History LethalChef / Film

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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Cookie from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. In one scene, some of his food gets thrown into the fire, and it explodes into a small ''mushroom cloud''. He's also horrified by a lettuce.
-->'''Helga:''' It's a vegetable, Cookie. The men need their four basic food groups.\\
'''Cookie:''' I got your four basic food groups: beans, bacon, whiskey and lard!
* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3'', the girls make soup for Gru made from gummi bears and beef. (Justified, of course, as they're kids.) The look on Gru's face confirms he's only eating it to make them happy.
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''':
** Astrid in the ChristmasEpisode ''Gift of the Night Fury''. Her idea of Yak Nog will ''probably'' not last as a [[YouMeanXmas Snoggletog]] tradition.
** ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' reveals that Haddock men have a habit of falling for Lethal Chefs, as Stoick points out that he didn't marry Valka for her cooking.
-->'''Gobber:''' I hope not! Her meatballs could kill more beasts than a battle axe.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' Cully's gang laments about Molly's cooking.
--> "Rat soup!"\\
"For the third night!"\\
"At least you could have used a different rat!"
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Linguini, before meeting Remy, makes a soup so bad that when he tastes it he pukes and Remy nearly does too when he sniffs it. Yes. His food is so bad that not even the ''rats'' will eat it. (Though granted, the rat in question has the culinary inclinations of a master chef, but ''[[EpicFail rats don't have a gag reflex]]!!'')
* The standard food at the salvage yard cafeteria in ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'' may be appetizing to the cockroach-like alien that cooks it, but he has no interest in catering to a human palate, serving feces and live "sushi" [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking without ketchup.]]
-->'''Cale:''' I'd just like them to kill my food before they serve it to me. I do an honest day's work, I want already-dead food.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Played with in ''Film/{{Annie|2014}}''. Annie is astonished that literally everything in Stacks' fridge is take out. She tries to ingratiate herself with him by telling him "I can make a meal out of any five ingredients you pick!" It looks at first like Annie is going to show off her "poor person ingenuity", but it comes out so disgusting that they both SpitTake on tasting it, but it works to get them talking. They get so into their conversation that they forget how gross the meal is and take another bite, only to SpitTake it again.\\
\\
Annie doesn't give up on trying to cook, though. She brings Stacks breakfast, but it's burnt toast and other stuff that is not as readily identifiable. This time, though, he gets off the hook by feeding it all to a willing Sandy.
* In the film version of ''Film/TheATeam'', Murdock shows some shades of this. His preparation of steak involves sprinkling cordite on them, and then flipping them over to allow it to flame up. His "special sauce" (containing anti-freeze), induced Bell's Palsy in Face (which Murdock shrugged of as "only partial paralysis"). What keeps him from being considered a full-on lethal chef is that he has been shown to be really good at the job as well. His curry tapenade is what is used to calm down B.A. after his being drugged and brought on board a ship.
* ''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'': The sailors revolt after being given rotting, maggot infested meat to eat for the umpteenth time.
* Lane Meyer's mother Jenny (played by Kim Darby) from the 1985 John Cusack film ''Film/BetterOffDead''. In one scene Jenny is shown cooking a pot full of ''something'' emitting a suspicious mist from which tentacles wave, and in another, one of her dishes actually crawls off of Lane's plate when he pokes it with a fork. Even her "ordinary" meals are somewhat ... ''skewed'', as evidenced by the "French-themed" dinner she makes for a French exchange student -- consisting entirely of foods with the word "French" in their names, like French dressing and French toast.
-->"It's got raisins in it... you ''like'' raisins!"
* In the ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour'' movie, comedian Ron White tells a joke about how his wife was such a bad cook that [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt he tried to feed it to his dog and it started licking its butt]]. His wife asks "What's he doing?" and he goes "It looks like he's trying to get the taste out of his mouth!"
* In the first ''Literature/BridgetJones'' book (and movie), Bridget attempts to cook soup from scratch. The recipe says to tie some of the ingredients together with string before putting them in the pot. She uses blue plastic string and turns the soup blue. It's later referred to as String Soup.
-->'''Tom:''' To Bridget, who cannot cook, but who we love just as she is.
* ''Film/{{Bullshot}}''. [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Rosemary Fenton's]] rock-hard scones are a RunningGag. When the hero nearly breaks a tooth on one and tries to covertly dispose of the scone, he finds every hiding place in the house already stuffed with scones discarded by previous guests.
* Humphrey of ''Film/CannibalTheMusical'':
-->'''Miller:''' ''[seeing their dinner]'' You son of a bitch, Humphrey.\\
'''Humphrey:''' Come on, you haven't even tried it.\\
''[Miller takes a mouthful]''\\
'''Miller:''' You son of a bitch, Humphrey.
* In the first ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' film, Creator/LucyLiu's character Alex makes completely inedible muffins. Another Angel throws one at a door, and it almost goes through, getting stuck in it. When one is slammed into a plate, it makes an ominous metallic clunk.
* ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' invokes this trope for laughs in-universe. When Mick first takes Sue into the Outback, he cooks her a dinner of goanna (the Australian name for a monitor lizard), wild plants, and insect larva. She hesitantly asks if it's what he eats, at which point he says "eh, you can live off it, but it tastes like shit." He then produces a can of beans, indicating that he was just screwing with her.
* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', on the submarine ''Stingray'', hyper executive officer Marty Pascal is berating the cook, Buckman, for the ill-kept nature of his kitchen, when he spies an open can.
-->'''Pascal:''' Jesus, Buckman! This stuff's been on the ''Stingray'' since Korea! This can expired in ''1966!!''\\
'''Buckman:''' ''[tastes from the can]'' What's the matter, sir? It still tastes like creamed corn...\\
'''Pascal:''' Except it's '''deviled ham!!'''\\
'''Buckman:''' ... That would be a problem.
* Isabelle in ''Film/TheDreamers'' cooks for narrator Matthew and her brother Theo. The food is so badly burned that they can't tell the souffle from the ratatouille, and tastes so bad that Matthew can't swallow it. Theo happily goes downstairs and raids the neighbors' garbage for an alternative meal.
* ''Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark'' in the eponymous film attempts to cook a meal from a secret family cookbook. Unfortunately, the "secret cookbook" is actually a spellbook, and the resulting vaguely food-like monstrosity attempts to [[FoodEatsYou eat the diners.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR17m9LvVWw The spray whipped cream is a nice touch]].
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Jake and Eddie]] from ''Film/ErnestGoesToCamp'', especially when it comes to their infamous "Eggs Erroneous". They actually weaponize their skills in the FinalBattle, using their "Liver-Loaf Lunch Arranger" to launch their less-than-palatable entrees at the miners, and the aforementioned Eggs Erroneous help destroy a bulldozer.
* In ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'', it takes Kip Raines less than sixty seconds to dump salt and beer in an ugly egg scramble and serve it with a side of burnt-black toast. It's enough to make even Memphis lose his cool.
* ''Film/IronMan2'' reveals a GadgeteerGenius like Tony is ironically clueless when it comes to cooking as he spends three hours trying to make Pepper a omelette that ends up looking like a chemical disaster. Tony does somewhat improve later on as he's shown cooking in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]'' and tries helping Pepper out with the dinner in ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]'' but Pepper wisely tells him to keep out of it.
* In ''Film/JackFrost1997'' the Sheriff manages to find out the killer snowman is vulnerable to antifreeze after it is exposed to his son's brownies. His son apparently put highly-toxic antifreeze in these brownies because he did not want his father to get cold.
* The classic ''Creator/LaurelAndHardy'' short "Saps at Sea" has them cooking breakfast for a thug. But there's no food. So they make a fake, substituting brewed chewing tobacco for coffee, string for spaghetti, red paint for sauce, sponges for meatballs, grated soap for cheese... Unfortunately he finds out and tells them to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AStZ6LLFLkI eat it first]].
* Roger Murtaugh's wife from the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series is not known to be skilled in the kitchen, as evidenced by the following exchange:
-->'''Murtaugh:''' What the hell, thin's my middle name. \\
'''Riggs:''' Your wife's cooking, I'm not surprised. \\
''[fires his gun several more times]''\\
'''Murtaugh:''' What? What? \\
'''Riggs:''' Nothin'. \\
'''Murtaugh:''' Remarks like that will not get you invited to Christmas dinner. \\
'''Riggs:''' My luck's changing for the better every day.
* The extended edition of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'' reveals Éowyn to be a terrible cook, who proudly presents Aragorn with a bowl of "soup" containing some limp boiled leaves, one gelatinous dumpling, and a puddle of liquid shimmering with grease. As a royal princess who seems to disdain feminine activities, it makes some sense that her cooking skills are underdeveloped.
* ''Film/{{Manborg}}'' has [[{{Delinquents}} Justice]], who is probably the only person in fiction or otherwise who can make boxed mac and cheese explosive.
* Jack Black's character Nacho from ''Film/NachoLibre'' is like this initially. Once he makes enough money (through his wrestling) to purchase better ingredients, he's capable of making dishes that at least ''look'' appetizing.
* The lunch cook in ''Film/PrincipalTakesAHoliday'' is shown to make barely-edible food. When the new fake principal decides to try it, he goes to the kitchen in disgust and forces the cook to eat his own food, telling him he'll have to do this from now on. When the real principal shows up, he remarks how things have improved, including the fact that the food is actually pretty decent now.
* In the Danish ''Film/{{Pusher}}'' film series, Serbian druglord Milo runs a restaurant as his cover and likes to feed his criminal associates his creations, which are apparently terrible. In the third film, he gives his whole gang food poisoning right when he needs them most, leaving him to his own devices.
[[/folder]]

----

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Linguini, before meeting Remy, makes a soup so bad that when he tastes it he pukes and Remy nearly does too when he sniffs it. Yes. His food is so bad that not even the ''rats'' will eat it. (Though granted, the rat in question has the culinary inclinations of a master chef, but ''[[EpicFail rats don't have a gag reflex]]!!'')
* The standard food at the salvage yard cafeteria in ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'' may be appetizing to the cockroach-like alien that cooks it, but he has no interest in catering to a human palate, serving feces and live "sushi" [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking without ketchup.]]
-->'''Cale:''' I'd just like them to kill my food before they serve it to me. I do an honest day's work, I want already-dead food.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' Cully's gang laments about Molly's cooking.
--> "Rat soup!"\\
"For the third night!"\\
"At least you could have used a different rat!"
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''':
** Astrid in the ChristmasEpisode ''Gift of the Night Fury''. Her idea of Yak Nog will ''probably'' not last as a [[YouMeanXmas Snoggletog]] tradition.
** ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'' reveals that Haddock men have a habit of falling for Lethal Chefs, as Stoick points out that he didn't marry Valka for her cooking.
-->'''Gobber:''' I hope not! Her meatballs could kill more beasts than a battle axe.

* ''Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark'' in the eponymous film attempts to cook a meal from a secret family cookbook. Unfortunately, the "secret cookbook" is actually a spellbook, and the resulting vaguely food-like monstrosity attempts to [[FoodEatsYou eat the diners.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR17m9LvVWw The spray whipped cream is a nice touch]].
* Roger Murtaugh's wife from the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' series is not known to be skilled in the kitchen, as evidenced by the following exchange:
-->'''Murtaugh:''' What the hell, thin's my middle name. \\
'''Riggs:''' Your wife's cooking, I'm not surprised. \\
''[fires his gun several more times]''\\
'''Murtaugh:''' What? What? \\
'''Riggs:''' Nothin'. \\
'''Murtaugh:''' Remarks like that will not get you invited to Christmas dinner. \\
'''Riggs:''' My luck's changing for the better every day.

* The extended edition of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'' reveals Éowyn to be a terrible cook, who proudly presents Aragorn with a bowl of "soup" containing some limp boiled leaves, one gelatinous dumpling, and a puddle of liquid shimmering with grease. As a royal princess who seems to disdain feminine activities, it makes some sense that her cooking skills are underdeveloped.
* ''Film/IronMan2'' reveals a GadgeteerGenius like Tony is ironically clueless when it comes to cooking as he spends three hours trying to make Pepper a omelette that ends up looking like a chemical disaster. Tony does somewhat improve later on as he's shown cooking in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]'' and tries helping Pepper out with the dinner in ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]'' but Pepper wisely tells him to keep out of it.
* Jack Black's character Nacho from ''Film/NachoLibre'' is like this initially. Once he makes enough money (through his wrestling) to purchase better ingredients, he's capable of making dishes that at least ''look'' appetizing.

* In the ''Blue Collar Comedy Tour'' movie, comedian Ron White tells a joke about how his wife was such a bad cook that [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt he tried to feed it to his dog and it started licking its butt]]. His wife asks "What's he doing?" and he goes "It looks like he's trying to get the taste out of his mouth!"
* Isabelle in ''Film/TheDreamers'' cooks for narrator Matthew and her brother Theo. The food is so badly burned that they can't tell the souffle from the ratatouille, and tastes so bad that Matthew can't swallow it. Theo happily goes downstairs and raids the neighbors' garbage for an alternative meal.
* In ''Film/JackFrost1997'' the Sheriff manages to find out the killer snowman is vulnerable to antifreeze after it is exposed to his son's brownies. His son apparently put highly-toxic antifreeze in these brownies because he did not want his father to get cold.

* In the first ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' film, Creator/LucyLiu's character Alex makes completely inedible muffins. Another Angel throws one at a door, and it almost goes through, getting stuck in it. When one is slammed into a plate, it makes an ominous metallic clunk.

* In the film version of ''Film/TheATeam'', Murdock shows some shades of this. His preparation of steak involves sprinkling cordite on them, and then flipping them over to allow it to flame up. His "special sauce" (containing anti-freeze), induced Bell's Palsy in Face (which Murdock shrugged of as "only partial paralysis"). What keeps him from being considered a full-on lethal chef is that he has been shown to be really good at the job as well. His curry tapenade is what is used to calm down B.A. after his being drugged and brought on board a ship.

* Played with in ''Film/{{Annie|2014}}''. Annie is astonished that literally everything in Stacks' fridge is take out. She tries to ingratiate herself with him by telling him "I can make a meal out of any five ingredients you pick!" It looks at first like Annie is going to show off her "poor person ingenuity", but it comes out so disgusting that they both SpitTake on tasting it, but it works to get them talking. They get so into their conversation that they forget how gross the meal is and take another bite, only to SpitTake it again.\\
\\
Annie doesn't give up on trying to cook, though. She brings Stacks breakfast, but it's burnt toast and other stuff that is not as readily identifiable. This time, though, he gets off the hook by feeding it all to a willing Sandy.
* ''Film/{{Manborg}}'' has [[{{Delinquents}} Justice]], who is probably the only person in fiction or otherwise who can make boxed mac and cheese explosive.
* In ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'', it takes Kip Raines less than sixty seconds to dump salt and beer in an ugly egg scramble and serve it with a side of burnt-black toast. It's enough to make even Memphis lose his cool.
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Jake and Eddie]] from ''Film/ErnestGoesToCamp'', especially when it comes to their infamous "Eggs Erroneous". They actually weaponize their skills in the FinalBattle, using their "Liver-Loaf Lunch Arranger" to launch their less-than-palatable entrees at the miners, and the aforementioned Eggs Erroneous help destroy a bulldozer.
%%* ''Film/{{Juice}}'': Steel.
* ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' invokes this trope for laughs in-universe. When Mick first takes Sue into the Outback, he cooks her a dinner of goanna (the Australian name for a monitor lizard), wild plants, and insect larva. She hesitantly asks if it's what he eats, at which point he says "eh, you can live off it, but it tastes like shit." He then produces a can of beans, indicating that he was just screwing with her.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Linguini, before meeting Remy, makes a soup so bad that when he tastes it he pukes and Remy nearly does too when he sniffs it. Yes. His food is so bad that not even the ''rats'' will eat it. (Though granted, the rat in question has the culinary inclinations of a master chef, but ''rats don't have a gag reflex'')

* ''Film/{{Bullshot}}''. [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Rosemary Fenton's]] rock-hard scones are an ongoing joke. When the hero nearly breaks a tooth on one and tries to covertly dispose of the scone, he finds every hiding place in the house already stuffed with scones discarded by previous guests.

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'''s Astrid in the ChristmasEpisode ''Gift of the Night Fury''. Her idea of Yak Nog will ''probably'' not last as a [[YouMeanXmas Snoggletog]] tradition.

* Cookie from ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. In one scene, some of his food gets thrown into the fire, and it explodes into a small ''mushroom cloud''. He's also horrified by a lettuce.

* The extended edition of ''Film/TheTwoTowers'' reveals Éowyn to be a terrible cook, who proudly presents Aragorn with a bowl of "soup" containing some limp boiled leaves, one gelatinous dumpling, and a puddle of liquid shimmering with grease. As a royal princess who seems to disdain feminine activities, it makes some sense that her cooking skills are underdeveloped.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3'', the girls make soup for Gru made from gummi bears and beef. (Justified, of course, as they're about ten years old.) The look on Gru's face confirms he's only eating it to make them happy.

* In the first ''Film/CharliesAngels'' film, Creator/LucyLiu's character Alex makes completely inedible muffins. Another Angel throws one at a door, and it almost goes through, getting stuck in it. When one is slammed into a plate, it makes an ominous metallic clunk.

* ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' invokes this trope for laughs in-universe. When Mic first takes Sue into the Outback, he cooks her a dinner of goanna (the Australian name for a monitor lizard), wild plants, and insect larva. She hesitantly asks if it's what he eats, at which point he says that you can live off it, but it tastes like shit, and reveals that he's also got a can of beef stew.

* The standard food in the colony in ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': "I'd just like them to kill my food before they serve it to me. I do an honest day's work, I want already-dead food."