It seems from Burnt that cooking movies have to have a chef hero modelled on all the detective heroes from cop movies; maverick, failed relationships, dysfunctional childhood, alcohol and/or drug problem/s, in-hock to mobsters, effortlessly good looking, apt to swear even mid-syllable, attractive to the opposite and (being a modern British movie) the same sex, and obviously a rule breaker.
British TV is now largely made up of cooking programmes, so it was only a matter of time before a British film was made to delight the modern foodie (for the record I don't think Peter Greenaway's bizarre movie The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover counts as a cooking film).
Somehow director John Wells managed to make Burnt last over 2 hours, as we followed the attempt by the washed up chef Adam Wells to earn an elusive 3rd Michelin star in his new restaurant in central London. Adam 'Yes Chef' Wells rejected serving seared tuna (you foodies will know why presumably) but it nearly went wrong when a dastardly, typically sneaky French enemy put pepper in the turbot with truffle. Thankfully the Michelin inspectors had been misidentified and were actually two IT salesmen from Birmingham (an easy mistake to make I guess).
Obviously you will have to go yourself to see if our hero Johnny Maverick-Chef gets his 3rd star, the girl/s and the man. For me it was worth enduring 2 hours of turbot drizzled in whatever they drizzle it in, just to see the politically bonkers but utterly gorgeous Emma Thompson make a series of cameo appearences wearing an attractive selection of tents.
Verdict - 2 stars (out of 5)
NB - I asked in Wetherspoons afterwards but sadly turbot was not on the menu
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