Celebrity Chef Film Bombs, Taking Just $181

Gordon Ramsay celebrity chef film, Love's Kitchen, bombs - taking just $181

Gordon Ramsay's film had "one of the worst performances ever" in its opening weekend. Picture: Alex Coppel

• Just 20 people saw it, says box office analyst
• Film took just £121 ($181) in Australia

At some point, somebody involved with the romantic comedy Love's Kitchen must have thought that it was a recipe for success, but box office figures out yesterday told a very different story.

The UK film, starring Dougray Scott (who previously appeared in Desperate Housewives as Teri Hatcher's love interest), Four Weddings and a Funeral actor Simon Callow and Gordon Ramsay (as himself), had indeed achieved one of the most remarkable opening weekends in cinema history, though not quite in the sense that the producers were hoping for.

Love's Kitchen grossed precisely £121 ($181) nationwide, The (London) Times reported.

The entire UK takings would cover the cost for one person of the cheapest available dinner with two small glasses of house wine, coffee and chocolates at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the Michelin-starred chef's eatery in Royal Hospital Road, West London.

The record UK box office taking for an opening weekend belongs to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which grossed £18.32 million $27.4 million) last November.

Love's Kitchen, by contrast, appears to have been seen by more reviewers than paying punters. You would hope that they enjoyed writer and director James Hacking's debut film more than the critics.

Wendy Ide, of the Times, awarded it no stars, describing it as "cack-handed, cloth-eared" and featuring "exchanges so painful to watch that you would be better off rubbing Scotch bonnet peppers in your eyes."

Charles Gant, a box office analyst, said that the film's opening weekend was "one of the worst performances ever" in the UK. "My guess would be 20 people saw this film," he said.