Like The Odyssey, Matt Johnson’s much anticipated biopic is an adaptation of a classic “manly man” text (Kitchen Confidential) that asks to be judged less by its historical accuracy than the effectiveness of its mythmaking.
For example, the film’s charismatic romantic lead (Emilia Jones) may bring a bit too much 2020s swagger to the 1970s setting (in a tale more neatly plotted and sanitized than what likely transpired at the time) — though the seeming anachronism of a Provincetown story with only one major LGBTQ+ character (Monica Raymund, sliding more smoothly into the period piece as a no-nonsense bartender named Mary) apparently tracks according to one of the coastal town’s long-time residents. Specifically, in a recent interview with Jess Rothschild, filmmaker bon vivant John Waters notes, “…there were always straight guys, too. And the straight guys were the bartenders in the gay bars.”
Or, in the case of Tony, the kitchens, where Antonio Banderas (in a late career highpoint as a tough, enigmatic restauranteur known only as Chef) rides herd over a greasy spoon sampler platter of cishet masculinity, from the strong, silent line cook lifer Tyrone (Michael Jibrin) and criminal-adjacent lothario Sal (Leo Woodall, serving an Americano riff on his White Lotus Cockney) to Stavros Halkias (in a scene-stealing performance reminiscent of his doppelganger Matty Matheson’s infusions of humor on The Bear).
But The Holdovers‘ Dominic Sessa is clearly the MVP of the production, in part because his performance (aided by a smart script by Johnson, Todd Bartels, and Lou Howe) barely requires viewers to know that he’s acting out the origin story of the ill-fated celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
Instead, the coming-of-age arc of his sheltered young dude with delusions of grandeur getting smacked into shape by the realities of adulthood will likely be relatable to many once and future dopes (and the mentors who tolerated them). Or, in a tone-setting quote from the man behind the memoir: “I was — to be frank — a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking.”
And thankfully, in an era of toxic machismo, Tony is likewise self-aware enough to mock rather than celebrate its protagonist’s wannabe bad boy pretentions (even as Sessa keeps us rooting for his character as he struggles to locate and unleash his inner mensch).
