Review of The Menu (2022) by Markhreviews — 09 Jan 2023

Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy are both alums of “The Onion.” In a completely unpredictable development, they’ve written a satire. Well, it’s also part horror flick, part thriller. Overall, it’s an interesting offering.

In the Pacific Northwest, eleven guests take a boat to Hawthorne, an upscale restaurant that inhabits its own island. The group goes there to experience a tasting menu prepared by Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) and his staff. They pay $1250 per person for the opportunity. An enraptured foodie and his date attend. Other guests include three tech bros, a jaded uber-rich couple, a C list actor and his assistant, a food critic and her sycophant/editor.

Before each course, Chef claps his hands for attention and offers an introduction. The first course is “The Island,” a single scallop perched atop a rock, garnished with flowers from the island. The bread course includes dipping sauces with no actual bread and is entitled “Unaccompanied Accompaniments.” So it goes. But with each course, the tone becomes more foreboding. Eventually, the comedy turns very dark indeed. Tracy, Reiss and Director Mark Mylod (“Succession,” “Game of Thrones,” “Shameless”) obviously use this opportunity to skewer a foodie culture that seems to quickly and randomly elevate cooks/chefs to celebrity status. They also filet the rich (a topic thoroughly covered recently by “Glass Onion,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”). However, “The Menu” does offer a new theme, implying that artistic excellence is inevitably followed by commercialization. They suggest that many art forms (Broadway, anyone?) engage in ever-escalating pricing, making it inevitable that art is consumed only by the wealthy, not necessarily the most knowledgeable or the most appreciative. In one telling scene, Chef Slowik engages the rich couple, who have attended eleven previous tastings. When confronted, the husband is unable to identify a single item he’s eaten during previous visits. Pearls before swine.

The acting here is superb, and makes “The Menu” worth consuming. Tyler the foodie (in a scene-stealing performance by Nicholas Hoult) and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) are by far the most interesting characters. In Hulu’s “The Great,” Hoult mastered the role of blustering idiot. Here, he takes it to new heights. But it’s Taylor-Joy who fully captures our attention. With a “too cool for school” vibe, she sees through all the pretension and is the only character who’s fully able to master the situation. Tyler, Margot and the other guests provide a perfect foil for Fiennes, whose has previously demonstrated his consummate skill at portraying a raving maniac hiding beneath a veneer of placid professionalism (see “Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Coriolanus”). Overall, this may be the best ensemble cast of the year.

Despite these delectable performances, there’s something unfulfilling about “The Menu.” It incorporates a lot of ideas, but doesn’t develop any of them fully. Rather than integrating the action to develop a satisfying overarching theme, the film feels like a series of unrelated SNL sketches. Despite the elegance of its presentation, “The Menu” leaves us hungry for something more substantial, like a really juicy cheeseburger.