Never would I have guessed that the first try at an Anthony Bourdain biopic would stray away from the all-too-common biopic formula. I also certainly never would have guessed that the director of one of 2026’s most insane comedies would be the one to take the reins. Matt Johnson’s Tony (2026) follows a formative summer in 1975 Provincetown, where a young, rebellious, and determined college-age Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) takes an unconventional job in an unconventional seafood restaurant.
I’ve very recently grown to love Johnson as a director, with BlackBerry (2023) being my entry point into his style of writing and filmmaking. Since then, his comedic chops were elevated in Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie (2025), which remains my favorite comedy in recent years. Johnson has an approach to comedy that resonates heavily with a significant part of my age group, which leans heavily on situational anxiety and second-hand embarrassment.
Tony is a slice-of-life that follows young Bourdain as he travels to Provincetown solely to see a girl he has a crush on. What makes this film so refreshing and different from other biopics is that it serves as an entry point into where Bourdain ended up in life. It doesn’t try to feature any famous people or things he talks about in his books in great detail; it focuses on telling a compelling coming-of-age story from Bourdain’s perspective above all else.
Sessa shines in a role that takes him back to a similar place he was in in The Holdovers (2023): a stubborn, arrogant young man who is, as the film’s opening words read, “in desperate need of an ass-kicking.” He and Johnson work wonderfully as an actor/director duo, exploring what it means to be a young person with the entire world at your fingertips. The supporting cast carries exactly as much as Sessa, with Antonio Banderas playing a mentor that inspires Bourdain’s culinary interest while Tuner (2025)’s Leo Woodall turns in his second great performance of the year as a cook and friend of Bourdain.
Aside from all of the great performances and the approach to the story, Tony is also Johnson’s best-looking film so far. Michael Bauman composes strikingly beautiful shots of the beach, of Provincetown, of a drunk Bourdain sleeping on the sidewalk with such expertise that I found myself captivated by every frame. Johnson has no bad-looking films from what I have seen, but Tony is another level for him visually. I can only hope that Bauman and Johnson work together on future projects, allowing Johnson to continue to improve from here.
Tony doesn’t mythologize Bourdain – the film makes a very strong effort to deny that he was an ontologically good person – and it results in one of the best biopics in recent memory. Johnson is concerned with making an effective and cogent film about a young man just trying to find his way, while sprinkling in the fact that he happens to grow up into a world-famous writer and chef. Tony is another great turn from Johnson, Sessa, and everyone involved, a delicious course in Johnson’s growing filmography.
Review Courtesy of Nadia Arain
Feature Image Credit to A24