Directed by Matt Johnson
Where & When: AMC The Americana at Brand 18, Glendale, CA. August 22, 2026 7:00 PM
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, Anthony Bourdain went on to work in several kitchens throughout New York City before landing the prestigious role of executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles twenty years later. With dreams of being a writer still in his head, Bourdain didn't generate much interest with his attempts at writing a novel and decided to write a memoir, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly", an unvarnished account that detailed his experiences working in the food industry. This became a best seller and helped Bourdain transition into a popular host on several culinary adventure programs. Unlike the standard grinning and well-mannered hosts of food shows, Bourdain had a chafing persona: a smartass with an intrepid spirit, a lewd sense of humor and engaging wit, that made his world travels to explore exotic, specialty dishes from across the globe scintillating television.
"Tony", from director, Matt Johnson, looks back at Bourdain, long before cooking school, the wild lifestyle and overwhelming fame, when he was a rebellious, nineteen year old kid from New Jersey planning on becoming the next big novelist. With this thrillingly raucous, sink-to-kitchen tale, we learn how his dreams were forced to be modified and how the hot-tempered, immature Bourdain would improbably go on to become a respected, world class talent in the culinary world.
Tony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) has applied for a writing fellowship that would send him to New York City. Feeling overly confident he'll get in, Tony tells his parents (Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer) he received the fellowship. But after finding out that he didn't, a frustrated Tony impulsively heads to Provincetown, partly because Nancy (Emilia Jones), a girl he really likes, has moved there for the summer before going to college. Discovering that she's dating a guy she works with at a pizza joint, he drowns his sorrows at The Flagship, a local seafood restaurant run by José "Chef" Vatel (Antonio Banderas). A highly inebriated Bourdain manages to get punched out for insulting a waitress and robbed while passed out on the street, leaving him stranded the next day.
He runs into Nancy, telling her that he's in town for research for his fellowship, and she invites him to a house party. Desperate to go to this party, Tony begs for a job at the Flagship, assuring "Chef" that he has restaurant experience. He doesn't but hired to wash dishes where he works with some equally volatile and oddball characters in the kitchen: Stavros (Stavros Halkias) and Sal (Leo Woodall), who had punched and robbed Tony the previous day. And "Chef" allows Tony to live on the porch of his beach house, sleeping on a hammock and awakened every morning with a bucket of seawater splashed in his face.
This biopic began with a script by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe that was featured on the 2024 Black List, an annual selection of the most liked unproduced screenplays. A Canadian indie filmmaker best known for the web series, "Nirvana the Band the Show" and his 2023 feature film breakthrough, the wacky, origin story of a brand of mobile phones, "Blackberry", Johnson took the script, adding a bit of his offbeat style yet smoothing over much of the rough edges of Bourdain's early life, to make this movie engaging, amusing and relatable. Even if this wasn't based on Bourdain's story, "Tony" could easily stand on its own as a darkly shrewd romantic-comedy.
One key reason which helps make "Tony" so appealing are the actors, in particular Sessa as Bourdain. He was the true highlight in Alexander Payne's award-winning, retro comedy, "The Holdovers" (which was his film acting debut) and Sessa's precocious performance here (bringing to mind Tom Hanks in his early days) confirms that he is a character actor with the great potential to be a movie star. He perfectly captures Bourdain at this point of his life, using his disarming nature and compelling allure to his advantage which helped him talk his way in or out of pretty much any type of situation. But it was Sal (who represents a composite of several people Bourdain would encounter) that actually gives the inexperienced Bourdain life lessons by teaching him how to smoke, shuck oysters, womanize and how to consume various forms of drugs.
Even without having read "Kitchen Confidential", it feels clear that "Tony" is soft serving Bourdain's early life and chaotic behavior. There's no doubt that the real-life Bourdain (who sadly died by suicide in 2018 at sixty-one) was probably far worse than portrayed in this film. No matter. "Tony" captures a credible essence of Bourdain, well enough that he's still recognizable, that points us convincingly and entertainingly towards the man he would become with an appealing profile that honors his exorbitant spirit and enduring legacy.
