Does Bradley Cooper’s R-Rated, High-Stress Movie, Exist In The Same Universe As The Bear?

By TeeJay Small
| Published 24 seconds ago

If you’re a big fan of FX’s The Bear, but you don’t have 30 hours to spend binge-viewing it, you might be better off just watching 2015’s Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper. It’s effectively the same kitchen confidential, complete with a temperamental chef who loves to scream at his employees, minus some of the unnecessary side plots about unresolved family trauma, making it impossible to cook linguine. The film, which is currently streaming for free on Plex, managed to go largely under the radar upon release, possibly due to the studio’s complete mismanagement when getting it into theaters.

Burnt was written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and directed by John Wells. Wells is best known as an executive producer and showrunner of such hit programs as ER, The West Wing, Shameless, and The Pitt. Bradley Cooper portrays the irascible Michelin star recipient Adam Jones, who loses it all in the first act after tearing his kitchen apart in a drug-induced rage. Already, we’re seeing shades of Jon Bernthal’s Mikey from The Bear, here.

After undergoing a self-imposed exile and maintaining his sobriety, Jones decides to get the band back together, with the intention of earning a coveted three-star title from Michelin. Over the course of the film, we’re introduced to a variety of new and returning kitchen staff, each of whom shares their reservations about working with this maniac in another restaurant environment. One by one, they’re won over by Jones’ claims that he’s changed, or his incredible food, or his passion for the art of charging four figures for a deconstructed bowl of soup.

Once they finally get things up and running, there’s a disastrous opening night. A skilled editor could easily combine the opening night scene from Burnt with multiple episodes of The Bear, and they would blend seamlessly. After roughly 90 minutes of kitchen jargon, shouting about reviews from food critics, and an emphasis on the staff’s nightly family meal, we learn that the true art behind cooking isn’t feeding families; it’s addressing why chefs are all out of their minds.

Burnt is a fun, if imperfect movie, which can help to shed some light on a high-stress kitchen environment if you’ve never worked in one. Unfortunately, it failed to take off and capture hearts in the way that The Bear or even Chef (2014) have. That might be because The Weinstein Company fumbled the film’s release so badly that many fans couldn’t keep up with the release schedule in the first place.

After initially advertising a wide release on October 2, 2015, the production studio delayed the theatrical premiere by several weeks. At the last minute, the studio pivoted without warning and reduced the total number of screens for a limited premiere. Then, they inexplicably cancelled the limited premiere, only to push the official release of Burnt by yet another week, just in case there were any potential fans still keeping up at home. In the end, Burnt still managed to eke out a profit, but didn’t become a cultural phenomenon in its day.

In 2026, the film is best remembered as a prototype for The Bear. Many fans have even taken to the web to ponder whether Burnt and The Bear exist within the same cinematic universe, especially since a still from the movie was used as background dressing in the FX series’ third season. If you’re obsessed with screaming chefs and you’ve exhausted your entire collection of Kitchen Nightmares and Bar Rescue DVDs, feel free to give Burnt a spin on Plex.