The Menu: Movie Review

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Ralph Fiennes, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, John Leguizamo
Director: Mark Mylod

Deliciously droll, and darkly comedic, The Menu is a devilish delight.

Centring on a group of rich people who head to an exclusive island restaurant run by Ralph Fiennes' head chef Julian Slowik, The Menu homes in on couple Tyler and Margot (Hoult and Taylor-Joy) as they experience a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Tyler is a Slowik fan boy, a would-be foodie who knows all the terms and culinary tricks, but whose lack of human skills appears to rub Taylor-Joy's dismissive Margot up the wrong way. While he's obsessing over the food and the chef, she's scornful of the pretentiousness and theatricality on display.

Fellow diners include a food critic and her editor, a couple who are continual attendees, a failing actor who's trying to pitch a food travel show to a streaming site, and a group of rich boy bankers. But Slowik and his maitre-d (a terrific and formidable Chau) have other plans for the night's meal, which slowly unfold as the courses progress.

The Menu may not really live up to its potential to eviscerate the rich, its side characters may be underdeveloped, and most of it is consumed with centring on Ralph Fiennes' delivery of the menu's haute cuisine, but it is an utter contemptuous delight to behold.

The most interesting element of the film is in the contretemps between Slowik and Margot, as he's convinced she is not supposed to be there. As the back and forth enrages the Slowik-obsessed Tyler, Taylor-Joy rises to produce a performance that's as conflicted as Fiennes is wicked.

Fiennes, in particular, delivers a performance that's riddled with contempt, blessed with a threatening stare and presence that's undeniable and a level of control that's frightening to watch. (Fiennes dining, anyone?)

With mouth-watering food pushed through the lens of sumptuous cinematography and a setting that's atmospheric and a little off-kilter, The Menu looks absolutely prestige as it unspools its dark mystery. It may lack a little of the complexities of a murder-mystery in terms of backstory and also deeper character edges, but the script blesses those it damns with just enough of an insight to make us care less for the damned diners.

If you're after a straight horror, this is not the dish you'll be wanting. The Menu's vicarious pleasures lie in its droll edges, its psychological warfare, and its scant shocking moments. 

The Menu is a delicious serving of cinema, one of the best of the year - it may not hold up to repeated viewings but over its 100 minutes of degustation, it emerges as a fine cinematic dining experience that gives an immediate dopamine hit you'd be daft to ignore.