Given the ubiquity of celebrity chefs on the small screen, it’s unsurprising that one should now appear in the cinema. Happily, this black comedy is less about cooking up the perfect soufflé than the perfect crime. The plot follows Felix Limb (Goodman), a failing TV chef. When a dinner party at his house is invaded by would-be bank robbers, Limb persuades them to take him hostage, hoping to create a media circus and get his career back on track.
It’s little more than an extended attack on the cult of celebrity, with TV actors struggling to fill the screen and the budgetary limitations meaning it often feels more like a play than a film, but the screenplay (co-written by Empire’s own Bob McCabe) is very effective in lampooning its targets and offers a few welcome twists.