Burnt (2015) Review

Lucas Versantvoort / 29 Nov 2015

It's always fun to review films centered on cooking, because it allows for plenty of culinary wordplay. I could make a joke about how Burnt is an appropriate title, but I'm not going to, because I'm better than that. You'd think with all the talent involved in this production, the end result would've been something to see, but it's not.

Adam Jones used to be a great chef. Then he got hooked on liquor, drugs, what have you and he lost it all. Then he started to atone for his sins by shucking a million oysters in a restaurant. Eventually though, he decides to go back to London and help a restaurant attain a third Michelin star.

The big problem with Burnt is that it doesn't render Adam as a particularly likeable character in its first act. How do you have a character seeking redemption, played by Bradley Cooper no less, and make him so unlikeable as to render you inert to his inevitable character development? That's the kind of achievement that deserves a Michelin star all on its own...if that star was a picture of Gordon Ramsey flipping you off. You've got the basics like the main character falling from culinary grace through sex, drugs--and everything in between--and then trying to get his life back in order. I get that the script has to therefore make Adam unlikable in the beginning, but it's too much and irrevocably harms the way you view the rest of the film. All the references to his dramatic past that are never fully explained don't help things in the likeability department either. When Adam has one of his temper tantrums in the kitchen, you just want to smack him instead of empathizing with his feelings of frustration. 

The other downside is the amount of well-known actors. Usually, this strengthens a film, but here it just makes the film feel clogged, like an overly stuffed chicken. The presence of familiar faces automatically makes you assume these will be well-developed at some point, but they never do, though Sienna Miller carries herself well as usual. 

It's frustrating to watch all the talent involved and see the final product go to waste. From the unlikable protagonist to the bevy of underdeveloped supporting characters, this is a chapter in the history of film we'd better just all forget asap.