Directed by Mark Mylod
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Ralph Fiennes
Set entirely in a restaurant on an island, seemingly far away from civilisation, The Menu uses its simple concept to explore a number of nasty sequences for a pretty dark sense of amusement. Getting into the troubled heads of the most troubled cooks in the world, The Menu may not be a hugely deep or substantial dish, but it’s still a fun ride that has a vibrant script peppered with devilish moments of weak, self-serving humans breaking down even further.
The very prestigious and exclusive restaurant Hawthorn is isolated away on a remote island, with just $1,250 for a seat. The very preppy Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) is gushing to be part of this experience, though not so much his newly acquainted date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), who’s just along for the ride. The head chef is the professional, dedicated, yet unsettling and thoroughly startling Julian (Ralph Fiennes), who treats his dishes more like stories than as something to eat. This comes across fairly unorthodox to begin with, though becomes even moreso as Julian appears to know more about his customers than they think – and he has grisly ideas as to what to do with them.
This is a fun little film, if a bit inconsequential and as light as a souffle, but one that has a consistent dark humour that seems to pit all these characters against each other. Aside from Julian, there’s no real stakes that the characters have, nor any investment from the audience with them. They’re so unlikable that we don’t get emotionally affected when anything at all bad happens to them. But they’re certainly written to be unlikable characters. If you can vibe with a reasonably mean film, one that delights in its devilish hostility, then The Menu will reveal itself to be the fun dark comedy that it is.
The Menu is not exactly like one of Julian’s own elaborate, carefully designed, and fairly pretentious meals; it’s more of a light meal, like a well made cheeseburger. It will leave you feeling satisfied, perhaps with less than you desire, but more than you deserve.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN
