The Anthony Bourdain biopic 'Tony' is a coming-of-age tale for a modern culinary giant. Set over just a summer, it's also clearly an appetizer. Like all first courses, it leaves you with a nice first taste — but still hungry. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Director and co-writer Matt Johnson has frustratingly taken liberties with a formative period in Bourdain's life, but still only manages to tell the story of how a callow lad became somewhat of a less callow lad after toiling in a restaurant kitchen on Cape Cod in 1975.
In 'Tony,' the world-weary, forever romantic, noodle-slurping Bourdain that we would fall in love with decades later via travel shows like 'Parts Unknown' stays firmly out of grasp. What's perhaps most frustrating is that this could have been a fine movie without Bourdain at its center at all. Why did it have to be Bourdain if Bourdain never gets to be Bourdain?
The film stars Dominic Sessa in the lead role, alongside Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodhall, and Emilia Jones. The premiere took place on July 28, 2026, at Regal Union Square in New York, attended by Eric Ripert, Dominic Sessa, and director Matt Johnson.