Tony Is Hilariously Prickly, Emotionally Raw, And The Best Kind Of Biopic [Review]

Tony (2026) is the kind of biopic to recommend to people who don’t like typical biopics. The film focuses on the early life of Anthony Bourdain, years before he would become the world-famous chef featured in documentaries like Roadrunner (2021). The film doesn’t do the typical biopic thing of spreading out the entire story of his life and compressing it into a single feature narrative. Instead, it keeps the focus tight on a crucial summer in a young Tony’s life.

Filled with period-appropriate touches akin to something like Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Tony is a movie that works better as a character dramedy than a typical biopic — and that’s very much meant by design. Instead of relying on tired tropes and broader story beats, the film works as an exploration of a young man realizing the harshest realities of youth. Bolstered by strong performances throughout, Tony is the balm for audiences who are tired of typical biopics.

Tony Works As A Stand-Alone Just As Well As A Biopic

What makes Tony so good are all the elements that don’t need to be part of a biopic to work. The film works just as well as a period-piece coming-of-age story, with elements that will feel familiar to anyone who has seen everything from The Graduate (1967) to Mile End Kicks (2026). Tony focuses on the titular college student, who decides to fake acceptance to a writing fellowship in an effort to follow and impress a girl.

To keep up the facade, Tony ends up crashing on the hammock of a local unnamed chef and taking work in his kitchen. As the film goes on, the wannabe with a chip on his shoulder gets a taste of a more grounded life, befriending the locals and forming a bond with Chef that steadily opens up a whole new world to him. It's nothing revolutionary, but much like the food cooked by Bourdain, it is done with a masterful touch.

There are little details here and there that take on more meaning if you’re a fan of Anthony Bourdain, but the movie works just as well as a stand-alone story of a bratty teen who thinks he’s all grown up finding out what it takes to really mature. The direction by Matt Johnson is grounded but quietly clever, using subtle pans and clever cuts to keep the audience tuned in to the coming-of-age focus. It’s a film that works with universal elements to tell a very specific story, the kind of biopic that will appeal to the mega-fans but can just as easily win over a newcomer.

Tony’s Cast Elevates A Low-Key (But Well-Written) Story

The not-so-secret weapon to Tony is the cast, who do terrific work breathing life into the effective script from Johnson, Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels, and Lou Howe. The Holdovers (2023) star Dominic Sessa brings new dimensions to the angsty teen archetype that he played previously, giving his Bourdain a wealth of anger and just a touch of self-doubt to a character that should be frustrating but retains his sympathetic qualities even when becoming purposefully unlikable. Emilia Jones is a perfect foil to him, a charming and already weary young woman who sees through Tony's nonsense but can't help being won over by his potential. Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, and Leo Woodall flesh out the supporting cast with enough prickly edges to keep Tony from ever feeling too out of place. 

Antonio Banderas is naturally the standout, his supporting turn in the film as Tony's unlikely mentor giving him the chance to play with a powerful empathy and curt humanism that can set off tears and laughs. It's the kind of performance that Banderas is perfect for, with the actor finding little touches of history and depth in simple line reads or minor physical moves. It’s a well-acted film that plays things just big enough for the big screen but without losing their emotional cores. While the characters themselves don’t get the full arcs that one would hope for across the board, Sessa and Banderas are able to really carve thematic arcs out of their soulful performances.

Tony Is A Biopic For Audiences Who Don’t Like Biopics

A lot of modern biopics take a broader approach to their subject matter. Films like Michael (2026) or Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) prefer to explore the most famous aspects of their characters, often at the cost of real thematic throughlines. Tony is in many ways a direct opposite of that. There is no exploration of Anthony Bourdain’s career as a chef, the celebrity he would gain, or the demons he would face. 

Those elements are teased out in minor moments that aware audiences can see in his behavior and actions, without ever undercutting the self-contained narrative of a young man realizing he really doesn’t have the world figured out at 19. That’s what makes Tony such an effective character study. The great performances and solid script do a lot of the heavy lifting, but they all coalesce around a compelling story about growing up that makes for a strong film. Even if you’re tired of the typical tropes of the biopic formula, Tony does enough genuine soul-searching to be powerfully effective.