Burnt was Bradley Cooper's follow-up to his Academy Award-nomination in American Sniper, and many, including myself, initially thought that this would be another lock for a nomination since it is also directed by John Wells, who previously did August: Osage County in which Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts also were nominated.
But while Cooper's performance here was good, the movie itself was not up to par. Specifically, it was Steven Knight's writing that made certain characters felt under-developed. Knight is another Academy Award nominated writer, but he also partly responsible for Seventh Son. And for Burnt, it was not the abysmal level of Seventh Son but it was still uninspired.
Especially for Sienna Miller's character that was very inconsistent and confusing. Through no fault of Miller, but her character, a single mother, did not seem like she was struggling with her own responsibilities when it was hinted she did. She could somehow find time to just stay at work all day and even go out on dates at night without ever mention who was taking care of her child.
Also another under-developed character was Matthew Rhys'. He could have been so much more interesting had the writing gave more focus and back story for him.
As for Cooper's character, he seemed a little bit cliched: a talented individual that has a few demons from his past catching up to him, but also his biggest flaw was that he was not a very decent human being that will redeem himself by the end of the movie.
However, when it came to the shots of the food and the kitchen space, Wells' direction made it engaging with mouth-watering food shots and the intensity of a kitchen that operated at the highest level of the food echelon.
And that alone made the movie entertaining enough, even though it was difficult to get behind or understand the characters that were thrown into the movie to serve as plot devices, like Omar Sy and Daniel Bruhl.
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