“The Menu” Review
Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) leads a kitchen with a more ominous purpose than feeding people in “The Menu,” a satirical black comedy with more than enough edible expertise to command our attention.
Within the past year, there have been multiple social satires that have commanded our attention. Films like “Don’t Look Up,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Vengeance” have, in their own way, held our feet to the fire while making us laugh at the folly of our own society. With so many films following this pattern, it can be difficult to stand out. However, “The Menu” certainly makes a splash with a rich palette of satire, comedy, horror and enough culinary intrigue to build up an appetite.
In “The Menu,” a group of rich people go to a remote island to dine at Hawthorne, an exclusive restaurant operated by the mysterious and world-renowned chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). However, one of the guests, going by the name Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), begins to discover that something more sinister is on the menu.
While most definitely a satire, the film truly excels as a dark horror comedy when it’s discovered that Slowik plans to murder every single one of the guests. Slowik has become increasingly disenchanted with his job and his life because he caters only to the super-rich who are nothing but pretentious douchebags. Based on the clientele he’s serving in the film, I’d have to agree.
As the film’s antagonist, Fiennes perfectly walks a fine line between comically pompous and threatening. Both sides of this man work well as he can be both scary and funny, sometimes within two lines. He makes you completely understand his disgruntled nature but you are horrified nonetheless.
Many of these rich characters are written to be hilariously full of themselves and, to be honest, I thought more than once “maybe these people deserve to get a finger chopped off.” Obviously, I’m joking but some of these people are so conceited such as Margot’s date Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a foodie who’s a massive fan of Slowik’s work. He loves to flash around all of his culinary knowledge and constantly take pictures of whatever he’s eating.
Another equally moronic presence with delusions of grandeur is Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer), a food critic who loves to indulge in harsh criticism and being poetic in every sentence that I was praying at any moment for Anton Ego, the food critic from “Ratatouille,” to come in and smack her with a cast iron skillet. Throw in a needy actor (John Leguizamo), a trio of tech businessmen (Arturo Castro, Rob Yang and Mark St. Cyr) that would make Elon Musk throw up and a few more elite snobs and you have a group of characters that you don’t want to see die but are still enjoying the torture that they unknowingly paid for. But this isn’t random. All of these people were selected to be here and the reasons Slowik gives for their inclusion range from understandable to jaw-dropingly hilarious.
The only patron who doesn’t belong in this group is Margot with Anya Taylor-Joy giving another knockout performance. She is Tyler’s date but she doesn’t buy into this intellectual deconstruction of every bit for one second. She just wants to eat and this simple view of the culinary arts intrigues Slowik. The captor/captive relationship that develops between the two of them is fascinating and leads to a fantastic payoff in the third act.
The relationship between antagonist and protagonist was truly fascinating as both Julian Slowik and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) see through the pretentious nature of the restaurant’s rich clients.
But the other standout character that really intrigued me was Elsa (Hong Chau), Slowik’s devoted assistant who obeys every order to the letter. She is a master of the comedic dialogue written for her as well as being incredibly intimidating. The rivalry that builds up between Elsa and Margot leads to one of the liveliest scenes of the film.
What makes the dark comedy and horrific tones of “The Menu” work is just how familiar these characters are. We all know people who act this way, whether they are elitist rich assholes or they just love something so much that they act really snobby about it. Hell, I could see myself in a few of these characters because I’ve probably talked about film the same way they talk about film. On a side note, if anyone is planning to creatively murder me because I won’t shut up about movies, I hear you and I will try to work on it.
I saw this film with a reasonably full theater and we laughed so much at all of the jokes. Seth Reiss and Will Tracy’s script is truly outstanding by balancing so many different genres and keeping the satirical comedy on point. Mark Mylod’s energetic direction was gripping from beginning to end and made the film’s one hour and 46 minute runtime just fly by, which is a shame since I wanted to stay with this story for even longer.
The film’s environment is also quite immersive. Before the guests are taken to their dining room, they are given a tour of the entire island and just how everything works. How the plants are harvested, how meat is prepared, where the staff sleeps. It’s all so engaging and, to be honest, I would totally want to eat here as long as it didn’t involve me getting burnt, punched, kicked, shot, stabbed, drowned, mutilated, dismembered or in any way hurt or killed. The food just looks so yummy. “The Menu” also has a great way of showcasing the evening’s dishes which eventually led to some big laughs from the audience.
I also found what the film was saying to be wonderful. Based on the synopsis, you’d think that it’s your traditional “the rich suck” subtext. However, there’s more to it than that. What “The Menu” offers is the message of humility and not taking everything so seriously. When we’re passionate about something whether it’s food, music, film, books, cars, etc., we can lose sight of the purpose of what we love. In the case of food, it’s to nourish us. The film also shows how the pursuit of fame, accolades and wealth can dilute the joy we have for what we love. So, make sure to love what you do and, if you don’t, try to make a change so that you don’t lose your mind and start killing people.
