Dannify Rating: 4/5 Stars
Rated R for language and sexual references
“I don’t want my restaurant to be a place where people sit and eat. I want people to sit at that table and be sick with longing.” ~Adam Taylor, Burnt
Ok…just that line alone. Honestly. How many of you have eaten at a restaurant like that? Where you were sick with longing for it? I can’t say that I have ever experienced that kind of ecstasy while eating…ever. And adding Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, and Daniel Brühl in the mix??? Count me in.
For those of you who know me personally, you know I love to cook and I love to eat! I also have an unhealthy addiction to watching cooking shows, as well as an unreasonable fantasy that I am one of those amazing chefs that leaves critics speechless after savoring one of my treats. This movie was right up my alley!
Bradley Cooper plays Adam Taylor, a chef who is bouncing back from hitting rock-bottom and is trying to reestablish himself as the chef god that he is. His drug and alcohol addiction left him friendless and a joke to some of his rock-star chef peers. He’s on a mission to win his 3rd Michelin Star. He can’t win a star on his own though. Proving himself worthy to his old posse and some food critics with clout is the first hurdle he must ace. He takes over his old friend Tony’s restaurant, played by Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds), in order to gain attention from the dudes who give out the Michelin Stars. Along the path to his redemption, he picks up Helene, played by Sienna Miller, as his better half in the kitchen. With the band back together, they all work towards one goal, but not without some complications, back-stabbing, ego-driven temper tantrums, and repercussions of old drama… you know…typical kitchen stuff.
I have seen some bad reviews of this movie. I need to clarify that I am not a trained chef. I have never worked in a professional kitchen. It seems a lot of people want to pick this movie apart with their Gordon-Ramsay words. Why can’t you just watch the magic on the screen and get over the fact that you don’t have your own Food Network show? After doing some digging around, I found that Bradley “Bad-Ass” Cooper, Sienna Miller, and the other cast members were trained on some serious knife skills. They had celebrity chef consultants, including Mr. Ramsay himself. Check out what he had to say about the movie here.
This movie has a great cast. Emma Thompson as his therapist, a quick 2-scene cameo by Uma Thurman, and his entire Rock-star kitchen crew. They all did great. I believed it. This movie kind of flew under the radar. And I tend to gravitate towards those movies. They are usually the best.