REVIEW: ‘Chef Flynn’
Photo: Chef Flynn follows Flynn McGarry through his rise to fame in the culinary industry. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber / Provided by Kino Lorber press site with permission.
I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and add to the criticism of Chef Flynn McGarry, the young master of gastronomic enjoyment who runs GEM restaurant in New York City. Because he was tagged as a prodigy and wunderkind in the culinary world, Flynn faced some backlash on the Internet for not taking the usual route into the professional kitchen.
For all those haters, puh-lease.
Flynn is beyond talented and worthy of being a presence on the food scene. He’s dedicated to his craft, willing to learn from his mistakes and has an obvious innate ability to pair ingredients into winning dishes. I’m in the process of booking a table at GEM (if I can find an available spot!).
Some of the positives and negatives Flynn has faced in the industry are on display in the new documentary, Chef Flynn, currently playing New York City’s Film Forum. Directed by Cameron Yates and featuring Flynn and his mother, Meg McGarry, the movie offers a personal angle on the chef’s formative years, when he used to cook fancy meals for select guests in his family’s home in Studio City, California.
Watching the footage, one can see the talents on display. Flynn cares about the ingredients he uses, cares about the interesting combinations he creates, cares about the display of food on the plate, cares about people walking away satisfied. There’s no doubting that he showcased an uncommon skill from an early age, and much of this inherent talent was cultivated by his doting mother.
Meg and Flynn become a team, and she helps him rise through the ranks, eventually receiving glances from prestigious magazines (The New York Times Magazine in particular) and TV shows. Unfortunately, as Flynn’s ascent takes off, the society around him turns to social media for bullying and trolling. That means a young wunderkind trying to make a name for himself in the competitive world of cooking must face online barbs lobbed from critics — perhaps acting from places of jealousy, envy or just meanness.
Flynn, ever the optimist, keeps his head held high and tries not to have the backlash derail his ambitions. Note: The honest critiques of Flynn’s food are fair game, but the personal attacks he faced are unwarranted.
Yates’ documentary on Flynn’s teenage years is interesting in how personal it comes across. The film marries Yates’ own filming with Meg’s home videos, and this means many conversations between mother and son feel authentic and intimate, a rare viewpoint in a profile movie like this one.
However, there are some issues with the central thesis of the project. After spending nearly 90 minutes with the chef, some fundamental questions remain unanswered. For starters, how was Flynn’s culinary aspirations funded for so many years? There is a scene showing Meg rifling through receipts for the ingredients the chef needs, but that’s about it.
Who paid for his pop-up restaurants? What type of seed money was needed? How can he seemingly travel to New York City on a moment’s notice? Not including information about the financial backing of Flynn’s rise to fame only fuels the hurtful stories that he skipped too many rungs on his climb up the ladder.
Perhaps the best part of the film is Meg’s inclusion. Having her perspective as Flynn’s mother is unique and refreshing, and Meg is extremely candid with the camera. She opens up about her dedication to her son and what sacrifices she needed to make in her own art (she’s a filmmaker). Yates is spot on with his fine focus on Meg, as interesting a subject as Flynn himself.
Chef Flynn adds a behind-the-scenes look at a meteoric rise in a competitive industry where such rises are uncommon. But that’s Flynn’s middle name: uncommon.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chef Flynn (2018), directed by Cameron Yates, is now playing at New York City’s Film Forum. Running time: 83 minutes. Rating: 
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