Burnt

For some reason, films that center around chefs and cooking have always intrigued me-- surely it can't be that I'm a cook or can even cook, but it's probably because of the challenge they go through to create a masterpiece through certain trials that interests me. So when I saw my first trailer for "Burnt", I was hooked. And this was no less intriguing than that of "The Hundred-Foot Journey" which was amazing.

Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) had it all-- and lost it through drugs and a subsequent bad attitude. After a three-year cleanup, the two-star Michelin rockstar with the bad habits to match returns to London. The former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene did everything different every time out, and only ever cared about the thrill of creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive Michelin star though, he'll need the best of the best on his side, including maître 'D Tony (Daniel Bruhl) and the beautiful chef Helene (Sienna Miller). With everything at stake, will Adam be able to pull this off considering his past and this being an extremely stressful demanding field?

Others to round out the cast are Riccardo Scamarcio as Max, Omar Sy as Michel, Sam Keeley as David, Henry Goodman as Conti, Matthew Rhys as Reece, a rival chef, Stephen Campbell Moore as Jack, Uma Thurman as Simone Forth, Emma Thompson as Dr. Rosshilde, Alicia Vikander as Anna Marie, and Lexi Benbow-Hart as Lily.

This was meticulously and painstakingly directed by John Wells ("The Company Men" '10, "August: Osage County" '13) plus a ton of TV. One can tell this guy is a consummate filmmaker considering this is only his third theatrical film on the books and all his films have such a high level of direction. It usually takes a director at least 6-7 films to be recognized as well as this guy has been. His timing and pacing with these fine actors is simply spot on. This is equally well written by veteran Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things" '02, "Eastern Promises" '07, "Closed Circuit" '13, "Locke" '13, "The Hundred-Foot Journey" '14)"Pawn Sacrifice" '15) based on a story by Michael Kalesniko. This writer had me sold on his ability when I saw the film, "Locke". This film basically starred--on camera, one actor (Tom Hardy), while driving his car seeing his life unravel before your eyes because of different information he was receiving from different people via his speaker phone. This was not only an acting feat for Hardy, but for writer Knight as well, because it is extremely difficult to capture an audience's attention with really only one actor on film, and this did in spades. This film centered around one character, Adam (Bradley), albeit with other actors in the film, but was majorly about this particular chef, and he was able to pull this off as well. This was certainly one of Bradley's better efforts (and he's a great actor), that he might be in consideration come Oscar time.

For the pure artistic craft--acting, writing, directing, this needs to be seen, but if you're like me, and can get into the restaurant/chef type film, this entertainment factor will only be that proverbial cherry on top.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                             Rated: R                               101min.