Tony: Film Review

"Tony"Directed by Matt JohnsonWritten by Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels, and Lou HoweStarring Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Dagmara Dominczyk, Rich Sommers, Stavros Halkias, Antonio BanderasRated R for pervasive language, drug use, and sexual content/nudityRuntime: 106 minutesRelease Date: August 7, 2026 (limited), August 21, 2026 (nationwide)

Final Thought

Solid and filled to the brim with strong performances, Tony is a biopic done right.

Rating

★★★★ / 5

Logline

From A24:

A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.

Review: Parts Unknown, Revealed

*Note: the underlined portions are hyperlinks.

Biopics are best when they focus on a small finite period. They don’t feel rushed, they provide more space for an artistic vision, and there is always a stronger focus on character interiority than plot and appearance. Michael, from earlier this year (review here), along with many other music biopics, misguidedly took the lesser “life-and-times” approach, which partly tanked the quality of the film and subsequently gave way to more scrutiny surrounding the omissions from its Wikipedia-page-reminiscent script.

A short timeframe allows for greater creative license, letting the filmmakers more pointedly make claims about its subject. In the case of A24’s Tony, a Matt Johnson film about world-famous chef Anthony Bourdain at age 19, you see close to ten years of people, experiences, emotions, and life compressed into a single summer... and it works almost exceedingly well.

Before being known as the bestselling author of his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential, and host of various cooking and travel shows on Food Network and CNN, Anthony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) – Tony to everyone but his mother - was a sophomore at Vassar College in 1975, on the verge of receiving a writing grant for a yet-to-be-conceived book. Tony, director Matt Johnson’s second film this year after Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, encompasses his second college summer as he makes his way to Provincetown, Massachusetts for a girl, Nancy (Emilia Jones). Lying to her and his own family about his finances, he finds himself sleeping on a patio hammock belonging to an enigmatic chef (Antonio Banderas) and later working in his seaside seafood restaurant with a motley crew of line cooks. Throughout the summer, he makes friends, falls in love, and learns the joy of cooking.

I didn’t know much about Anthony Bourdain before seeing Tony. I remember his CNN show Parts Unknown, from which I borrowed my title here, being on the DVR constantly, but I can’t say that I’ve seen any of it. I know that his commentary was often frank and unabashed. I also remember when he sadly and shockingly passed away in 2018 while out of the country filming his show. This film doesn’t seek to fill in any gaps in his life from the part of his career that most people know about but is, instead, curious about his personhood before fame: his moral code, his motivations, his strengths, his weaknesses.

I’m very curious to learn where these amalgamated events and people line up in real life - and what might have been fiction - but that is only an after-thought. As much as everyone around him is their own character, they are all pieces of Tony personified. I credit the four-person writing team for seamlessly consolidating Bourdain’s life into a funny and bittersweet film.

Though credited with three co-writers, Matt Johnson clearly wrote Tony as an extension of him (or at least his heightened self in Nirvanna the Band). Like Matt, his care, love, and empathy are shrouded by a fast-talking, over-eager persona, but it makes sense for Tony’s character almost exclusively because he is 19 years old. Tony is a bit of an asshole with not much regard for other people - like most 19-year-olds. He’s irresponsible, blinded by lust, and sick of his family - like most 19-year-olds. As the epigraph attributed to Bourdain himself states, he was “self-destructive” and “in need of a good ass-kicking” - like most 19-year-olds. Dominic Sessa as Tony plays this all remarkably well.

Dominic Sessa in "Tony"

Sessa, who rose to fame in 2023 after his debut performance in Alexander Payne’s new holiday classic The Holdovers, does a great job in his first lead outing as the eponymous character. Behaviorally, his performance feels like his character Angus in The Holdovers - which might’ve been the reason for his casting - but it feels fitting since both characters are, at their core, prideful children. I honestly was reminded of Marty Supreme and the character of Marty Mauser. Obviously, that was not the first instance of an overzealous youth in a film, but the characteristics of both Marty and Tony somewhat favor each other.

Left to right: Dominic Sessa and Antonio Banderas in "Tony"

Marty is in a relentless search for greatness and Tony just wants to have his cake and eat it too, but their pursuits inform their characters to similar effects, most notably how they treat people. Not only that, but in both films, you’re meant to root for them to get knocked down a few pegs. Both characters must undergo a tear-down of their narcissism to become the men they need to be, and I think that makes for a fun viewing experience in both cases, but especially here because we know him.

The film isn’t complete without the standout performances from Antonio Banderas as the CIA-trained, calculated, and understanding chef, whose name isn’t revealed until the end of the film, and Leo Woodall as Sal, an oyster-shucker who introduces Tony to debauchery and hard drugs. More than anyone, Sessa included, Woodall and Banderas are bonafide scene-stealers, with Woodall’s erratic, yet clearly haunted turn proving to be an early contender in this year’s Best Supporting Actor race.

I also enjoyed Emilia Jones as Bourdain's future wife and stand-up comedian/podcaster Stavros Halkias as the comedic relief of the film, continuing a string of strong supporting performances from him after starring in last year’s Bugonia.

I would not be surprised if I saw Tony in awards conversations, especially for its performances. Johnson and co. have crafted a strong, solid biopic, filled with great performances, that actually breaks ground on the internal conflict of the troubled chef. I notice influence from the films of Richard Linklater - some of which are favorites of mine - and his honest showcases of Americana, which is hilarious considering the creative team is almost entirely Canadian, including Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band partner Jay McCarrol, who contributes the film’s effective score. I have no connection with him, his food, or his work, but I know that this film is successful at exploring Anthony Bourdain and his parts, now previously unknown.

Viewed on 7/22/26 at AMC Burbank 16

Published on 7/29/26

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