After the recent box office failure of Steve Jobs, here is another film that is struggling with people not caring about the premise. Bradley Cooper stars as Adam Jones, a two-starred Michelin chef who through a mixture of drink, drugs, and bad behaviour destroyed his career in Paris. Now sober, he has resurfaced in London looking for an opportunity to secure his third star.
So, yes it is easy to understand why people are indifferent, but my problems are largely around the script rather than the scenario. After the brilliant Locke, it is disappointing that Steven Knight has produced such a cliché ridden script that is periodically bogged down with embarrassing pieces of clunky exposition, such as a lengthy description of how the people from Michelin operate.
Fortunately the performances of Cooper, and especially Sienna Miller, who makes the most of the slight role as Helene, a fellow chef and love interest, help redeem the film. In fact a better film could be made about the single mother Helene (also with an interesting back story).
Rating: 5.5 out of 10