Per usual, most of the other critics are wrong in their assessment of this film as they think the problem with it is that the lead character is unlikable. In fact, the movie’s attempts to sporadically soft peddle him actually diminish the film’s main theme of the pursuit of greatness. This could have been this year’s “Whiplash,” but the film is just a little too eager to please and generic for that.
What Works: The movie is well-made, stylishly shot, briskly paced, but more than a little “going through the motions” until one truly startling, snap-you-awake scene where Cooper berates his staff after a dreary opening night of his new restaurant. In this one brief, shining moment “Burnt” isn’t just another generic film about a “bad boy chef,” it actually has an authentic attitude as its lead character goes from motorcycle-and-leather-jacket posturing to legitimately terrifying. It’s an electric scene, and the movie needed just a few more like it and a few less like the following…
What Doesn’t: …Cliched scenes involving Emma Thompson’s therapist who explains subtexts too literally or Cooper’s former drug dealers beating him up or chef rivalries or his bond with Sienna Miller’s single mom. In fact, Miller’s kid is one of the plot devices the movie picks up but eventually goes nowhere with, content to just let it fizzle out like too many of the other subplots.
What I Would Have Done Differently: In certain scenes, Cooper is going for a rage that is nearly Gylleenhaal-esque and I would have followed that transformation all the way down rather than keep subverting it with a conventional chef movie. The movie keeps telling us that getting a third Michelin star is an act worthy of a chef-God, but it ultimately doesn’t follow-up on its “price of perfection” premise, giving up on that and turning Cooper’s kitchen tyrant into a benign president by the end.