There's no easy way to play this one, so we're just going to tell you this: Anthony Bourdain has a very definitive opinion on Baby Driver. We honestly can't talk too much about it without giving you the skinny on the famed chef and TV personality's opinion head on, so we're just going to show you what he said.
So yeah... Chef Bourdain is apparently not a fan of Edgar Wright's latest film, unless you employ some Veep level semantics and ask whether he meant to say, "Fuck Baby Driver," or if he meant to say, "Fuck, Baby Driver." Though considering there's plenty of room for a comma, and Bourdain's penchant for hipster bashing, we're inclined to think that Baby and his crew are another symbol of everything that the Parts Unknown host despises.
It's the sort of backlash you'd see with a film like (500) Days of Summer, which was also pretty much a movie you loved or hated. If you loved it, it seemed like a breath of fresh air that wore its influences on its sleeve, and took you for a ride the likes of which you're not used to in the here and now. But if you hated it, it was a self indulgent piece of hipster bait that seriously tested your nerves with its twee soundtrack, and insistence that Zooey Deschanel is the objectively perfect manic pixie dream girl. You know the debate, as it's one that's raged for some time, and Baby Driver is the latest film to fall under the same sort of scrutiny.
No matter if you're a fan or foe of Baby Driver, you're probably wondering just what sort of films Anthony Bourdain actually enjoys. Well, as luck would have it, a list of such films is available through the magic of the internet, and there's some fantastic entries on that list. Films like Goodfellas, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and the original Get Carter all made it, which also shows just why his disdain for Baby Driver is so strong. Crime classics such as those are hard to measure up to, so obviously anything that might seem as if it's copying those films for its own perceived smugness is going to look like tripe. Though, if you're curious, there is a more recent movie that Anthony Bourdain absolutely approves of, and he let the world know it in the following follow-up tweet:
While Bourdain may have taken to Twitter to roast Baby Driver, we can't argue with the fact that The Raid: Redemption is indeed a quality film, as well as the rest of the films on his favorites list. You can have taste, and still disagree with the common consensus when it comes to a piece of cinema. It's what makes the world of film criticism interesting. If given the chance, we'd still further discuss the finer points of film and food with Anthony Bourdain, if only to get further down to the bottom of just what his inner cinephile craves. If you're reading out there, our door's always open, Chef.
Baby Driver is in theaters now, and you can judge for yourself if you haven't already.
