A24’s newest biopic “Tony” hit theaters this past weekend, this time bringing world-renowned chef, author and writer Anthony Bourdain to the big screen.
“Tony” tells the story of Anthony Bourdain, who published multiple books about both the culinary world and travel, and led shows including CNN’s “Parts Unknown” and Discovery Channel’s “No Reservations”, trekking around the world to connect food, history and politics. He died while filming an episode of “Parts Unknown” in France in 2018.
The film is his “bildungsroman” – a coming-of-age origin story for Bourdain, following him through a summer in Provincetown, MA, where he worked as a dishwasher in a seafood restaurant and later developed his passion for cooking.
As a fan of Bourdain, I was quick to buy a ticket and head to the theater, but halfway through, I realized the film was not what I was expecting it to be.
The film is semi-biographic, based on stories Bourdain wrote in his first book, “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”, though some aspects are exaggerated or changed. The film’s title screen included a passage from “Kitchen Confidential” where Bourdain described himself as “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout,” who needed a good kick in the pants– an prologue to the portrayal of Bourdain “Tony” introduces.
Bourdain, played by Dominic Sessa, is a young, arrogant and awkward teenager with little redeeming qualities; very different from the charismatic and outgoing version of Bourdain that garnered millions of views across his variety of books and television shows.
Bourdain’s attempts to flirt with Nancy (Emilia Jones), his high school crush whom he approaches in a restaurant, leads to a web of lies involving stealing money from his parents and a writing fellowship for a novel which he does not win, but tells everyone he does.
Bourdain arrives in Massachusetts to pursue Nancy romantically, only to discover she is dating someone else. He ends up in a bar fight in The Flagship, a local restaurant, and sleeps on the street, where The Flagship’s owner, Chef — played by Antonio Banderas — finds him and allows him to sleep in a hammock on his porch in exchange for working as the dishwasher in his kitchen.
Bourdain struggles to be an efficient worker, making friends with Sal (Leo Woodall), one of the cooks, and becoming involved with drugs and troublemaking. After Sal is fired for an outburst and punching Chef, Bourdain starts working as a cook and comes out of his shell. He sees Nancy around, and lies to her about winning the fellowship as the reason why he’s working in Provincetown. To further impress her, he convinces Chef to add a special to the menu, which Bourdain sources the recipe for and makes himself.
Bourdain begins to flourish as a cook, and notably develops a stronger rapport with both Chef and the other cooks; however, the lightheartedness of the film quickly fades again when Nancy and her friends come in to the restaurant to try his special, which distracts Bourdain, leading to a fire which he accidentally douses with oil, setting the rest of the kitchen on fire and putting The Flagship out of business.
Bourdain’s positive growth as a character also fades as he reconnects with Sal and breaks into Chef’s house to steal from him. The two plan a clambake to make money for Bourdain to return home to New Jersey, reconnecting with the other cooks. Chef comes to the clambake, at which point Bourdain finally owns up to his failings, and he gives Chef the raised money to rebuild The Flagship, keeping only enough money to return home. The film ends with Tony applying to the Culinary Institute of America, the move that kickstarted his 20-year career as a chef in New York City.
As formative and influential as the story can be about fate and the inverse nature of luck, I struggled to connect the Bourdain I knew from his career and the young man getting through his summer by lying to everyone around him. He was hard to root for, often making cringey comments or brash decisions that caused me to cover my eyes from secondhand embarrassment.
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However, Bourdain’s trajectory from writing to working as a chef, and later finding his voice and success later in life, is a testament to the time and effort required for personal growth, which I thought “Tony” demonstrated quite well.
Bourdain was honest in his writings that he was not a saint in his early years, and though “Tony” isn’t the kindest image that could be drawn of Bourdain, it is, if nothing else, honest.
Maria Fernandez is the copy editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at copy@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
