I so wanted to like this film more than I did. Having a love of good food and being a great admirer of Bradley Cooper’s recent work, I had incredibly high hopes for a film that seeks to explore behind the scenes of what goes into creating a great kitchen and restaurant. I suppose I had a great taste in my mouth from last spring’s ‘Chef’ where Jon Favreau truly explored the passion and artistry of creating haute cuisine. I even had fond memories of Anthony Bourdain’s cynical literary expose of the New York kitchen scene in ‘Kitchen Confidential’. Both pieces of work surprised us with the brutality of the kitchen, but also charmed us with the humor and creativity one found there. Unfortunately, Director John Wells brings us a look into kitchen life that takes itself way too seriously and sucks whatever joy one finds at witnessing the creation of food that rises to the level of art.
The story centers around down and out Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper), who is doing penance in New Orleans for destroying his rock star culinary career in Europe with drugs and alcohol. After his self imposed exile of shucking oysters comes to an end, he moves to London to see if he can start over and earn an impossibly coveted 3rd Michelin star. Even though Adam has burned almost every conceivable bridge, Adam is able (albeit through the same dirty tricks that got him thrown out of Paris) to land the head Chef job at a prestigious hotel run by his old acquaintance, Tony (played by the always fantastic, Daniel Brühl). Tony isn’t very good at his job and only runs the hotel restaurant because his father owns the hotel. Despite the bad history between he and Adam, he believes Adam can create something that will make tony’s father finally proud of him. Of course, to create a great kitchen a chef needs to have a great team, so Adam repairs previously burnt bridges as well as recruiting talented newcomers. Since every movie like this needs a romantic foil, of course Adam recruits the lovely Helen (Sienna Miller) as his up and coming protege. She is clumsily worked into the story, but how else does one interject the further drama?
This is where the film takes a downward turn as the stress of creating Adam’s vision causes him to revert to his previous self destructive ways. Adam’s totalitarian and abusive ways of running a kitchen become difficult to watch despite the beauty of the culinary masterpieces being prepared. Good food is about joy and life, but the Director chooses to spend the majority of the time lingering on the stress and mental violence of working in a kitchen. The few glimpses of art being created are quickly overpowered by the overall dour and heavy tone of the film.
I get what the Director was trying to do. All great artists are tortured. Great art comes from pain. Chefs at this level are truly artists and the truly great chefs are tortured artists. Point made, but that doesn’t make for a great story or something I want to spend two hours watching. The opening of the third act becomes ludicrously depressing to the point of farce. Sometimes less is more when trying to make a point.
It’s a shame because there was some great talent in this film. I already mentioned Daniel Brühl and Sienna Miller, but there were also some great, if not pivotal, roles played by Mathew Rhys, Omar Sy, Emma Thompson and Uma Thurman. I got the feeling that some of this was just an excuse for celebrities to get together and hang out in London and eat great food. Since I already started down the unsubstantiated proclamation route, I’l also say that much of this seemed like a vanity project for Bradley Cooper. The intensity and the over acting as well as taking advantage of his French speaking background all seemed a little contrived.
I respect the concept of this film, but the execution was lacking. Any film about food or art has to include the ability to enjoy what was created, not just the angst behind it. I won’t say I’m sorry i plucked down money to see this, but it can definitely wait until it comes to the small screen.
I give this film ** stars
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