Four Stars or Less – Bradley Cooper fizzled in ‘Burnt’

Shane Freeman

Two of the best things in life are food and movies. “Burnt,” then, seemed promising.

This film is a redemption story about Bradley Cooper’s character, Adam, who is one of the top chefs in Paris until he strays down the wrong path and ruins his life. When he realizes he needs to turn his life around, he discovers an opportunity to be the head chef at a new restaurant. Solving his problems, however, is more difficult than he expects.

While Cooper has been at the top of his game for the last few years, “Burnt” fails to live up to his potential. The film is enjoyable because of its well shot food and cooking scenes, but these don’t distract viewers from the film’s negative aspects — mainly Cooper’s acting. He portrays his damaged character well, but the portrayal wasn’t the best in the film. The acting that stood out the most was Sienna Miller’s performance as Andy’s love interest.

The film is off-putting because it’s cliche; the love story between Adam and Helene, played by Miller, is completely unnecessary. There wasn’t enough focus on the food and on what it means to be a good chef.

This a story about a man seeking redemption by going back to the thing he does best: cooking. The problem is that the focus of his redemption is centered too heavily on his pointless relationship. You can see the romance happen as soon as the two characters meet for the first time, but it isn’t needed.

This film was supposed to be one of the best of the year, but the acting and plot left some to be desired. The filming of the food was great and successfully made me hungry, but it couldn’t distract me from the film’s problems.

I recommend seeing this if you want to have a fun time and see a cheap matinee showing, but this film just failed to be as good as it should’ve been.

My Score: 2/4.