The elite world of fine dining takes center stage in John Well’s intense culinary drama, “Burnt.” The film takes audiences on an adventure through the high-stakes world of fine dining. It follows an explosive chef similar to the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White. In the lead role, there’s Bradley Cooper, who leads an impressive cast that includes Daniel Brühl, Sienna Miller, and Matthew Rhys.
“Burnt” follows a disgraced chef named Adam Jones (played by an excellent Bradley Cooper) with a troubled past. He is attempting to save the career he cherishes after volatile behavior and drug use destroyed it. After a self-imposed exile in New Orleans, Adam heads to London on a mission to get back to the life he had before his bad habits took hold. Now in London, Adam reunites with old colleagues, including Tony Balerdi (Daniel Brühl), who manages his Family’s hotel, The Langham. Adam becomes the head chef at the hotel after saving it from a damning review from a troublesome critic.
A Path to Career Revival
His new position has some contingencies, like weekly drug tests with Tony’s psychiatrist. Because of such, Adam sets off on a path to revive his career in hopes of a return to his former glory. However, will his past, and self-destructive behavior, catch up with him before he can get that magical third Michelin star? Or will he beat the odds and rebuild his once-accomplished career?
The film is led by convincing performances given by a cast that works with each other to immerse audiences into the world of “Burnt.” Bradley Cooper delivers a compelling performance. It shows how Adam Jones changes as a man throughout the film. His performance keeps you invested. It makes you want to see if a man, as self-destructive as he is, can make the necessary changes for the redemption he craves. The instability of a character like Adam Jones pairs surprisingly well with a character like Tony Balerdi. Brühl, who delivers a strong performance, plays Balerdi as if he’s comfortable in his position as Maître d’hôtel of The Langham. He doesn’t have demons from his past catching up with him as Adam does.
Furthermore, The Spanish-German actor’s performance compliments Adam Jones’ fiery and headstrong personality and makes for a satisfying viewing experience. Sienna Miller delivers a great performance as sous-chef Helene. She does her best with a patchy character that would have benefitted from a more padded-out backstory. If the issues with her character weren’t enough to draw you away, the very unnecessary and frankly out-of-place relationship (if you can even call it that) with Adam definitely will. Regardless, “Burnt” does benefit from the solid direction from “August: Osage County” director John Wells.
Some Storytelling Issues Present
Well’s work captures the emotion and intensity of the high-stakes culinary world. In addition, Wells also commands each of the bold performances with ease. However, Wells’ work in the director’s chair cannot salvage the scrappy worldbuilding and character development. This myriad of underdeveloped plot points ends up distracting the audience. It spoils what could’ve been a stellar film set in the cooking world.
Cinematographer Adriano Goldman is known for his elegant Emmy-winning work on “The Crown” and Cary Joji Fukunaga’s “Sin Nombre.” He provides “Burnt” with some sleek, delectable visual vibrato that inserts the audience into the intensity of the scenes. It showcases the plethora of delicious dishes on show throughout the film. Akin to films like “The Menu” and “Boiling Point,” John Well’s 2015 culinary drama ends up being one of the better films about food and the opulence of fine dining establishments. But that doesn’t mean the film escapes scot-free. With solid direction, combined with the convincing performances given by the cast, it solidifies “Burnt” as an intense culinary drama. However, it can’t escape the glaringly obvious storytelling issues. Nevertheless, the film provides the audience insight into how the world of fine dining operates and the ferocity that people in the industry face daily.
You can currently watch “Burnt” on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
