"You know I can cook too." Yeah you can big dog. You're Anthony freaking Bourdain, bad boy host with the most. And until this movie about your life circa 1975, I've only known you as the dude from TV's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and some other Travel Channel swipe. Yup, "Reservations" is that show where you visit various places around the world as you explore local culture and cuisine while hobnobbing with well-known foodies and denizens. Natch.
Anyway 2026's Tony does involve food and the Tony in question is of course Bourdain, a down-to-earth guy who committed suicide by way of hanging just 8 years ago. In Tony you have a soil-like sense of time and place (mid 70s), a raw and unflinching performance by Dominic Sessa (he plays the title character mind you), and a mini snapshot of someone's being, a stumbling into chef's lore when all you wanted to be was a fellowship writer. "Are you a good guy or a bad guy." Oh absotively boss. Absotively.
So yeah, as a flick about Bourdain's fantastic summer where he chain-smoked and drank, learned about the world of restaurants, clam shucked, and educated himself on how to become a full-fledged, culinary artist, Tony is akin to stuff like The Tender Bar and Hot Summer Nights and 2018's Summer Days, Summer Nights, vehicles where coming-of-age, female crushes, and Aestival lovin get their veritable rage on.
Keep in mind however that Tony is biographical, not some farcical farce about horndog teens, jamming to Mungo Jerry, and/or chronicling turbulent, fictional personas. No this pic is stronger than most memoir mantras because it steers clear of many wiki tropes and tired motifs (are you listening Peter Landesman?). Tony co-stars Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones, and Leo Woodall and they all lend adequate support. "Tony twist."
Written by Jesse Burleson
