Tony (2026) - Review

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

IF some biopics feel like they’re trying to cram too much in when focusing on someone’s whole life, then Tony sets itself apart by offering a tasty starter of sorts.

It’s not a cradle to the grave look at the life of Anthony Bourdain, the American celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian, who became renowned for his often brutal honesty. But rather an intimate coming-of-age story that focuses on a key part of his formative years.

The film takes place in the summer of 1975 when Bourdain discovered his love for cooking at a restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on the opening chapters of the chef’s 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (which is estimated to have sold over two million copies globally).

It also takes a lot of creative licence, changing the dynamic of certain circumstances and relationships and using a composite character in one of its key roles.

This doesn’t, however, compromise the enjoyment value of the film or lessen its impact as director Matt Johnson (who co-wrote the screenplay) has created something special with the ingredients at his disposal: a bittersweet experience that inspires even if it invokes a certain sadness over Bourdain’s eventual fate (he committed suicide in 2018, at the age of 61).

Dominic Sessa (of The Holdovers fame) stars as Bourdain, a wannabe writer, who decides to pursue his college crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) to the seaside resort of Provincetown, in a bid to impress her by lying about having won a prestigious writing bursary.

He ends up working as a dishwasher at the fast food seafood eatery of a kind-hearted but tough ‘Chef’ (Antonio Banderas), who serves as something of a father figure and mentor.

But Tony doesn’t always know what’s best for him and regularly makes bad choices, falling in with drug addicted, womanising fellow chef Sal (Leo Woodall) and repeatedly lying to Nancy about his reason for being there.

He’s not always a likeable character, either, prone to self-aggrandising and egotistical flights of fancy, and putting his own interests first. But then as the quote at the top of the movie asserts (taken from Bourdain’s memoir): “I was - to be frank - a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking."

The film regularly delivers that ass-kicking.

If anything, it’s Banderas’ character who offers up most of its charm and heart, his ‘Chef’ a somewhat modest veteran who takes Tony under his wing and teaches him about life and cooking, eventually inspiring him to follow in his footsteps and embark on his studies at the Culinary Institute of America.

‘Chef’ is actually a composite of several mentors that Bourdain references in his memoir, although he is widely believed to have primarily been influenced by a man named Bigfoot, his first boss at a restaurant he was working at in New York City.

Banderas infuses him with both a strictness and a keen sense of compassion, often overlooking the bad early choices that Bourdain makes, and coming to view him as someone he could potentially trust. The relationship between Banderas and Sessa is beautifully played (and not dissimilar to that which Sessa enjoyed with Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers).

A scene on a beach, while sharing freshly caught tuna, is particularly memorable, as are shots of the two men working together in the kitchen, preparing things like tomato sauce and filling salt pots.

Another bittersweet exchange, however, offers an eerie foreshadowing of Bourdain’s own real-life fate as ‘Chef’ reveals the story behind a painting that Tony finds in his house: that of Francois Vatel, chef to King Louis XIV, who took his own life in shame when the key ingredients for a banquet he was preparing did not arrive in time. It’s a subtle nod but a poignant one.

Sessa also imbues his portrayal of Bourdain with a sadness that offsets some of his arrogance, hinting at a self-loathing and confusion that also perhaps nods to how things turned out. It’s arguably what makes his eventual transition all the more rewarding.

But then Johnson also injects his film with a kind of edginess throughout, offsetting some of the warmer moments with something a little more combustible. There’s an unpredictability to it that’s compelling (and perhaps reminiscent of The Bear at times) that feels appropriate and probably evocative of Bourdain’s own mental state.

The film is also laden with some great supporting performances, with Woodall and Jones also standing out in key roles: Woodall brings volatile charm to his edgy friend, while it’s easy to see how Bourdain could become smitten by someone like Nancy. She’s pretty and smart.

If there is a criticism, it’s perhaps that Johnson could have stuck a little more closely to the truth behind certain scenarios (in real-life, Tony and Nancy agreed to travel to Provincetown together, having been friends for a while… and Tony also never lived with his mentor but rather cohabited with friends). There doesn’t seem to have been that much to have been gained from certain changes.

But Tony does succeed in showcasing a key moment in Bourdain’s life that feels like it captures the essence of the young man, while honouring the legacy of the extraordinary life he went on to lead.

It’s an emotionally rewarding journey that works as both a well judged tribute to its subject and a damn fine coming-of-age movie that resonates on a number of levels.

It’s highly recommended.