Synopsis – A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
The Menu is a wild ride and is best watched in a theater. The film launches into a cheesy, by the way why are all the ways to describe something awkward food related? Anyway, this film immediately opens up like a period piece with switched vernacular in the opening dialogue except all the changes are about food. The opening line” Don’t smoke you’ll ruin your palette”. The story is about a high society dinner happening on a secluded island. The island is a haven for foodies and obsessed people who dive into the art of food design. The film presents this ultra-detailed food world pleasantly however shoveling popcorn into my mouth during the opening scenes was hardly deterred.
The Menu straddles the line of weird and cheesy at first and gradually and brilliantly reveals the horrors of a private island led by an eccentric chef. The chef played by () is so exciting to watch. () commands the room with a deafening clap and everyone in the private islands main room snaps to attention. The chef is like a grizzled general with an army of sous chefs. His first address of his guests is” Savor, taste, but do not eat!” I chuckled at this as I tried to find a few kernels that fell on my chest.
Among the guests are a renowned food blogger and her magazine wrangler, they essentially spill foodie jargon fluently. Again, it doesn’t play for me. John Leguizamo is in among the guests playing himself. Aside them are 3 bros who work for a very rich investor and the main characters Nicholas Hoult playing a trust fund snob named Tyler and his guest Anya Taylor-Joy who plays Margot.
Margot steals the show and her force as an actress matches and sometimes bests Ralph Fiennes who is a juggernaut in his role.
Things go off the rails quickly. All I want to say is this film is NOT a murder mystery!
The film changes pace and tone midway through things get more zany I think at times ” did he really say Taco Tuesday and wiggle his head all silly like?” Up until that point the film was completely owning the engulfment of foodie lingo. The dinner event as a whole goes completely bananas from that point forward!
In a theater this film is a romp. I watched in a packed house and the feeling in the room was so tangible no-one knew what was happening next. The Menu plays the horror comedy line well sometimes leaning hard into comedy and then swinging back hard into horror and the audience and I absolutely loved it!
The Menu is playing now here is the trailer
Insane, twisty, exciting, funny! | 9/10
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