HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Despite the presence of William Shatner as the Chairman overseeing the "Iron Chef USA" cooking competition, the American producers of this Japanese cult item don't quite grasp the camp qualities of the Fuji TV original aired domestically on the Food Network.
To Americanize now seemingly means bringing in elements of the World Wrestling Federation -- posters in the audience, kids screaming, an entrance on a motorcycle, nonstop swirling music and an air of seriousness that doesn't jibe with the onscreen antics.
There's no way to re-create the bizarrely captivating original, which translates the words of all but one of the participants and makes each sound wildly naive.
As the Chairman, Shatner's speeches are neither weird nor serious -- his persona, despite going for a robed Jedi warrior look, is too toned down to point this show in a truly wacky direction. Announcer Michael Burger goes over the top to announce every move, his food ignorance balanced by Anthony Dias Blue, a noted wine expert; the two look absurd wearing 1970s-style gold blazers dusted off from the "Monday Night Football" crew.
The long-haired, telegenic Kerry Simon is the challenger. He is billed as the "rock 'n' roll chef" for cooking for musicians, though his background is kept vague. He chooses Todd English, the handsome, inventive chef behind the Olives & Figs restaurants, to compete against: They enter an all-American battle over the special ingredient, Dungeness crab.
During the hourlong competition, show falters as it fails in its attempt to express amazement over what the chefs may or may not be preparing. As always, the results are wildly different and submitted to a panel led by writer Bruce Vilanch, who uses each dish as a straight line, and three vocabulary-challenged judges, one of whom is a former centerfold.
Technical effort seems to have been focused on the bookends, the intro and the end of the competition. The middle 40 features too many canned interview segments filled with generic soundbites that do little to get auds siding with one chef or the other.
Shots of the cooking start well but do not consistently frame the frenetic nature of the competition. And beyond Vilanch, none of the judges are given enough space to charm or flop.
Iron Chefs: Todd English, Jean Francois Meteigner, Alessandro Stratta, Roy Yamaguchi; challenger, Kerry Simon; announcers, Michael Burger, Anthony Dias Blue, Sissy Biggers; the Chairman, William Shatner.
Taped at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas by the Larry Thompson Organization in partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment. Executive producer, Larry Thompson; supervising producers-directors-editors, Bud Schaetzle, Jim Yukich; writer, Jay Falk; production design, Steve Bass; lighting, Bob Peterson; music, Jay Ferguson.
Reuters/Variety
