Upon invitation, a group of elitists travels to an isolated island where the chef has prepared a menu beyond anyone’s imagination.
Spicy, sweet & sour, and easy to digest! Right-o… let’s start with the basics! If cooking is your fetish and you are familiar with posh recipes, you will engage quickly. If, on the other hand, you are as irrelevant as I am about fancy foods and restaurants and you quickly make pasta for three days just before you rush to work, then you’ll just find it funny and meaningless. You will only empathise with Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) – and you won’t even know half of it. But brace yourselves, that is until course number… I am not telling you. This is where it gets interesting for both parties: the relevant and the irrelevant. The comedy and the mystery start blending in, and shocking revelations will glue you to your seats. The chef’s dark, surrealistic psychopathy moves the story forward in an entirely unexpected direction. As further disclosures about the… menu will not be made, all you need to know is that surprises, pleasant or otherwise, do not stop till the very end.
Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy and director Mark Mylod’ The Menu, like so many films of Searchlight Pictures, is the fresh breath that Hollywood needs. I’ve used that expression before with production companies such as HBO and A24. It’s like, slowly and gradually, Hollywood reinvents itself, producing films like this one, Pearl (2022) and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), while still making, of course, superficial and somewhat insulting films of the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022).
Anyway, the narrative is deep, intricate, and twisted. See, for example, the “Tantalus” name. Read about the myth and connect the dots appropriately. I’m sure there are connections between the chef’s menu and the haves and have-nots, but the food industry is not my speciality. Also, look out for the themes of idolisation and fanaticism and connect them to the innumerable people who watch shows like Gordon Ramsay’s. That will explain Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and the sous chefs’ behaviour and decisions.
Highly recommended to all fans who love the marriage between comedy and horror – and great acting.
P.S. Will Ferrell is one of the producers.
P.P.S. John Leguizamo’s character is based on… Steven Seagal!
P.P.S. Why do you think producers keep hiring British actors to portray Americans? Interesting…
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