YNOT at the Movies

When Anthony Bourdain was 19-year-old, he had no book deal, no show, no reputation, just a girl he followed to the end of Cape Cod and no idea what he would do there. Director Matt Johnson's "Tony" (USA 2026 | 106 min.) captures him entirely in that moment, decades before the writer, the TV host, or the death that tragically closed the book on him.

Nineteen-year-old Tony (Dominic Sessa) is someone hard to root for on the surface: a smooth talker, a frequent liar, a kid getting by on charm because he hasn't built anything real yet. He follows Nancy (Emilia Jones), a girl from his high school he has a crush on, to Provincetown, knowing nobody and with nowhere to go. He talks his way into washing dishes for Chef (Antonio Banderas), the restaurateur running a small seafood spot, and it's Tony's first job in any kitchen. Without a place to stay, he ends up camping out on Chef's patio for an extended stretch, not even inside the house. It's that one impulsive decision, none of it makes sense in hindsight, that quietly sets up the rest of his life. The film never over-explains this irony. It just lets you sit with how little Tony understands about what he's actually doing.

What does come through is the courage underneath the recklessness. Broke, unqualified, and with no real plan, Tony still throws himself at the opportunity in front of him instead of retreating to something safer. Whether or not you like him at the moment, that instinct to leap first and figure it out later reads as the seed of the person he'd become. The film trusts the audience to feel that connection rather than spelling it out.

Where the story gets shakier is Tony's relationship with Chef. Chef takes Tony under his wing almost immediately after they meet, even letting Tony sleep on his property, despite Tony having zero kitchen experience, and gives him little reason to be trusted. The film wants this mentorship to feel like it makes sense, but it never quite shows us what Chef sees in this kid before Tony has done anything to deserve it. It's a gap the film asks you to fill in yourself, and not every viewer will.

Sal (Leo Woodall) is the film's most alive presence, a coworker who embodies every temptation and bad habit that runs through restaurant kitchens. Woodall plays Sal with a loose, confident and dangerous charisma that makes every scene he's in mesmerizing. It feels like Sal could tip into chaos at any second in life while being the most trusted person in the kitchen, and it's easily the standout performance here.

However, the burning question is who this film is really for. Knowing where young Tony ends up is what makes you extend him grace even when he's lying to someone's face or making a mess of his own life. Strip that knowledge away and what's left is a coming-of-age story about an unremarkable, not especially likable kid stumbling through a summer. That's not necessarily a flaw, but it does mean the film is working with a built-in safety net that a viewer unfamiliar with Anthony Bourdain simply won't have.

It's hard to imagine that going to Provincetown pursuing a girl from school completely shaped Anthony Bourdain's life and career, and this film succeeds in telling that captivating story with a terrific ensemble cast.

"Tony" opens on Friday, August 7, 2026 in New York and Los Angeles, and in the San Francisco Bay Area theaters on Friday, August 21, 2026.