Top Line Thoughts: I’ve heard some people really loved The Menu but I would say I liked it, not loved it. It is described as a “dark comedy horror thriller”. I’m not a fan of horror but I like a good thriller so that’s what I was looking for from this movie, but the part that worked the best for me was the dark comedy and satire. The movie doesn’t have anything new or revolutionary to say about elitism and class differences but I enjoyed the specific lens of the “fancy restaurant”. The horror/thriller aspect was more mixed for me. There were a few scenes that built some great, creepy tension and WTF moments but I did feel like the entire story arc didn’t fully get there for me. Maybe it’s more of a comment on popular entertainment today and less about this movie on its own, but I was expecting more of a twist than I got. Overall, I think The Menu was a pretty good, easy watch. You get a little bit of everything: horror, suspense, comedy, really good performances, and a movie that is less than 2 hours!

Spoiler Section: Like I said previously, the comedy worked the best for me out of everything in this movie. I particularly liked the conversations between the food critic and her editor. The overly complicated and scholarly ways they described each dish, with comparisons to Greek mythology, always looking for the perfect right word and analogy, were so over the top. And then, once the stakes became life or death, they were the last to believe what was happening was real and not just a dramatic theater piece for the sake of the experience. They had bought in so fully and deeply to the importance of the food above all else they couldn’t even see the real danger in front of them. A smaller running gag that also made me laugh was the chef and sommelier descriptions of the food and wine. Every time Chef Julian told the long history behind the concept of a dish, it reminded me of all the jokes about finding recipes online where they all start with pages of backstory and the author’s personal life before you can even get to the recipe itself. This was especially funny as the chef’s stories got darker and darker. The sommelier’s wine descriptions also got more and more absurd throughout the night. I’ve done a few wine tastings and I know exactly what it’s like to read the blurb about each wine and have no idea what it means or how those words could be used to describe a drink or flavor. The Menu played on exactly that experience by saying a wine had “faint hints of longing and regret”.  

The movie is also anchored by great performances that I don’t think it would have worked without. Hong Chau, who plays Elsa the maître d’, was my favorite. Specifically the moment where she enunciates “tortillas” for the table of finance guys like they’re idiots makes me laugh out loud every time. Her straightforward delivery is perfect, saying everything with a smile, but it’s clear there’s something sinister below the surface. Anya Taylor-Joy is great in everything and Ralph Fiennes is always good at playing deranged in a semi-contained way (think Voldemort). I found Nicholas Hoult’s character to be really annoying in the beginning with how seriously he was taking everything and then when he cried at the speech about food. Maybe because I just really can’t relate. I appreciate a good meal and a good restaurant but “the art of cooking” doesn’t bring me to tears (sorry to any chefs out there). He also cared so much that he knew they were all going to be killed and still went for the experience? Psychotic. I liked the way they skewered him at the end by basically saying “you think you’re an expert? Then do it better than us.” That’s always a pet peeve of mine when people think they know your job better than you do and something I wish I was able to say in response. Most of the rest of the cast were people who have had smaller roles in other things (Lawrence from “Succession”, Mr. Mazzara from “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) so it was interesting to see them here.

The horror/thriller aspect was more mixed for me. The 2 best scenes (best as in created the most tension and WTF reactions) were “Jeremy’s course” and the coast guard coming. “Jeremy’s course” is the moment that really kicks the movie up a notch after slowly teasing all the weirdness and the arrival of the coast guard provides a real twist. Speaking of twists, what made the movie good not great to me was the reveal. I was expecting a bigger twist involving Margot, like more connections to the chef or the place or something and that didn’t really happen. She’s just able to manipulate the chef and escape. The only hint of something deeper with her is the very last shot where shes sitting on the boat eating her cheeseburger, watching the island blow up and almost half smiles and continues eating. In that moment I had a thought I had multiple times throughout the movie which was “how could you possibly have an appetite after seeing what you have just seen?” But the fact that these people do, signals an emotional detachment from the situation and from humanity that makes them even scarier. 

2023 Count: 1 season, 2 movies