Tony (15)
Cast: Leo Woodall, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Dominczyk, Dominic Sessa, Antonio BanderasGenre: Drama
Author(s): Todd Bartels, Matthew Miller, Matt Johnson, Lou Howe
Director: Matt Johnson
Release Date: 14/08/2026
Running Time: 106mins
Country: US/Can
Year: 2026
In the summer of 1975, 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain boasts to his parents and younger brother that he will be the proud recipient of a residential summer writing scholarship. When the scholarship committee fails to recognise his immeasurable talents, Tony steals money from his parents to finance an impromptu trip to Provincetown to chase after a girl called Nancy. There, he finds work washing dishes in a seafood restaurant and nurtures a passion for cooking from the resident chef.
LondonNet Film Review
Tony (15) Film Review from LondonNet
No dino is too big, no pup is too small in a supersized feature film extension of the hugely popular PAW Patrol children’s TV series, which goes for a fast-paced gallivant in the Jurassic park by uncovering a hidden island populated by living, breathing prehistoric creatures. Director Cal Brunker and co-writer Bob Barlen don’t waste energy contriving a pseudoscientific explanation for the hulking beasts’ existence when a lean 88-minute running time can be devoted to rip-roaring adventure on four and two legs…
Review: Director Matt Johnson’s tasty biopic of Anthony Bourdain opens with choice words from the revered chef’s nonfiction bestseller, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly. Bourdain’s scathingly honest assessment of his own weaknesses, before hubris and the responsibilities of adulthood slapped him squarely about the face, are on full, discomfiting display in Tony.
Johnson’s picture marinades in the summer of 1975. Nineteen-year-old Anthony (Dominic Sessa) is overbrimming with confidence and assures his parents Pierre (Rich Sommer) and Gladys (Dagmara Dominczyk) and younger brother Christopher (Liam Fitch) that he will be the proud recipient of a residential summer writing scholarship. When the scholarship committee fails to recognise his immeasurable talents, Tony (as he prefers to be addressed) steals money from his parents to finance an impromptu trip to Provincetown on Massachusetts’ picturesque Cape Cod to chase after a girl called Nancy (Emilia Jones).
Unfortunately, she has a boyfriend – the owner of the pizzeria where she now works – and Tony drowns his sorrows in a local seafood restaurant, where he offends his server Mary (Monica Raymund). The resident Brazilian-born chef (Antonio Banderas) forcefully ejects Tony from his establishment and at the end of the night, the alcohol-soaked newcomer is still languishing unconsciousness in a gutter. Chef takes pity on his abusive customer and offers Tony a hammock on the porch of his summer house. Tony tells fibs about having worked in a restaurant before and Chef allows him to wash dishes and observe the controlled chaos in the kitchen between co-workers Sal (Leo Woodall), Dimitri (Stavros Halkias) and Tyrone (Michael Jibrin). Chef’s passion for cooking inspires Tony and he dares to dream big but the teenager’s tower of lies is destined to collapse with calamitous consequences for everyone around him.
Tony does not deceive to flatter its charismatic subject, drawing inspiration from sections of Kitchen Confidential to paint a vivid portrait of a young man destined for an almighty fall from grace that will draw blood (and deservedly so). A scintillating lead performance from Sessa embraces every glorious facet of Bourdain, who feels like a fully formed and fatally flawed character in a polished script credited to four writers. Banderas is delightful as the kind-hearted mentor, whose generosity may come back to bite him when he least expects it, and Woodall relishes the sharp edges of his coke-fuelled womaniser who takes notches from door frames with a pen knife to indicate his trail of one-night stands.
The sweet sentimentality of the film’s final course is surprisingly heavy-handed after the well-balanced tartness, salt and spice of the opening hour. However, Johnson keeps his expertly choreographed service on track by garnishing any crowd-pleasing excesses with flecks of ribald humour.
– Jo Planter
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From: Friday 25th September
To: Thursday 1st October
Fri 17:40; Sat 11:00 20:50; Sun 16:45; Mon 18:15; Tue 15:30; Wed 18:10; Thu 14:30
Fri 16:00; Sat 16:10; Mon 14:00; Thu 18:20
Fri/Sat 15:20; Sun 17:20
Fri 14:45 20:00; Sat 14:50 20:00; Sun 11:00 16:30; Mon 12:00 15:50; Tue 15:30; Wed 17:30; Thu 12:30 17:00
Fri 12:10; Sun 10:20; Tue 13:10
Sat 11:50; Sun 11:00; Tue 13:35; Wed 22:55
From: Friday 2nd October
To: Thursday 8th October
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UK and Irish Cinemas Showing Tony
From: Friday 25th September
To: Thursday 1st October
Wed 11:00
Wed 11:30
Wed 12:50; Thu 11:45
Tue 13:10
Mon 15:20; Wed 17:40; Thu 13:00
Tue 14:40
Wed 17:20
Sat 12:20; Sun 09:45; Mon 22:20
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Sat 09:00; Sun 09:40
From: Friday 2nd October
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