THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Have you ever thought of being part of something so good it can put you at risk? The Menu sure felt like that.
PLOT
The film follows foodie Tyler Hedford and his escort date Erin aka Margot get invited to an exclusive restaurant on a private island known as ‘Hawthorn’ owned by Chef Julian Slowik. The list of other guests include: wealthy regulars Richard & Anne Leibrandt, food critic Lillian Bloom & her editor Ted, a movie star George Diaz/Damien Garcia & his personal assistant Felicity Lynn, and a trio of business partners named Soren, Dave & Bryce who work for the island’s angel investor Doug Verrick, who Slowik relinquished the restaurant’s ownership to in order to keep the business afloat during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Upon arrival and given a tour of the island by the maître d’hôtel Elsa, the latter notices that Margot was not Tyler’s designated guest for the dinner. Once the said event begins, Slowik begins his set of courses. The first dish, The Island, includes a set of scallops. And for the second, a bread less bread plate is provided. Things start taking a turn by the third, Memory, in which contains chicken tacos but the tortillas have various laser printed images of something personal towards each of the guests. For George, it’s a poster of a bad movie he starred in, whereas Tyler gets a picture of himself recently taking pictures of food when he was specifically told not to. For Lillian, it’s pictures of restaurants that shut down due to her negative reviews and for Anne, she gets one revealing Richard to have dinner with another woman, implying an affair. But for Verrick’s employees, they find images that prove them embezzling. During the fourth course ‘The Mess’, in which everyone eats pressure cooked vegetables, potato confit, beef just & bone marrow, they witness a sous chef shoot himself. Although the guests want to believe it was staged, they quickly realize this is not theatric. Slowik even makes clear that no one will leave the island when one of the staff members stop Richard from leaving, punishing him by chopping off his wedding ring finger. He even has Verrick drowned in front of everyone, while also serving Wild Bergamot and Red Clover tea. During the fifth course, ‘Man’s Folly’, the male guests are a given a chance to escape, but all fail when captured by the staff. As the men are rewarded a Passard egg for their efforts, the women share wine during this time period. After this, Slowik admits his intent to kill all the guests as he blames them for losing his passion and/or make a living off of exploitation. He then talks to Margot in private, giving her a choice to die with the guests or staff. He does get her to confess of her profession and served Richard before, whereas he shares that Tyler was the only one that knew what was gonna happen, invited months in advance. After this pow wow, Slowik would tell everyone that Tyler knew and chose to invite Margot at the last minute due to breaking up with his ex girlfriend, also knowing that the restaurant does not offer party of one invites. In order to punish his guest for his zealousness, the chef humiliates him by forcing him to cook a dish in which he would hate, ordering him to hang himself. Before dessert, Slowik asks Margot to collect a needed barrel. She does so but before she returns to dine, she takes the chance to sneak into his house only to be attacked by a jealous Elsa. She would kill her in self defense, but would still look around Slowik's bedroom, finding him at his happiness in a portrait of him cooking at a greasy spoon diner. She then calls for help with a radio she finds. Just when she returns with the barrel, Bryce is given a birthday cake as part of an original joke Soren had come up with before things got out of hand. When a coast guard arrives as a result of Margot's distress call, he only reveals himself to be a line cook and returns to the kitchen. Margot would then decide to challenge the chef, admitting she doesn't like the food and prefers something else, a cheeseburger with fries. Moved by her humble request, Slowik chooses to cook the meal himself. He even allows her to leave when she requests to carry out the meal and pay for it. Just when she heads to the coast guard boat, the chef is ready to serve dessert, "S'mores". For this dessert, the floor is covered with crushed graham crackers, and the remaining guests are forced to wear marshmallow stoles and chocolate hats. It is at this moment where Slowik detonates the barrel that would cause an explosion in the building, that would take his life, the staff's and the guests'. The film would end with Margot watching the explosion from afar as she continues to eat her cheeseburger.
THOUGHTS
When I saw the trailer to this, I knew I was in for something special, which only made me very happy to see it be just that. Writer/Director Mark Mylod pulled me in with something unordinary yet amusing. Peter Deming's cinematography and Colin Stenson's score succeed in making you unsettled as the characters as you're supposed to be. And at the same time, you likely can't help yourself cackling so insane. Whether it's Bryce's cake, Lillian being straight forward with Ted that they were doomed, seeing a giant bowl of broken emulsion or the title card "Tyler's Bullshit", you just feel too bound to laugh because you couldn't believe it happens the way it does. Even the s'mores dessert is shocking to see yet again amusing because it's so unbelievable to see it as is. As I look back, I think the reason this movie has made such an affective mark comes from its fluent way to call out the classism our society can make without noticing, while also pointing out the obsession that can be made for artistic purposes and in this case, it is cooking. When you are eating and or cooking, it is fine to just enjoy it rather than focusing on every possible detail about it. If you do that, you'll never be satisfied with yourself. This was incredibly captured when focusing on the villain Chef Slowik. Thanks to a compelling yet frightening performance from the iconic Ralph Fiennes, this was a man who was once passionate of his profession but lost the love he had along the way. Every time he monologued before serving, others would find him impenetrable when he's really at his most vulnerable. The guy is so broken due to his customers not appreciating his work that he is willing to retaliate to show how he feels. He is right to say what upsets him, but also wrong for how he reacts. Another crazy thing about him is that his staff such as Hong Chau's Elsa act so devoted that they're technically a cult in the long haul. The experience just gets deeper when you narrow down how each group shown represents at least one of the seven deadly sins. Whereas Slowik and the staff represent Wrath, his mother Linda who sat near the kitchen during the majority of the film can represent Sloth. You can definitely look at Rebecca Koon's performance as hilarious when she casually grabs the alcohol or pick up on the tragedy surrounding her, who is aware of how deranged her son has become and doesn't know how to cope with it. John Leguizamo's George was definitely in the area of Greed because he was never passionate about his work and used his invitation to Hawthorn as a way to enter the food network which he knew nothing about. He even acted selfish towards letting go of Felicity, in which Aimee Carrero makes clear that she wants to do better and pursue new opportunities. And that high amount of selfishness is enough for Slowik to be motivated in killing him Rob Yang, Arturo Castro & Mark St. Cyr definitely showed the trio of Bryce, Soren & Dave as part of Pride because these guys act so arrogant towards the staff as things don't go their way. They think they have superiority due to a personal connection and Slowik makes them find out the hard way they never did. Janet McTeer's Lillian was on the nose in representing Envy for being very condescending in her work as a food critic and Paul Adelstein's Ted qualifies as well because he supports her. Slowik targets her because he knows that she works the way she does hating the fact she'll never be as great nor driven as him. And again, Ted's a good target for supporting her. Without question, Reed Birney made Richard qualify as lust for letting his heartbreak over his dead daughter make him unfaithful towards his poor wife Anne. He's full of discomfort and his poor way to confront it is enough to piss off Slowik. You feel bad for Anne because Judith Light played her as one desperate to keep things intact and the Chef hates her for not letting go. Nicolas Hoult made Tyler the embodiment of Gluttony because of his insensitivity towards everyone especially Margot. From the get go, he refuses to be respectful towards her because he's so desperate to gain validation and even he learned the hard way he doesn't deserve it due to being a mindless figure. I may have not liked this character for being so self absorbed, but even I can admit that his final moments were so cruel because no one deserves to be mentally broken, making his silent walk speak so much volumes. Considering what most characters represent, it does become a challenge to find someone to root for, which makes us feel lucky that there was. Anya Taylor Joy made us love Margot the whole time because she's not consumed from her disappointment and doesn't really have reason to hate anybody. Slowik has this unlikely connection to her because both of their lines of work provides some kind of experience for people. And off of that, she used it to her advantage and become the final girl. The chef is so moved of her ordering the cheeseburger because that implies that she took notice of him and understood how much it meant to him to cook and thought about more than just herself. He also chooses to let her go out of respect to how she outsmarted him. And when she gets to eat the said burger, you're satisfied that she seems to enjoy herself for the first time. Seeing her leave was a rewarding moment, but it's also sad to witness. She looks at everyone, not wanting them to hate her because she put her intelligence to good use in a way they would've done had they had the same knowledge she gained. But you then feel the relief she has when Anne nods and encourages her to take the opportunity while she can, knowing that there is no point in hating her. And from there, Margot is able to leave the island without regret. And I don't blame her to finish her meal on the boat before leaving because she deserves it after surviving the most unthinkable homicide/suicide massacre possible. If Slowik got the last laugh by poisoning her with the burger, that would be a damn shame. But for now, I like to think she enjoyed the rest of her meal. his was indeed a hellacious viewing experience, but I admit that there were still a couple of moments that confused as I watched it. Like first off, how come the phones weren't confiscated? Yes they didn't have any wifi or any signal strong enough to make a call, but if Slowik really did not want any people like Tyler to take pictures, that should've happened. And how did Lillian think the death of the sous chef was fake? That was one loud gunshot that happened right in front of her and even though she figures it out later, she should've not been as calm as Tyler rightfully was. Speaking of which, how come Tyler doesn't try running for it like the other guys do? I f he knew the whole time what was going on, he should've tried saving himself when he could. Ignore this, you'll still be in awe with this terrifying course of actions. In short, The Menu is deliciously good for just knowing how to balance every aspect as a horror comedy. You want to spice up your watchlist? Check this out.
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