Y’all Weekly Film: The Menu

Matt at the Movies Score: 9.0

The Menu is now playing on HBO Max. Matt originally reviewed the film in November.

Spill the tea: No pun intended, but I’ve needed a nice palate cleanser from an intense slate of movies. I was lucky to catch an early screening of The Menu at a packed house, and it was a joy to watch with others. It is also playing at the Independent Picture House along with some of Y’all Weekly’s other recently reviewed films.

There are few genres that give me more pleasure than horror/suspense/comedy. It’s a very fun niche and you never know what twists are on the menu (Ed. Note: Matt has apologized for this pun).

Mark Mylod - best known for directing Emmy Award winning episodes of Succession and Game of Thrones - stays true to his motif with a slick, dimmed set that brings an ominous tone to the story. The Menu feels like a breakdown you would receive at an extravagant Michelin restaurant with scenes taking the form of a tasting menu. All the gels, foams, deconstructions, amalgamations, and obsessive precision are tailored to make the food journey an experience.

The film starts with a young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy & Nicholas Hoult) boarding a small taxi vessel to an offshore island to experience the world-renowned haute cuisine of Chef Slowik’s (Ralph Fiennes) Hawthorne restaurant. Immediately, they’re shoulder-to-shoulder with elite food critics, actors, and powerful businessmen

If you’ve ever attended an overpriced Michelin three star restaurant (shout out to Enoteca Pinchiorri), you know the couple is in for dinner and a show. For $1,250 a head, they’re treated to a tour of the island, its farm to table supply chain, and even the quarters where the kitchen staff sleep. The island feels more like a commune led by an eccentric cult leader than a high end restaurant. From the opening amuse bouche to each subsequent course, Chef Slowik philosophizes about food with both pretension and disdain that eerily feels to be directed at the patrons themselves. 

Each table has multiple sins - reminiscent of the movie Se7en - that beg the question of where the Chef is going with this menu. Greed, pride, and envy ooze from their conversations onto the menu items themselves. As the meal moves along, Chef Slowik’s rhetoric becomes sinister, providing clarity as to why this particular tasting group was assembled. We’re going to be in for a wild ride. Bon Appetit!

Star of the show: Anya Taylor-Joy, who broke out with The Queen’s Gambit, has always made fun acting choices (The Witch, Thoroughbreds, Last Night in SoHo). She is the balance to bring us back from these dreadful attendees. As a last minute date replacement, you can tell she doesn’t quite belong. Her flippant nature towards fine dining and ability to call out pretense throughout the night constantly disrupts the flow of dinner, much to Chef Slowik’s chagrin. Their mental sparring gives us someone to root for in a room where everyone else is a lost cause.

Taylor-Joy is such a bright spot in Hollywood right now, in the same class as Florence Pugh. I can’t wait to see what she does down the line.

Best ten minute stretch: When Margot (Taylor-Joy) pieces together the chef’s mental puzzle before the final course, we witness the most human moment of the movie. It’s a sweet send off to the madness this evening has and will be continuing to the end.

Stay away warning: If rich, Succession-style snobbery and ostentatious behavior trigger your inner socialist spirit animal.

Coulda used a little more… backstory with the staff and their blind obedience to this master chef.

Matt at the Movies Score: Recommend - 9/10 (Head to Independent Picture House while it’s still in theaters!)