THE MENU : Tuesday 6th December 2022.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE MENU' this week, which is an American black comedy horror film Directed by Mark Mylod whose prior feature film making efforts are his debut in 2002 with 'Ali G Indahouse', then 'The Big White' in 2005, with 'What's Your Number?' in 2011 being his last big screen offering before this one. In the meantime he has also Directed multiple episodes of 'The Royle Family', 'Entourage', 'Game of Thrones', 'Shameless' and 'Succession'. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September this year, before its release in the US in mid-November and here in Australia from 24th November. The film cost US$30M to produce, has so far grossed US$49M at the Box Office and has received generally positive critical press.

Here then, young couple Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) are waiting patiently on a jetty awaiting the arrival of a private boat to take them and a bunch of other selected guests to a remote island to eat at Hawthorne, an exclusive restaurant run by celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). We are quickly introduced to the other guests, those being Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer) a famed food critic and her Editor, Ted (Paul Adelstein); George Diaz (John Leguizamo) a self-centred washed up Actor and his assistant and girlfriend Felicity (Aimee Carrero); a trio of tech business executives Soren (Arturo Castro), Bryce (Rob Yang) and Dave (Mark St. Cyr); and Richard Liebbrandt (Reed Birney) and his wife Anne (Judith Light). After disembarking the boat the restaurant maitre'd Elsa (Hong Chau) while conducting a quick roll call, notes that Margot was not Tyler's originally designated guest for the evening, which causes her some consternation. Elsa then guides the guests through the grounds on foot pointing out their herb and vegetable gardens, their Norwegian smokehouse, the house where Chef Slowik resides that is out of bounds for everyone and the living quarters where the kitchen brigade and front-of-house staff live. They are also advised that there is no mobile phone reception on the island.

Dinner begins, with first an amuse bouche then the first, second, third, a palette cleanser and then the fourth and fifth course all accompanied by the finest of wines. As each course unfolds Slowik claps his hands together to gain everyone's undivided attention, and his accompanying introductory monologues to each course gradually becoming more disconcerting and violent. On Slowik's orders, he calls upon Sous Chef Jeremy Louden (Adam Aalderks) at the start of a course he's titled 'The Mess' and tells everyone that Jeremy has aspirations to be him, but he is only good, not great, and never will be great. Slowik, kisses each cheek of his Sous Chef, who then pulls out a pistol, places it in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Hence 'The Mess', which Lilian Bloom quickly dismisses as part of Slowik's showmanship.

At this horror the guests try to leave, with Richard Liebbrandt being the first to the door but is halted by some burly looking floor staff and Elsa. She asks him, which hand - the left or the right, but Richard looks on quizzically. Out comes a chef with a kitchen knife and promptly cuts off his wedding ring finger, returning his bloodied wedding ring to his wife. Slowik then asks the guests to look out of the window to see the restaurant's main investor, and the boss of Soren, Bryce and Dave, while strapped to a harness with angel wings, is slowly lowered into the water and drowned in front of the guests.

Later all the guests are asked to step outside the restaurant, with the male guests given a forty-five second headstart and the opportunity to flee, but all are caught in no time and returned by the staff. Slowik declares all the guests were selected because they either contributed to him losing his passion for his craft or because they make a living off exploiting the work of artisans like him, then announces that the night will end with everyone on the island dead. Since Margot's presence was unplanned, Slowik gives her the choice of dying with either the staff or the guests, and she has fifteen minutes in which to decide. 

Slowik turns his attention to Tyler, revealing that he was invited personally eight months ago and knew all along that the dinner would end with everyone's death. This enrages Margot. It is revealed that Margot is in fact an escort named Erin whom Tyler has hired for the evening, knowing full well she would die, since the restaurant does not serve parties of one. Slowik humiliates Tyler further by forcing him to cook in front of the guests and staff, chastising his dish of leeks, shallots and lamb all roughly cut up and cooked up hastily in a frying pan. Slowik whispers in Tyler's ear who then leaves the kitchen and commits suicide by hanging in a storeroom. Slowik decides that Erin belongs with the staff and asks her to collect a barrel that is required for dessert from the smokehouse, falsely claiming that Elsa forgot it. 

After going to the smokehouse to retrieve the barrel, Erin sneaks into Slowik's house, only to be attacked by Elsa. After a scuffle in another commercial kitchen Erin kills Elsa in self-defence by stabbing her in the neck with a kitchen knife. Using a key found on Elsa's now lifeless body, Erin gains entry in Slowik's private quarters. After seeing newspaper clippings of Slowik's past life in his sparsely decorated office, and a photograph of the man from back in 1978 when he was flipping burgers at the dawn of his career Erin finds a radio, calls for help, and returns to the restaurant with the barrel. A Coast Guard officer soon arrives from his boat, bringing hope to the guests of their rescue. The officer recognises George from a movie he once saw him in and asks for his autograph. George nervously complies and pens the words Help Us and folds up the piece of paper. As the officer turns and is ready to leave he opens up the paper to reveal the message and promptly holds Slowik at gunpoint, commanding him to get down on his knees. The officer then reveals himself to be a line cook in disguise and returns to the kitchen, much to the guests astonishment.

Because of Erin's betrayal, Slowik tells her that she belongs with the guests, but Erin turns the tables and mocks his dishes and complains that she is still hungry. Having previously seen a photo of a young, happy Slowik working in a burger joint, Erin asks him for a cheeseburger and fries. Moved by her simple request, Slowik says that he'll fix her up the best cheeseburger she's ever tasted and asks if she wants crinkle cut fries or julienne. He then prepares the meal to her requirements. Erin takes a bite and praises his food, and then asks if she can get it 'to go'. Slowik packs the food for her and lets her leave, but not before she has paid ten bucks for her burger and fries. Erin takes the Coast Guard boat docked nearby and flees from the island.

The dinner culminates with dessert, for which Slowik pays tribute to the popular campfire treat in the US and Canada of s'mores, by covering the guests with coats made of marshmallows and hats made of chocolate. The kitchen brigade meanwhile adorn the floor space and table tops around the guests with decorative patterns of seemingly flammable ingredients. He then sets the restaurant ablaze, killing the guests, staff, and himself as Erin watches on from the now drifting boat off shore while chomping down on her cheeseburger. 

'The Menu' is deliciously entertaining from its strong performances of Fiennes, Taylor-Joy and Chau, to the very black dead-pan humour, to the social commentary about chefs as celebrities, up themselves critics, over zealous fans, the fear of missing out fiends and wealth and capitalist privileged consumerism writ large. And all of this is wrapped up in a tongue-in-cheek offering that is as much about the unfolding horror the guests increasingly find themselves in as it is about the gastronomic delights served up to them by the unwavering and dedicated team of cooks working the kitchen. The storyline is a feast for the senses and here Director Mark Mylod serves us up film packed with all the right ingredients to offer the viewer something fresh, mouthwatering and tasty. 

'The Menu' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-