Burnt

A former superstar chef (Bradley Cooper), fallen from Parisian haute cuisine to shucking oysters in a New Orleans joint, plans a comeback in London, taking over a tony restaurant on the strength of his brilliant talent. Steven Knight and Michael Kalesniko's script never really establishes this guy's supposed genius; it just shows him furrowing his brow and/or throwing abusive tantrums, counting on us to make the jackass-equals-genius connection, abetted by Cooper's star power. Cooper delivers the goods right enough, with help from Daniel Bruhl as his business partner and Sienna Miller as his sous-chef-cum-love-interest. Other talents, especially female ones (Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander, Lily James, Uma Thurman) are underused, even wasted. John Wells' direction is dutiful, if uninspired. J.L.