R | 1h 46m | Biopic, Dramedy | 2026
“Tony” is a biopic about rock-star-level chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain. It’s based on a post-high-school summer he spent washing dishes in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
And while that might not sound like the most electrifying topic, it’s an extremely captivating boyhood-to-manhood rite-of-passage story, filled with both heartache and humor. Bourdain is played by Dominic Sessa from “The Holdovers” and “Now You See me: Now You Don’t.”
Bourdain himself describes that time of his life best in his bestselling memoir, “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” “I was – to be frank – a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout.” As portrayed by Sessa, he certainly appears to have been.
However, Sessa’s performance is very similar to his work in “The Holdovers,” and he was clearly cast for his ability to play characters rife with unlikable traits, while remaining eminently watchable and undeniably charismatic.
Sessa is assisted by an A-list supporting team that includes a stellar turn from Antonio Banderas as his mentor, British actress Emilia Jones, and Leo Woodall, who nearly steals the show out from under Sessa on the heels of his turn in “Tuner” earlier this year.
Classic Hero’s Journey
The pompous young Bourdain (known as Tony to everyone but his shrewd and slyly emasculating mother) basically stalks his high school crush (Jones) all the way to Massachusetts, after crashing and burning in a feeble, cringe-worthy attempt to make an impression on her.
In the hero’s journey storytelling pattern, to find one’s true life calling, the future hero must, after setting out on the dark and dangerous path through the forest, at some point fall off a cliff. Tony’s cliff comes when the writing scholarship that he was counting on falls through. And while the girl of his dreams almost, but not quite, catches on to the fact that he’s stalking her, he does need to lie profusely and compulsively to save at least a little bit of his rapidly disappearing face.
One depressing evening in Provincetown, finding himself unable to pay his bar tab, he ends up washing dishes in the restaurant owner’s kitchen. The chef (Banderas) also gives him a hammock to sleep in, as well as a very necessary and daily alarm clock in the form of a bracing bucket of cold seawater in the face.
As it slowly dawns on Tony that he’s falling in love with the kitchen environment, we see his life goals begin to shift. This is the portion of the journey where, after falling off the cliff, one discovers the caves that hide one’s gold (talent), and we begin to see the transformation between the churlish young ne’er-do-well Tony and the adult Anthony.
It’s a nice, serendipitous touch that the man who facilitated the boy’s transition to manhood gives his student his manhood name: “Anthony … it is a better name, I think, for a man.” Spoken by the real-life Antonio.
Performances
A dramedy, “Tony” offers finely tuned characters and excellent performances. A sort of dramatic version of Daniel Stern, 23-year-old Sessa proves that his breakout role in “The Holdovers” was no flash in the pan. Similarly, Leo Woodall, as a blue-collar, doorjamb-notching lothario, appears to be here to stay. British Emilia Jones makes every scene count in a small, quintessentially American role, while also delivering the movie’s funniest line.
As for Antonio Banderas—if you’re looking for an enigmatic, charismatic, Spanish-accented mentor—who you gonna call? We need to see a “Desperado” reboot where Banderas’s El Mariachi passes his signature, customized guitar-case-packed arsenal down to a younger, similarly violent-minded acolyte. Banderas displays a treasure trove of nuance here.
Anthony Bourdain was one of the first food writers in the modern era to become a legend in his own time. His book, along with his hit foodie travel shows, “No Reservations” and “Parts Unknown,” made him the ultimate spokesperson for, and embodiment of, the travel-dining-culture-appreciation lifestyle.
“Tony” is a thoroughly engrossing, crowd-pleasing, and finely balanced film. While the upbeat ending might be darkened by knowing that Anthony Bourdain passed in 2018, the decidedly non-hagiographic “Tony” honors his rock ‘n’ roll style legacy as a cook, writer, and pure example of a fearless traveler on his own Hero’s Journey.
‘Tony’
Director: Matt Johnson
Starring: Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall, Emilia Jones
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Release Date: Aug. 7, 2026
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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