‘Tony’ review: a mostly delicious taste of pre-fame Anthony Bourdain

What a mouth-watering prospect this is. Rock star chef Anthony Bourdain, who tragically took his own life in 2018 at the age of 61, was the best of us: funny, intrepid and with a natural warmth that glowed from the screen. His globe-trotting documentaries took us to places we may never otherwise see and showed us that a hole-in-the-wall joint can be just as special as a posh restaurant, if not more so. The idea of an A24 mini biopic that depicts his pre-fame years as a disaffected dishwasher in Provincetown, Cape Cod, then, is as tantalising as an ice-cold beer. READ MORE: The best films of 2026… so far! For the most part, director and co-writer Matt Johnson (BlackBerry, Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie) serves up the goods. Set in 1975, Tony is a riotous coming-of-age tale that introduces its subject (played by The Holdovers‘ Dominic Sessa) as a feckless wannabe writer studying at Vassar College, New York State. Having failed to secure a summer-long NYC writing scholarship, he nevertheless tells everyone he was successful and, unbeknownst to his family, sets off to Cape Cod in pursuit of the girl of his dreams (Nancy, played by Emilia Jones). The fact that he has no money or p...