When Chef came out, I wondered how they could make such an apparently weak storyline seem interesting. Having seen (a lot of*) it, I now know that they didn't bother trying. Ironically for a movie which starts with a frustrated chef being lambasted for sticking with the same old recipes, the film itself takes over-familiar themes and plays them out to their (apparently*) obvious, cloying conclusion. There were good performances, and it looked nice; but again, it's like a list of high quality ingredients being used unimaginatively, which is exactly the problem the critic flagged up at the start.
*I gave up with 15 minutes to go, because the ending was clearly going to be a cheese selection. And apparently it was.