The Menu

Mark Mylod's The Menu is one of the darkest movies I've seen in a while.  A vicious and cutting satire of the wealthy, those who serve them, and celebrity chefs who value theatricality over genuine dining experiences, this is an enjoyably savage movie in which nobody is spared.  It's a darkly comic thriller with perhaps a twinge of horror, though honestly, I think the audience is supposed to be siding with the homicidal chef at the center of it all, played to perfection by Ralph Fiennes.  

Aside from Fiennes, we have an electric cast, with Anya Taylor-Joy getting to go toe-to-toe with the actor in many scenes that become highlights.  We also have Nicholas Hoult as her shallow and insufferable dinner date, John Leguizamo as a faded actor who still thinks he's hot stuff, and a cast made up of classic character actors who play a variety of people that the audience is supposed to hate in various ways.  The movie is being billed somewhat as a horror film, but it really doesn't play as one, and those walking in expecting it might be disappointed.  This is one of those movies where I will have to be careful to guard its secrets, as it's best experienced fresh and with little advance knowledge as possible.

Head Chef Slowik (Fiennes) is the kind of celebrity chef that is viewed as a god among men by the elite in society.  The meals that he serves are experiences, meant to tell a story.  His restaurant sits on a private island, where guests willingly pay over $1,000 a plate to savor his latest culinary masterpiece.  He has an army of chefs at his command who not only follow him, but form some sort of cult-like mentality to his every whim.  Tonight's dinner is to be special, not just for the 12 guests who have paid to experience it, but for Slowik himself, as it presents what he feels will be the ultimate culmination of his entire career, if not his life up to this point.

The guests are introduced to us on the ship that brings them to the island, and include wealthy regulars Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne (Judith Light), a famed food critic (Janet McTeer) and her editor (Paul Edelstein), youthful tech billionaire trio  Soren (Arturo Castro), Bryce (Rob Yang), and Dave (Mar St. Cyr), a faded actor (Leguizamo) and his assistant on the verge of leaving him for a better future (Aimee Carrero), Slowik's own mother, who seems barely able to hold a fork (Rebecca Koon), and the previously mentioned Taylor-Joy and Hoult as young couple Margot and Tyler.  Tyler, an obsessive fan of the chef, has brought Margot under circumstances that are kept a mystery for most of the film.  She's not Slowik's usual client, and she's not afraid to tell him this.

The Menu is satirical, but it does not waste much time with a message, or with trying to make a political statement.  Like the dinner itself, the movie is an experience, and that experience is built around the shocks that build out of the mounting situation that these unsuspecting people find themselves in, and the different ways that they handle it.  The movie is clearly absurd, yet never allows itself to go so far off the rails that we don't see the humor or the truth in what it is saying.  It also can be wickedly funny, is wildly energetic, and features some wonderful turns by its ensemble cast, all of whom get their own moment to stand out.  While the movie mainly belongs to Fiennes and Taylor-Joy, there are a lot of sharp moments to look out for when it comes to the supporting players.  

Most of all, the movie just wants to be a wicked good time, and that's what I liked most about it.  We know that a lot of these people deserve what they're going to get, and the fun is in watching it happen.  This is a simple revenge fantasy that has been dressed up in social satire, and with winning performances.  No, it's not for everyone, but a lot of movies aren't.  After all, we need films that create debate.  With so many movies content to follow the mold, here is a film that is bold enough to tap into the darkest reaches of our mind, and make us laugh at it.

0 comments