When you have a film as clearly themed as Burnt it really is difficult to write about it without resorting to clich├®s relating to that theme. Burnt is first-and-foremost a cookery programme, it never really ever leaves the kitchen. So when it comes to reviewing it the puns rather do write themselves: is it underbaked? Does it lack a soupcon of something? Is it a little bit stale?

Well, yes. Yes to all of those questions. But I thought IÔÇÖd review this film according to the theme of an upcoming film. Before Burnt started there was a trailer for Aaron SorkinÔÇÖs upcoming Steve Jobs biopic, Steve Jobs. It is a disconcerting experience to be sitting in a movie theatre and thinking that youÔÇÖd seen the trailer for the film you were watching only a few minutes before, but with different actors playing the same roles.

(As of this point I am going to assume that talking about anything included in a film trailer does not constitute a spoiler) From the trailer it is seems clear that music is going to be a major theme for the Steve Jobs film. The same kind of quick, staccato, string music that is featured there appears prominently in montages in Burnt. And they seem to serve the same function, the fast pace of the music is meant to convey the way in which the protagonistÔÇÖs mind out-paces those of everyone around him and the classical nature of the music is meant to lend the subject of the films an aura of authority.

Those are fairly standard cinematic tropes and that one example of overlapping might have been forgiven. But there are more examples. Perhaps the most jarring one, once you notice it, is the use of the colour white. In the Steve Jobs film it looks like it will be used in scenes focusing on Apple products and the locations where they are developed, in Burnt it is used in the kitchen scenes where innovative new dishes are developed; in both films it is linked to sources of creative drives.

Definitely in Burnt and, judging by the trailer, in Steve Jobs too, the theme of creativity is linked quite heavily to addiction. In Burnt you canÔÇÖt move for characters talking about or interacting with some kind of addictive substance, cocaine, alcohol, sex, caffeine, nicotine, the implication is that that desire which has been suppressed by these addictions is liberated/sublimated into the drive for perfection that allows these individuals to achieve what other mere mortals cannot.

A major reason for this film falling flat is that Bradley CooperÔÇÖs character, Adam Jones, isnÔÇÖt even the most interesting character in the film. Sienna MillerÔÇÖs characterÔÇÖs side of the story is looked into and then just when it is hooking you in it is inexplicably, summarily and far too simplistically all tied up. Other characters motivations are similarly left unexplored, leaving them looking inconsistent and leaving the plot feeling unrealistic.

Unfortunately for Burnt, it wasnÔÇÖt even as interesting as the trailer for Steve Jobs. If two films are going to be that similar then you need to ensure that when you are doing the same things you are doing them better than your competitor. And Burnt totally fails on that count. This is Steve Jobs┬á0.5.

Brett Jones