Tony

Director: Matt Johnson
Starring: Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias, Michael Jibrin, Monica Raymund, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Caroline Portu, Ava Davey-Bissett, Elle Shaheen, Eric Ripert
Running Time: 106 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)   

One of the highest compliments you can give a biopic is that it ends leaving viewers itching to learn even more about its subject. Director and co-writer Matt Johnson's Tony accomplishes this by sidestepping all the usual clichés to deliver a touching, funny, coming-of-age origin story that would still work equally well if it were about anyone. And proof of this comes when you actually have to remind yourself these are the formative years of famed chef, author and TV host Anthony Bourdain, despite its tremendous lead performance leaving little room for doubt.  

Decades away from becoming the popular, engaging figure he'd be remembered as, the script zeros in on a specific but pivotal period of Tony's life over a single summer when those seeds are first planted. It follows a brash, overconfident, kid with the tendency to lie a lot, often to his own detriment. And when these lies threaten to be exposed, he just comes up with more, continuing long enough to even scare him. As his own worst enemy, he's still figuring things out and making horrible decisions, while remaining just likeable enough to root for anyway. 

It's 1975 and 19-year-old Vassar College student Tony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) is applying for a fellowship that would land him in New York City to embark on a writing career. But after a disastrous interview with faculty, he's rejected, prompting him to lie to his parents (Rich Sommer and Dagmara Domińczyk) and high school crush Nancy Putkoski (Emilia Jones) about being passed over. Despondent, a determined Tony travels from New Jersey to Provincetown, Massachusetts to track down Nancy, where she's spending the summer working at a pizza restaurant. 

Unfortunately for Tony, Nancy's already dating her fellow employee, and after a night of heavy drinking, he's kicked out of The Flagship seafood restaurant bar for belligerent behavior. Without a place to stay, its strict, unnamed head chef (Antonio Banderas) agrees to let him crash at his house in exchange for working as a dishwasher. Continuing to lie to Nancy about the fellowship as they grow closer, Tony's sucked into his co-workers' rowdy drug culture, befriending unpredictable loose canon Sal (Leo Woodall). But while being mentored by Chef, Tony's lies catch up with him, potentially destroying his relationships and threatening everything he's worked for. 

What sticks out most is just how far Tony's willing to take his fellowship deception, an urge stemming from both chronic insecurity and the lack of any sort of backup plan. It's as if the possibility of rejection didn't cross his mind when he intentionally torpedoed his chances during the interview. If he didn't get it, he was always going to lie anyway, leaving us wondering whether he really had any ambitions of becoming a writer to begin with. 

Tony gives off the impression he's looking for a quick, easy path to success that shuts his naysayers up and proves them wrong. But being too self-destructive to make that work, he channels that energy toward Nancy, specifically traveling to Provincetown to find her. Viewed through a present day lens, we could easily refer to it as stalking, but the performances, writing and the mid-70's time period help alleviate much of this.  

The setting of Provincetown is a character in itself, whimsically shot by cinematographer Michael Bauman and accompanied by an atypical soundtrack of obscure 70's hits that blend into the story's fabric. It's the kind of place we don't want to leave and thankfully won't until Tony's time there is up. In the meantime, he struggles as a dishwasher before observing and learning, successfully tackling additional responsibilities as he forms a camaraderie with the cooks. 

Watching the comedic hijinx in the kitchen is one of the biggest highlights, and if wild Sal's a toxic influence, by film's end you'll question whether anything can be categorized as such since Tony walks away having tackled adversity, inching closer to the person he'll someday become. And while it's hard enough playing a well known figure, it's even tougher convincing us we're not watching one. But The Holdovers' Dominic Sessa goes a few steps further, walking a delicate line few actors could. 

Sessa doesn't hold back in portraying Tony as a self-centered jerk, but not so much so that you fail to empathize with him and his relatably misguided motivations. There are scenes where he comes so close to having that breakthrough realization, only to pull back into himself again, making the film's final act feel even more satisfyingly earned. 

While Tony's obsession with Nancy could easily seem creepy, Sessa skillfully navigates that trap, radiating a mischievous charm she doesn't flat out reject, but has issues entirely embracing. Emilia Jones plays that ambivalence just right, resulting in a "will they or won't they" subplot that continues throughout, making it difficult to pin down exactly how she feels about him. If nothing else, it's a far different dynamic than usual.    

Antonio Banderas gives a career high performance as the militant but religious Chef, whose past remains a mystery as he administers some tough love to his newest underling. He inhabits a character who's been around the block and takes his occupation seriously, having likely bailed out dozens of troubled kids before, giving them a roof and the chance to get back on their feet. There's also this great running gag involving how he wakes Tony up every morning that leads to a really clever pay off.   

Chef senses Tony could be different from the rest, making the possibility that he isn't a real letdown for someone at his stage, especially knowing how the kid's capable of anything. At times invoking a mix of Mr. Myagi and Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi," Chef will temporarily drop his guard, only to pay the steepest price. But we'll learn even that isn't unrecoverable. 

Adapted from Bourdain's own bestselling Kitchen Confidential, Johnson subverts expectations by crafting a small, intimate character study about a prickly personality rather than attempting to cover the breadth of his career. For three quarters of this, Tony doesn't show the slightest interest in cooking, walking through the door of a hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurant out of self-imposed circumstance and sheer necessity. 

Taking calculated risks and some surprising detours, Tony still won't please those who doubt the "need" for a biopic or presumptuously question whether this project flies in the face of what they assume Bourdain would endorse if he were alive. As if that's their call to make. But a fair, closer look reveals it's one of the better recent biographical dramas, charting how life's biggest moments happen by accident, sending us down an entirely different path than anticipated.