This film, released nationwide on August 21 and rated R, is based on a small portion of Anthony Bourdain’s acclaimed memoir “Kitchen Confidential.” Prior to Bourdain’s apparent suicide in 2018, he was both a working chef and best-selling author. He’s been described as one of the most influential culinary travel personalities of his generation. In 1997 he published an essay in The New Yorker (“Don’t Eat Before Reading This”), exposing the behind-the-scenes chaos and unsavory aspects of many professional kitchens. In 2000 Bourdain authored the book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” This memoir was a huge success and helped launch his high-profile career, including his work in television (“A Cook’s Tour,” “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” and his hosting of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” on CNN). His CNN series took him all over the world, sampling local cuisine and culture. To the outside world, he was leading a dream life.

Like 2025’s “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” this film focuses on a pivotal chapter of its subject’s life, allowing a deeper look at the experiences that shaped a future cultural icon. The formative period in “Tony” was when Bourdain was 19 and working in a restaurant kitchen for the first time, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. What I would have liked was a little more information about his future trajectory. The film ends just at the point where Bourdain is making the transition to professional chef. The ending left me wanting more, particularly as Tony’s story was just beginning to unfold.

Dominic Sessa (“The Holdovers”), age 23, was an excellent choice to play young Bourdain in this biographical drama. His voice has a deep resonance that Bourdain seemed to possess, and his overall appearance is similar enough to bring Bourdain to life. Sessa’s performance is commanding and convincing. He captures the intelligence, restlessness, talent, insecurities, and contradictions of Anthony Bourdain in a performance that should resonate with fans of the late chef. Antonio Banderas plays the owner and head chef of the seafood restaurant where Bourdain gets his start, a character simply known as Chef. His performance as mentor to Bourdain is understated and yet powerful. His character is a composite of several chefs Bourdain worked for early in his career, rather than representing any single person from the memoir on which the film is based. 

One of the joyous aspects of the film is the camaraderie of the other cooks in the kitchen. Anthony Bourdain, then known as Tony, is portrayed as awkward at first with the rough-edged line cooks until he becomes comfortable enough to join in their high jinks. Sal, Stavros, and Tyrone are a combination of real and fictionalized people Bourdain worked with when he started this line of work. Leo Woodall (“The White Lotus”, Season 2), Stavros Halkias, and Michael Jibrin bring energy to their roles as Tony’s fellow cooks, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the kitchen’s rough-and-tumble work/play ethos. 

In the movie, as in his memoir, Tony Bourdain doesn’t set out to be a chef. As a student at Vassar, he considers himself a writer and applies for a highly regarded summer writing fellowship with confidence that he will be accepted. He is not. He hides this truth from his love interest at the time, Nancy (played passably by Emilia Jones). Nancy is based on a real character in Bourdain’s life – his first wife, Nancy Putkowski. When Tony arrives in Provincetown, he is penniless, jobless, and travels to that location because he knows Nancy will be there for the summer. 

The film is a romp through the gritty world of busy professional kitchens, while also tracing the early steps of Bourdain’s culinary career. There are gentle moments of connection, particularly between the fellow cooks, and also between Bourdain and Chef. In the movie, Chef tells Tony to use his birth name of Anthony for greater gravitas. Upon review of his memoir, this did occur, but with a different culinary professional at a different time in Bourdain’s professional trajectory. Overall, the film earns a solid B.