Few actors in the history of Hollywood have managed as hot a streak as Bradley Cooper is on right now. He’s been nominated for either a Supporting or Lead Actor Oscar for three years in a row for his terrific work in “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” and “American Sniper,” and his new movie “Burnt” will likely add to that streak and possibly put him over the top with a win.
The story of a world-class, two-star Michelin-quality chef who lost everything to wine, women and drugs, and his attempt to come back under the guidance of a rich friend, “Burnt” puts audiences through the ringer with Cooper in a tale that is at times heartbreaking and harrowing, yet ultimately lands in the best tradition of uplifting movies like “Rocky.”
The movie follows the story of Adam Jones, a fictional chef who appears to be modeled on real-life culinary superstar Anthony Bourdain, who has admitted to being a heroin addict before becoming famous. Via heavy-handed exposition in the opening minutes, the audience hears repeatedly that Jones was a masterful chef who wound up falling hard due to sexual addiction, alcoholism and heroin use.
Now, having been shamed out of his former Parisian stomping grounds, he has re-emerged in London, determined to get backing on a new restaurant of his own from his old friend Tony (Daniel Bruhl), who has unrequited romantic feelings for Adam. Tony is also wealthy and his father was a key mentor to Adam before his passing, so Tony dives in on funding a restaurant bearing Adam’s name, as Adam builds a team of cooks that includes a beautiful single mom named Helene (Sienna Miller).
Since Adam considers his past romantic and sexual relationships to have been more addictive than healthy, he tries to merely maintain a friendship with Helene. But as she proves ever more valuable to him, his rollercoaster ride through competing with a former rival and fighting to keep his temper and addictions in check makes for compelling drama and the basis of a powerful redemptive story.
“Burnt” suffers from heavy-handed dialogue in its opening minutes, but after that settles in to be a hugely affecting and uplifting story of second chances, hard work, and true friendship. With characters that are masterfully written, a key betrayal comes from the most unexpected of sources, and the audience is as nervous as Adam’s staff as they fear when his next powderkeg explosion of temper will set off next.
Director John Wells may have been one of the creators of the groundbreaking TV series “ER,” but his track record as a filmmaker with movies like the snooze-inducing box-office disaster “Company Men” has been nowhere near as good until now.
While Cooper continues his amazing string of Oscar-worthy performances, he’s just the lead of a cast that’s deep on talent, with Miller and Bruhl also offering up deeply resonant, emotional work. Their efforts are aided greatly by Steven Knight’s powerful script, which moves with propulsive energy once it gets past its opening clunkiness to create a story that anyone who’s ever struggled with either keeping a dream alive or battling an addiction can relate to.
Morally, “Burnt” operates with a great deal of class, only hinting at a violent plot twist and steering clear of sex and nudity. The friendship between Adam and Tony and how it deals with Tony’s unrequited love for Adam is handled lightly and in a clever way that is actually touching in addition to being morally acceptable.
The only real reason for the R rating other than the intensity with which Adam wrestles his past demons, is foul language, which is scattered frequently throughout the movie with about 30 to 40 F words, and about 10 to 15 uses of God’s name in vain including GD. But in the context of the story and characters, it doesn’t feel particularly exploitive or excessive.
So, is it Dateworthy? Absolutely! Romantic, dramatic, occasionally funny, and universally relatable with characters you want to root for in a big way and a truly strong female role from Sienna Miller to balance out Bradley Cooper, “Burnt” is one movie that deserves to burn a hole in your wallet.
Add in a magnificent score by Rob Simonsen and cinematography by Adriano Goldman that makes the food come so vibrantly alive you can almost smell and taste it, and “Burnt” is a feast for all the senses. It’s also likely to be one of my ten best for the year, so make sure you put it at the top of your moviegoing list as well.
