It's a somewhat enjoyable time waster but this movie is kind of a mess. It's completely disjointed and I think it was chopped to bits in the editing room because so many plot threads are underdeveloped or make no sense. It would have worked better if they went the conventional romantic comedy route they seem to be leaning towards instead of the indie drama feel this has for most of the running time. The movie works best during the scenes in the kitchen and the food does look fantastic. In terms of performances John Wells has assembled an absolutely fantastic cast but for the most part they are given nothing to do. Bradley Cooper gives a very committed performance as per usual and Sienna Miller is charming if underwritten, but the other characters are all over the place. I quite enjoyed Daniel Bruhl but a revelation involving his character at the halfway point comes out of nowhere. Omar Sy's character is bizarre. Matthew Rhys's character serves his purpose but is underwritten. And then you have several excellent actresses such as Alicia Vikander, Emma Thompson and particularly Uma Thurman and Lily James in what basically amount to extended cameos. This was clearly filmed before Vikander and James became Hollywood 'it' girls this year. It's worth checking out on TV or something but there is something that went very wrong in the post-production of this movie that I think is hard not to notice. C+/C

An aggravating, unappealing mess that was clearly hacked to death in the editing room. There are no stakes here, no reasons to care, and zero appealing characters here. Everything feels perfunctory; even the requisite shots of gourmet food and kitchen scenes have been done better many times. Bradley Cooper has a lot more energy in this than he had in Aloha, but his performance fails to help the movie overcome its disjointed nature. D+