Tony Movie Review: Anthony Bourdain’s Origin Story Serves Up Heart

The opening title card in “Tony” immediately tells us exactly who this young Anthony Bourdain was before the world knew his name:

“I was—to be frank—a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” —Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

That brutally honest quote sets the tone for A24’s “Tony,” an unconventional coming-of-age film that explores one transformative summer in the life of the future celebrity chef, author, and television icon. Rather than attempting to tell Bourdain’s entire life story, director Matt Johnson focuses on the season that changed everything—and the result is one of the year’s most engaging character studies.

Tony Movie Review

“Tony,” the story of Anthony Bourdain as a 19-year-old self-described “lout,” is less a traditional biopic and more a deconstructed coming-of-age drama, wrapped in what is, at times, a somewhat contrived love story.

Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) delivers an outstanding performance as the young Bourdain, capturing not only his mannerisms but even his distinctive hunched gait. Director Matt Johnson (BlackBerry, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie) zooms in on the summer in 1975 that forever changed the course of Bourdain’s life rather than trying to summarize it. The result is a coming-of-age story with just enough humor to balance the anxiety, chaos, and uncertainty, keeping us wondering how, in the boiling pot, this reckless young man eventually became someone so many of us admired.

The Summer that Changed Anthony Bourdain’s Life Forever

It wasn’t attending Vassar University or having any meaningful work experience that set Bourdain on his path. Instead, it seems to have been the pursuit of becoming a writer to impress a girl—or perhaps simply not knowing what else to do with his life.

Lying to his family about having won a writing fellowship, Tony sneaks away to Provincetown, Cape Cod, chasing his high school crush, Nancy (Emilia Jones). Instead, he stumbles into the chaotic kitchen of the Flagship restaurant. There he meets Chef (Antonio Banderas), a strict but observant Portuguese chef who, despite every reason not to, takes Tony under his wing and tries to mold him into someone worthy of his trust and his beloved restaurant. Sal (Leo Woodall) and the rest of the kitchen crew expose Tony to a world unlike anything he has ever known.

Unfortunately, the influences surrounding the young Bourdain pull him into a fast-moving downward spiral. More than once, I wanted to get out of my seat and slap some sense into him. Eventually, life does it for me. The hard lessons don’t arrive all at once, but through the steady accumulation of consequences, mistakes, poor choices, and painful wake-up calls that finally kick Tony hard where he needs it most.

Don’t expect this film to tell the entire story of Anthony Bourdain’s life. It offers only a glimpse into one pivotal summer when the smoke of a writer’s fever dreams finally began to clear and he discovered the passion that would define his future.

I loved this film because we get to know Tony the boy before he became Anthony the man.

On another level, the movie also gives us a fascinating look behind the swinging doors of a restaurant kitchen and the incredible dedication required to maintain standards that diners rarely think about. Frankly, after watching this movie, I’m not sure I want to know everything that happens to my food before it reaches my table. One thing I did take away from the experience is this: be kind to your servers. They are part of a much larger team working incredibly hard behind the scenes.

Final Verdict

“Tony” isn’t interested in showing us the famous Anthony Bourdain. Instead, it introduces us to the confused, reckless, and often frustrating young man who had yet to discover his purpose. Dominic Sessa delivers a remarkable performance, Matt Johnson resists the temptation to turn the film into a greatest-hits biography, and the restaurant kitchen becomes just as important a character as anyone on screen.

If you’re expecting a complete biography, you may leave wanting more. But if you’re curious about the summer that shaped one of the most influential voices in food culture, “Tony” is absolutely worth the reservation.

The film stars Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias, Rich Sommer, and Dagmara Dominczyk. Directed by Matt Johnson.

I attended a special screening hosted by the Coronado Island Film Festival and A24 at our town’s historic Coronado Village Theatre, recently acquired by UltraStar Cinemas.

A24 releases “Tony” in New York and Los Angeles on August 7, with a nationwide expansion on August 21.

Tony

Rated R
Runtime: 106 minutes