The Menu: Terrific Horror Comedy Deserves Better Than Food Puns (Burp!)
By Thom Ernst
Rating: A
I think it crucial that, before reviewing The Menu, the new psychological thriller from director Mark Mylod, I take a deep breath, clear my mind, and resist every urge to pollute my review with clever food and foodie references.
It's not that succumbing to readily available references wouldn't play well. But The Menu deserves better than low-hanging puns and catchwords.
The Menu is billed as a horror-comedy, which it is, but it isn't. There are scenes of violence (not excessive), scenes of trepidation, and at least one scene that indeed left me horrified—but don't let the horror label dissuade you from seeing the film.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes in The Menu
The Menu is satire with a distinct Agatha Christie-ish premise. The film is about a group of indecently wealthy clients who bring their equally indecent appetites with them (okay, one food reference. I promise to do better) to dine at celebrity Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes)’s exclusive island restaurant.
The clients include an overly zealous status seeker (Nicholas Hoult at his nastiest) and his hard-to-impress date (Anya Taylor-Joy at her best).
There is an older couple (Judith Light and Reed Birney) who seem barely able to tolerate each other's company, an actor (John Leguizamo) whose star is fading, and his long-time assistant (Aimee Carrero) who just handed in her resignation. There is a trio of self-centered playboys, an insufferably arrogant food critic (Janet McTeer) with her sycophantic magazine editor (Paul Adelstein).
Slowik is not just your atypical volatile, ego-maniacal eccentric chef. He's a chef who considers his meals to be works of art—and not all servings are edible.
A few of the patrons assume an intellectual appreciation for the experience, using the bizarre servings as an excuse for academic discourse. Others just want a breadbasket with their meal.
Slowik's bizarre reign goes unchallenged. He runs the kitchen with military precision. His staff (about a dozen) work in unison, responding to the chef's every request with quick affirmation. Then there are the guards. Most go unnamed, but Elsa (Hong Chau), a cool-mannered maître d' who wanders among the diners, presumably attending to their needs, but quick to ensure that the restaurant's rules are obeyed.
The Menu quietly channels Luis Buñuel's social satire from 1962, The Exterminating Angel. In Bunuel's film, diners find themselves going from guest to prisoner. The Menu is not a remake of Bunuel's film, only a reminder of how effective of a tool satire can be.
An essay can be written around the social constructs that The Menu satirizes. No doubt someone will write that essay if it hasn't been written already. But the satire, which can bog a film down in clever self-congratulatory rhetoric, plays more with the audience's emotional response rather than intellectual assumptions.
And all that means is, The Menu is a lot of fun for the audience—not so much for the characters.
The Menu is the most entertaining ensemble film since Knives Out, and the most engaging horror-satire since Get Out. But no matter what comparisons and assumptions are made, The Menu will not be the movie you expect.
The Menu is directed by Mark Mylod and stars Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Janet McTeer, and Judith Light. The Menu opens in selected theatres, Friday, November 18.