Chef premiered on March 7, 2014, at
South by Southwest, where it was the opening film of the festival and was attended by Favreau, Leguizamo, Anthony, and Platt. It was subsequently screened at the
Tribeca Film Festival in April.
Home media Chef came out on September 30, 2014 on DVD and Blu-ray.
Box office The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 9, 2014, beginning in
limited release in six theaters and expanding throughout May and June to a peak of 1,298 theaters. Its total gross in the United States as of November 2, 2014 is $31.4 million. Outside of the U.S.,
Chef performed best in Australia (earning $2.8 million), the United Kingdom and Spain ($2.6 million in each country) and Mexico (earning a little over $1 million). In total,
Chef has grossed almost $15 million outside the United States.
Critical response On
review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 87% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "
Chefs charming cast and sharp, funny script add enough spice to make this feel-good comedy a flavorful—if familiar—treat."
Metacritic gave the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Rolling Stones
Peter Travers gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, describing it as "an artful surprise and an exuberant gift" and "deliciously entertaining, comic, touching and often bitingly true".
Ty Burr of
The Boston Globe also awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars; he thought it was "funny and heartfelt" and that, despite its weaknesses, the strengths "overpower the parts of the meal that are undercooked".
Chicago Sun-Times critic
Richard Roeper gave
Chef 3 out of 4 stars, finding it "funny, quirky and insightful, with a bounty of interesting supporting characters" but also noting the lack of plot and character development in some parts. Gary Goldstein of the
Los Angeles Times gave particular praise to the "terrific supporting cast" and the script's lack of cliché, such as in its presentation of family dynamics. Joe Leydon from
Variety found the film's plot predictable and slow-paced, but noted "the trip itself is never less than pleasant, and often extremely funny".
The New York Times Stephen Holden described
Chef as "aggressively feel-good" and "shallow but enjoyable". Michael O'Sullivan of
The Washington Post gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and found it "deeply satisfying, down to the soul", praising the "incredible" food photography, the "colorful supporting cast" and the "wryly observant" humor, raving, "There's nothing terribly profound about "Chef". But its messagethat relationships, like cooking, take a hands-on approachis a sweet and sustaining one."
SFGate film critic Mick LaSalle opined that
Chef was Favreau's best film to date, highlighting the "natural and convincing" chemistry between Favreau and Anthony and the "vivid" scenes featuring big-name actors in small roles.
USA Today Scott Bowles gave
Chef 3.5 out of 4 stars and called it "a nuanced side dish, a slow-cooked film that's one of the most heartwarming of the young year". Ken Choy of
Wide Lantern noted the structural problems but admitted, "If you ever saw the
Kristen Bell sloth video on Ellen, that was me during the entire 2nd half of the movie. Non-stop tears. It was happy-crying because Favreau's character was doing what he wanted."
Slant Magazine critic Chris Cabin, gave
Chef a 1.5 out of 4 stars and described it as Favreau's "most self-satisfied, safe, and compromised film to date", chiefly criticizing the film's lack of realism and credibility. Writing for
The Village Voice, Amy Nicholson agreed that the storyline was implausible and summarized the film as "so charmingly middlebrow that it's exactly the cinematic comfort food it mocks".
Indiewire's Eric Kohn opined that with
Chef, "Favreau has no sweeping thematic aims", and that the end product was a "self-indulgent vanity project". ==Television series==