The late Anthony Bourdain captured the minds, hearts, and stomachs of the world, similar to his famous Mortadella sandwich he wrote about in his widely-praised book Appetites. Certainly the pressure was on the creative team behind A24’s Tony to make the film feel true to a person who made everyone feel like they were sitting at his table, taking a bite out of life. 

Screenwriters Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, Matthew Miller, and co-writer director Matt Johnson chose to focus the film on the first two chapters of Bourdain’s bestseller Kitchen Confidential, which share his early, characteristically splashy leap out of college into the kitchen of a Provincetown seafood restaurant. 

Dominic Sessa, winner of the 2024 CCA Best Young Actor Award, plays the titular character with a zeal that feels like the beginnings of how we would come to know Bourdain years later. CCA nominee Antonio Banderas plays Chef, the man who begrudgingly offers Tony his deck hammock to sleep on, using a bucket of water as an alarm clock. 

In a summer where movie theater attendance is giving box office prognosticators the most excitement they’ve had in years, Tony is contributing mightily with just over $13 million in worldwide revenue on a budget estimated to be just under $15 million. It is still showing on over 1600 screens in the United States.