The Menu movie review: Nothing special, or memorable

1.5/5

STORY: Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) is rich and, of course, has uber expensive taste in food. One fine day, he takes his girlfriend Margot (Anya-Taylor Joy) to an exclusive restaurant located in a desolate island. The film is digestible as a black comedy, but hard to stomach as a crime-horror flick. Although, why would director Mark Mylod, who has helmed a few episodes of the crowd-favourite series Succession, lace food with gore, is beyond me. 

REVIEW: What started off as a subtle satire on all things plush and poetic soon takes a drastic turn when death and destruction is served up with once-yummy looking exclusive cuisine. In Julian Slowik's (Ralph Fiennes) world-famous restaurant, everyone follows his orders as if they were in the military and he be the commander-in-chief. Well, in a way, as the star chef, he sort of was. But that's not what is wrong here (only). The table that this couple is sitting at is shared by 10 other foodies (with back stories of their own) as they anxiously wait for a multi-course, almost five-hour long meal. 

However, tired of the rich and condescending, Slowik has now hit his all-time low and is out to exact revenge from those who have dragged him down in the past. The ones that pay for his expensive food, that is. But Margot is new to the table, and has caused the star Chef no harm or trouble whatsoever. His moral dilemma over her inclusion makes The Menu an interesting watch just for a hot second, before the ghastly scenes take over and your stomach starts to churn clockwise first and anti-clockwise later.

Despite the gorgeous star cast, an overall prim-and-proper vibe and top-notch aesthetics, the film is epically bad on all levels and is lame to its very core. It tries to take a dig at the world of elites, and is successful to a reasonable degree, but the extreme violence takes away from the quality humour in the plot. 

The Menu should be tossed over, period. 

VERDICT: Skip! Skip! Skip!