, the object of his desire, playing really hard- to - get but growing to like Tony's irascibility and self-belief (you feel as crushed as she does when she offers herself as a bed partner and he refuses !!!) and finally in a role with few lines but a real, punchy presence - Dagmara Dominczyk as Tony's mother Gladys who recognises Tony's self delusion and pomposity and punctures it with almost vicious verbal barbs of her own. In the end the film made me look to Wikipedia to find out more about Bourdain and it was no wonder that I had never heard of him. His celebrity was based on television cookery and travel shows made in the USA where his "bad boy" opinions got him noticed. Being put off such shows made by his UK equivalents, its no wonder his fame passed me by. The other thing that really surprised me was that the "Nancy" in the film became his first wife of TWENTY years. On the evidence of the film that would NEVER have happened.

This slow-burn drama never really managed to ignite for me. The pacing felt painfully slow, and because I was not familiar with the real person at the centre of the story, I struggled to find a strong connection or reason to become **** performances and filmmaking may have their moments, but the story simply did not give me enough to hold onto. It felt like a meal that spent far too long in the oven and still came out undercooked. For me, this was a slow burn without much of a payoff, and I would not recommend it.