''Two Many Chefs'' () is a 2022 Spanish comedy film directed by Joaquín Mazón from a screenplay by

Joaquín Oristrell Joaquín Oristrell Ventura (born 15 September 1953) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barcelona on 15 September 1953, he is the cousin of actress Yolanda Ventura and nephew of trumpeter . He has written scripts to ...

. It stars

Enric Auquer Enric Auquer Sardà (born 28 August 1988) is a Spanish actor. Career Auquer's interest in acting began in 2008 after his mother encouraged him to enroll in a drama school in Barcelona. Drama classes helped him with his ADHD, as he stated: "It wa ...

and

Karra Elejalde Carlos Elejalde Garay (born 10 October 1960) better known as Karra Elejalde, is a Spanish actor and occasional filmmaker. Biography Carlos Elejalde Garay was born on 10 October 1960 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. He developed his early acting career on i ...

along with

Megan Montaner Megan Gracia Montaner (born 21 August 1987) is a Spanish actress and former model. She is known for her roles in television shows ''El secreto de Puente Viejo, The Secret of Puente Viejo'', ''Gran Hotel (TV series), Grand Hotel'' and ''Sin identi ...

Plot

The fiction takes place in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. Mikel, a young

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

, meets with his father Juan, who had been missing for 30 years. While trying to keep his restaurant afloat, Mikel has to take care of crazed Juan, a former cook who suffers from a mental condition that prevents him from recognizing neither the aforementioned time gap nor his son Mikel.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was penned by

. It was produced by MOD Pictures, MOD Producciones, Kowalski Films and Lavipa Films, with participation by

Movistar+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by , which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL as well as with satellites such as Astra. The pl ...

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

, and ETB. It was shot in

Release

The film made its world premiere at the

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain. It is one of several museums affiliated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish a ...

on 8 September 2022. Distributed by Paramount Pictures Spain, it was theatrically released in Spain on 16 September 2022.

Reception

Marta Medina of ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'' deemed the film to be "a gentle comedy with a touch of drama and emotion" delivering the audience "an hour and a half of endearing entertainment with little more pretension than to entertain and move". Raquel Hernández Luján of ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1991. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' rated the film 67 out of 100 points ("acceptable"), highlighting the lead duo featuring awesome chemistry, considering that, barring a couple of tonally misplaced gags that are not funny at all, the film meets its purpose, otherwise also featuring a good closure. Pablo Vázquez of ''

Fotogramas ''Fotogramas'' is a Spanish digital and print film magazine which has been in circulation since 1946. It is one of the early film magazines in Spain. History Founded in Barcelona, it was first published on 15 November 1946 by Antonio Nadal-Rodó ...

'' rated it 3 out of 5 stars, considering the balance achieved between laughter and disenchantment to be commendable, highlighting the lead duo of Elejalde and Auquer as the best thing about the film, whilst citing as flaws elements such as the dull love subplot and the limited play gotten out of the supporting cast. Andrea G. Bermejo of ''

Cinemanía ''Cinemanía'' is a monthly film magazine based in Madrid, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost po ...

'' rated it 3 out of 5 stars, deeming Auquer and Elejalde to be the "main dish" of the 'feel-good' movie. Manuel J. Lombardo of ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It i ...

'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, assessing the film to be an

oedipal In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire f ...

situational comedy with the ''

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

'' as a parodical backdrop and an estupendous Karra Elejalde as the main show.

References

External links

* {{authority control MOD Producciones films 2020s Spanish films 2020s Spanish-language films Spanish comedy-drama films 2022 comedy-drama films 2022 films Films about father–son relationships Films about chefs Kowalski Films films Films set in Bilbao Films shot in Bilbao Paramount Pictures films