“The Menu” (2022) has big ideas yet ultimately feels so much of a piece with other cool, high-concept modern films that it’s more a smoke-and-mirrors show than a believable yarn. Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy do cram a lot of food for thought into director Mark Mylod’s film, though, making it worth one viewing.
Ostensibly a horror film but really more of a “What the heck is going on?” film – until a shocking incident that reframes the point — “The Menu” starts with a bunch of mostly unlikable people going to a remote island (think “Glass Onion”). They are rich foodies (or pseudo-foodies) paying for an “experience” more so than a meal. This island exclusively houses Hawthorn, the restaurant of artist extraordinaire Chef Slowik (an effective Ralph Fiennes), and its grounds.
“The Menu” makes fun of foodie culture, and you don’t have to watch cooking competition shows to get the absurdist humor. The first course includes frozen seawater, which as it melts will slowly drizzle over the locally harvested seafood. Yum.
“The Menu” (2022)
Director: Mark Mylod
Writers: Seth Reiss, Will Tracy
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult
The dining experience
In similarly drizzling fashion, we learn about the customers, most of whom are jerks but not deserving to be horror-film victims. One patron (Janet McTeer) is a food critic, for example. It’s her job to give her honest opinion! Also standing out is John Leguizamo as a compulsive name-dropper; he’s a movie-industry phony, not someone who should be targeted for slaughter.
The patrons are our POV characters – unlikable enough to make the experience awkward and unpleasant for us, as it is for the diners. Initially, Hawthorn groupie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) is the main character, but his development is bungled into a missed attempt to try to explain the narrative’s bizarre logistics.
Eventually Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) emerges as the audience surrogate, although she harbors a secret that makes her different in the eyes of Slowik. In her sleek semi-formal dress, Margot is more of a showpiece than a character at first; the actress looks like an ephemeral cypher, but that’s what’s required.
Getting good production value out of the posh restaurant with its view of the nighttime sea, “The Menu” is probably not as expensive as it seems. It’s mostly a one-room story. Mylod and his team suggest there are deeper layers, but ultimately there aren’t as many as I hoped for, especially given its long-seeming 107-minute runtime.
Still, it’s worth some thoughts. They’ll require a SPOILER WARNING for the remainder of the post.
It’s been served up better (Spoilers)
To see how this type of psychological horror is done perfectly, check out “Midsommar.” “The Menu” is missing too many ingredients. Although head waitress Elsa (Hong Chau, playing it straight when things get insane) shows off the military-style staff barracks in an opening tour, we ultimately don’t get a sense of this cult’s appeal or spiritual promises.
The insanity of Slowik himself is nicely established. He’s been driven nuts by customers merely eating his offerings rather than appreciating their artistry. Indeed, the idea of presenting food artistically does have a line of absurdity that can be crossed; Slowik himself acknowledges this in a rant where he says his art turns to s*** in people’s guts. He’s an upper-class version of the lunch lady in “Buffy’s” “Earshot” who is driven mad by students eating what she serves.
Slowik’s psychosis is plausible. Unfortunately, there’s zero development of his cult/staff or a sense of why they desire to follow Slowik all the way to mass suicide. “The Menu” is so much less plausible – and therefore less chilling – than “Midsommar.”
More food for thought (Spoilers)
As a pitch-black comedy, “The Menu” doesn’t serve a full course. Its one-liners are good, often doubling as development of these ridiculous people. For example, Luguizamo’s movie star and his assistant (Aimee Carrero) have ill-kept secrets: “I was stealing money from you.” “I know. I wrote a bad reference for you to Sony.” “I know, you CC’d me on the email.”
This is good writing in the moment, but the humor is too scattershot to make “The Menu” a great dark comedy. Meanwhile, Mylod and company don’t want to go full horror. On one hand, it’s impressive that the story seems so obviously to be about cannibalism yet it is not. On the other hand, comparing “The Menu” to “Fresh” – one of 2022’s best horror movies – suggests that holding creepiness in reserve is not a virtue in horror.
One of the film’s themes is “standing up for yourself in a ridiculous society,” as embodied when Margot sends her artistic dish back to Slowik’s kitchen and orders a cheeseburger from off-menu. Viewers might desire a horror-film equivalent of a cheeseburger after the too-tame, false-fancy “The Menu.” It’s an experience, sure, but you’ll still be hungry.