Burnt

Burnt casts Bradley Cooper as Adam Jones, a hotshot chef who returns to the culinary world after a self-imposed three-year hiatus – with the movie following the character as he attempts to launch a trendy new restaurant from the ground up. There’s little doubt that Burnt fares much better in its first half than in its second, as the movie opens with a fairly captivating stretch detailing the central character’s efforts at assembling his kitchen staff – with the effectiveness of this portion of the proceedings heightened by an exceedingly affable supporting cast that includes Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, and Emma Thompson. It’s clear, too, that the picture benefits from Cooper’s unapologetically brusk turn as Jones, as the character, for the most part, comes off as a three-dimensional figure that feels much more authentic than one might’ve anticipated (ie Jones is often as petulant and obnoxious as he is personable). And while the movie boasts an effective assortment of intriguing behind-the-scenes tidbits, Burnt eventually reaches a point at which it starts to plateau in terms of forward momentum – with the film’s midsection suffering from a blandness that’s especially disappointing given the strength of everything that’s come before (ie Steven Knight’s script adopts a rote, by-the-numbers vibe that is, to put it mildly, problematic). By the time the lackluster final act rolls around, Burnt‘s confirmed its place as a missed opportunity that ultimately feels like two movies ungainly stitched together at the middle (ie it’s both an engrossing cooking drama and all-too-slick character study).

** out of ****