Weekend Cooking: Review: Burnt (movie)

What do get when you mix a chef's story with actors Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, and Uma Thurman? The movie Burnt (directed by John Wells, 2015).

This is the story of Adam Jones, a two-star Michelin chef in Paris who lost it all thanks to drugs, sex, and a uber-diva attitude. After hitting rock bottom and letting down his mentor and friends, Adam hides out in New Orleans as an oyster shucker, while cleaning up his act.

We learn all that through the backstory. Burnt opens as Adam leaves NOLA for London, hoping, with the help of his old friends, to find a restaurant that will allow him to earn that third Michelin star.

I liked the premise of Burnt, and Bradley Cooper is certainly easy on the eyes. Adam Jones is one of the world's best chefs and has an artist's temperament to match. He's determined to take advantage of his second chance, staying focused on his career and hiring the best kitchen staff to help him. Besides proving himself to his backers and to the critics, he has to contend with the dirty laundry of his past, including drug dealers and pissed-off fellow chefs.

While there were plenty of pretty plates of food and a developing relationship with his second-in-command, Helene (Miller), I found it hard to connect with Adam's struggle to rise out his self-made ashes. First, I was not wowed by the kitchen scenes and didn't sense Adam's love of food, flavors, and the perfect dish. Second, although we get a few teasers of Helene's story (she has an adorable daughter, for example), we don't learn enough about her to root for her relationship with Adam.

Burnt was nicely filmed, and I appreciated the use of creative lighting in a few scenes. Unfortunately, good acting and artsy restaurant meals weren't enough to make this a Michelin-starred movie for me. Burnt is, however, a pleasant enough way to spend a evening. Here's the trailer:

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