Author, TV host and food genius Anthony Bourdain was a master in and out of the kitchen, a genuine star and a man who seemed to have it all until his life took a tragic turn at age 61 and resulted in his suicide.
Certainly that is the stuff of a highly dramatic biopic, but not at all what co-writer/director Matt Johnson was interested in pursuing with Tony. In fact, he had never read Bourdain’s bestseller Kitchen Confidential or even seen his shows, but what did spark for him was learning of a life-altering summer in 1975 Provincetown, MA (a couple of early chapters in the book) where Tony, as he was known then, would spend his final months before college working in a chaotic seafood restaurant. It proved the key to his future, even if he didn’t realize it at the time.
Thus this is the coming-of- age movie Johnson has made, and though the young Bourdain could be a handful — a sometimes angry young man who didn’t hesitate to lie and make up things to impress people — what we have here is a richly human portrait of someone even Bourdain himself had problems with. “I was — to be frank — a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, thoughtless young lout, and badly in need of a good ass-kicking,” he has written and which A24 has made the centerpiece of its poster advertising this irresistible new baby biopic.
Now spending a couple of hours with a character like that does not sound, on the surface at least, very engaging but somehow by the time it is over you find yourself rooting for this kid like he was Rocky. Dominic Sessa, so good in his first film The Holdovers, proves that movie was not a fluke as he takes on the nascent Anthony Bourdain aka Tony who is desperate to impress his parents (Rich Sommer and Dagmara Dominiezyk) and high school crush, Nancy (Emilia Jones) among others.He tells them he got a fellowship grant from none other than Vassar to write a novel. As we learn in a phone call he was actually turned down. This bad news sends the kid off to Massachusetts enclave Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod where he runs smack into Nancy, a girl smart enough to suspect his tall tale about this meeting being a weird coincidence is not exactly true. His longing for her was the reason he trekked there. Now stuck with nowhere to go he talks his way into working in a kitchen washing dishes for a rather unimpressive fast food seafood restaurant in return for being able to crash there at night in the hammock on the porch. From this point on we see this workplace and these very colorful characters inhabiting it through his eyes, his POV, and what turns out to be his initiation into the world of culinary delight.
Reluctantly taking him under his wing is Chef (Antonio Banderas),a man once on the Michelin track who has settled for less but is not ashamed. He believes God is watching over him. Chef isn’t impressed at first but eventually becomes something of a mentor to Tony as he sees some potential for him to become something he didn’t. There are also co-workers including the brash, coke-snorting, and unruly Sal (Leo Woodall), the riotous and pudgy Dmitri (Stavros Halkias), Mary (Monica Raymund), and Tyrone (Michael Jirkin). What he experiences is certainly not what he had planned for his life, just something to get by in the moment, but in this sharply crafted scenario we are witnessing the birth of a legend. Who knew? In this summer his relationship with Nancy also finds great challenges as she is wise beyond her years and not buying his bullshit.
Most of the movie takes place in and around the restaurant, but with Michael Bauman’s (One Battle After Another) superb cinematography, Provincetown has never looked this inviting. Sessa, ever the resistant employee (even accidentally starting a major fire), perfectly plays the cocky young man Boudain describes himself as, even as Johnson, along with co-writers Matthew Miller and Todd Bartels & Lou Howe, has romanticized this summer and taken some liberty to give emotional shading to Bourdain’s early incarnation. It is easy to forget just who he would become as we watch, through Sessa’s eyes, what is a brand new world. “I can’t stand the thought of spending of my whole life in a kitchen, ” he barks at Chef. Little did he know. Jones, so fine in her own coming of age film, the Oscar winning Coda, impresses here as a girl who has Tony’s number but also seems to see who he could be, not the person he is pretending to be. Woodall, as usual, is a dynamic presence but a bad role model for Tony. However it is Banderas delivering a commanding, if quietly moving, portrayal of someone who might have had a different course but is wise enough to be thankful for the cards dealt. You really like this man, and Banderas is Oscar-worthy in the role.
In the end this film leaves us with hope. Someone else can make a darker biopic I suppose, but for now there is joy just getting to know Tony. Near the end Chef slyly suggests that maybe he grow up a little and use his birth name. “Does anyone call you Anthony?” he asks. “My mother,” Tony replies as Chef winks and says, “smart woman”.
Producers are Johnson, Matthew Miller, Tim And Trevor White.
Title: Tony
Distributor: A24
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (LA & NY); expands August 21
Director: Matt Johnson
Screenwriters: Matt Johnson & Matthew Miller and Todd Bartels & Lou Howe
Cast: Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias, Michael Jibrin, Monica Raymund, Rich Sommer, Dagmara Dominiczyk
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 46 mins
