Burnt
Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 30th October, 2015
Time : 101 minutes
Director : John Wells; Writers :Michael Kalesniko; Music : Rob Simonsen;
Starring : Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Riccardo Scamarcio, Omar Sy, Sam Keeley, Matthew Rhys, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Sarah Greene
Gorgeous visuals of food � both raw and cooked ingredients. Fancy plate settings, culinary flourishes. Beautiful, minimalist decor restaurants. And, as one investor exasperatedly put it, chefs who �behave like schoolgirls�.
Bradley Cooper, a two star Michelin Chef, wants to redeem himself. He�d crashed and burnt spectacularly in Paris a while back � wine, women, drugs � had hurt himself and those around him. He�d done his penance, he feels, by shucking a million oysters. And now he wants to go for the third Michelin.
At first, in scenes reminiscent of A Team, he goes around putting his team of chefs together. And then, convinces an investor, Daniel Bruh�s family, (who�d already been badly burnt at his hands once in Paris) to invest in a restaurant with a clever bit of blackmail. Daniel, himself one of the best Maitre�D�s, eventually reluctantly agrees but does post some unusual conditions and Bradley begins work� Will his demons come back to haunt him ? His drug debts from the past ? Will he be able to get his motley crew to work together ? And, most importantly, what of his rivalries from the past, especially with Matthew Rhys, who has already bagged the coveted third star ?
The food part is fun � especially watching the ingredients transform into those beautiful dishes. Some of the conversations about food are fun too, such as �Why wouldn�t you eat at a Burger King vs a fancy restaurant which charges a 100 times� � though the ones which try to be a bit deeper, like �What cooking means to you�, come off as a bit contrived.
Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander and Uma Thurman have small cameos and Daniel, while he has an important role, it lacks the layers he�s so capable of � he seems a bit wasted. Bradley is good (his eyes look so blue!) but is a little flat. The ones who really impress are Rhys, Omar and Sienna � all chefs under Bradley
There is a layer of predictability around it � you can foresee some of the �twists� a mile away. And finally, thanks to the proliferation of cooking shows on TV (Gordon Ramsay is a Chef Consultant to the movie), you wonder if there is really something new here at all�