Johnson's 'Tony' Works Best As a Coming-of-age Story If Viewers Forget Bourdain's Real Identity

Matt Johnson's film 'Tony, starring Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain, re-creates the celebrity chef's transformative summer of 1975 in Provincetown, Cape Cod. The movie, opening in New York and L.A. on Aug. 7 and wide Aug.

21, follows Bourdain as a spoiled, narcissistic 19-year-old who lands a dishwasher job at the Flagship restaurant under a mentor known as Chef (Antonio Banderas), while clashing with line cook Sal (Leo Woodall) and pursuing high school crush Nancy (Emilia Jones). Johnson's take avoids reverence, working best as a coming-of-age story if viewers forget the protagonist's real identity. The film draws on Bourdain's own account, as he wrote in his bestselling memoir 'Kitchen Confidential.