Following Hollywood’s recent string of biopics dramatizing the lives of beloved cultural icons, “Tony” — a biopic based on the early life of food celebrity Anthony Bourdain — will hit theaters nationwide Friday following its limited release Aug. 7. In recent times, cinephiles have criticized the film industry’s apparent emerging obsession with the biographical genre, often citing that producers are choosing to invest in existing fanbases rather than taking on new ideas. While these movies draw crowds, they may fail to make a lasting impact or tell a compelling story. A common objection to biopics’ is their habit of worshipping their subjects, a hazard that “Tony” masterfully evades.
Following Bourdain’s passing in 2018, audiences have increasingly mythologized his life, as new generations discover his work and — despite Bourdain’s own self-deprecating tendencies — idolize him. His career as a professional chef in New York City kitchens, bestselling author and host of travel and food television series “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” made him an inspiration to culinary enthusiasts around the world.
With the tagline “Before he was Anthony Bourdain, he was Tony,” Director and Co-writer Matt Johnson resists an uncritical homage in favor of capturing Bourdain before the glory. “Tony,” inspired by Anthony Bourdain's celebrated memoir "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly,” is the nostalgic reconstruction of three of Bourdain’s college summers spent working in Provincetown, Mass. Free from a mandate to glorify Bourdain and full of creative liberties, the film feels less like a biography and more like a memory reflecting back on good times. All throughout, Johnson creates a classic coming-of-age film — full of youthful naivety and headstrong idealism.
Actor Dominic Sessa stars as a 19-year-old Bourdain fresh off his first year at Vassar College. Known for his breakout role as Angus, a lonely and antagonistic teenager in Alexander Payne’s 2023 film “The Holdovers,” Sessa has solidified his foothold in the cinematic world of restless male adolescence. The film opens on Tony sitting across a board of professors, inflating a hollow novel pitch with literary jargon and pausing to define his grandiose vocabulary. With hopes to fake his way into a summer writing fellowship, Tony embodies the unchecked ego of a Jersey-born liberal arts student. After prematurely flaunting a fellowship offer to his parents and untouchable high school crush, Nancy Putkoski, played by Emilia Jones, he gets the rejection call.
Tony decides to follow Nancy to Provincetown, where he stumbles into visiting a restaurant called The Flagship. While drowning his sorrows in beer and trays of oysters, he makes an unwelcome pass at the bartender and head chef Ciro, played by Antonio Banderas, throws him out. This is the beginning of his Cape Cod summer — running from his failure and towards the rest of his life. Exchanging his mediocre dishwashing for a chance to court Nancy and sleep on Ciro’s porch, Tony quickly becomes entrenched in the chaos of The Flagship’s kitchen. Here is where the film comes to life, led by an incredible ensemble cast that meshes and moves in hilarious and fast-paced asynchrony.
While Johnson invites audiences to laugh at — or even dislike — Tony, there is a deep sincerity to the film’s storytelling. Yes, Tony is impulsive and cocky, but more importantly he is yearning for guidance and affirmation. Ciro’s mentorship reveals this vulnerability. As the pace slows in certain scenes, lingering shots create intimacy between the pair, making space for Tony to enter Ciro’s quieter, almost sacred culinary world.
The film leans heavily on coming-of-age cliches — Ciro is the calm, wise mentor and Nancy is the beautiful, sarcastic love interest. While the film embraces an overt sentimentality, it can register as superficial at times. The film's score and cinematography lead this charge. Its piano-based soundtrack often rises to crescendos as excitement builds, and precipitously falls into haunting, slow notes in moments of heartbreak. The score leaves little ambiguity about what each scene wants the audience to feel.
Wide landscape shots, as Sessa looks into the Cape Cod bay, signify a similar emotional grandeur. Tony’s life is spread out in front of him, and the future is vast and uncertain. These moments could easily feel contrived without Johnson’s commitment to portraying Tony as a multifaceted, flawed young man. Rather than asking audiences to admire him, Johnson makes Tony earn their investment.
Sessa's emotional depth and rawness ground the more indulgent aspects of Johnson’s storytelling. His wounded expression and sharp, inquisitive eyes turn audiences’ initial apprehension into empathy and appreciation. Through Sessa’s emotional sincerity, the film captures the heightened perspective of youth, where every moment feels monumental and possibility seems limitless. Across its romantic characterization, idyllic setting and honest but heartfelt storytelling, “Tony” is a tasteful standout that gracefully foreshadows Bourdain’s complicated life of adventure and discovery.
Read More
On Repeat: Nostalgic songs to celebrate the waning of summer
By Kelsey McIntyre | 4 days agoWith less than a month until students return to Grounds, this soundtrack can be used to rest and relax before the stressful semester by reminiscing on familiar times.
Virginia Theatre Festival unites Charlottesville and Broadway talent
By Carter Horner | August 8, 2026The Virginia Theatre Festival began in 1974 as a University semi-professional drama program and recently returned to Charlottesville for its 52nd iteration.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ soars despite a few tangled threads
By Preet Manukonda | August 8, 2026Although “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” occasionally gets caught in the web of uneven pacing and franchise expectations, the film excels in returning Peter Parker to the qualities that make him a beloved hero.
