'The Menu' features notes of longing and regret
Searchlight
If not for a mention of COVID, I’d assume “The Menu” had been sitting on the shelf for half a decade, if not longer. This is not a skewering of privilege so much as a broad, risk-free wave of the hand in the general direction of the most obvious and easily dismissed members of the upper-class—while also thoughtlessly including those who may not be deserving of scorn at all.
“Ratatouille”-meets-“Saw” is really not a great pitch.
Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) arrive to a restaurant so exclusive that it’s not just on an island but it’s, seemingly, the only thing on an island. Tyler practically drools at the prospect of being within feet of legendary chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes); Margot shrugs off her date’s concern that her smoking will tarnish her palate. Sharing the handful of other tables include a sleazy director/actor (John Leguizamo), a trio of obnoxious tech bros, and a painfully pretentious food critic and her magazine lackey whose embarrassing commentary might have seemed knowingly, ironically hollow somewhere around the third or fourth season of “Top Chef.” Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy have experience with people like Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and the Onion, but “The Menu” reeks of reruns, its demented moral high ground and black comic horror feeling more than detached from a moment when satire needs specificity.
Neither fun nor scathing, funny nor insightful, the film coasts on second-rate quips and third-rate violence, remaining watchable only due to Taylor-Joy’s ever-commanding presence and the rarity of a Fiennes lead role these days. As director Mark Mylod (the similarly mediocre “What’s Your Number?”) struggles to keep things going once the menu’s concept is revealed, you don’t have to be high-minded, just hungry, to know the frustration of anticipating something even mildly delicious and settling for scraps.
C
NEW: WANT TO SETTLE A MOVIE DEBATE, TALK ABOUT '90S FAVORITES, OR EVEN HAVE YOUR SHORT HOME MOVIE REVIEWED? BOOK A VIDEO FROM MATT VIA CAMEO
ORDER “TALK ‘90S WITH ME: 23 UNPREDICTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH STARS OF AN UNFORGETTABLE DECADE”
Matt’s new book arrived Sept. 27, 2022, and Richard Roeper raves: “Matt Pais deserves four stars for reintroducing us to many of the greatly talented but often unsung heroes of 1990s film. This is a terrific read.”
ARE YOU A “SAVED BY THE BELL” FAN?
Order “Zack Morris Lied 329 Times! Reassessing every ridiculous episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’ … with stats” (featuring interviews with 22 cast members, plus the co-founder of Saved by the Max and the creator of “Zack Morris is Trash”)
GET 100 STORIES FOR JUST $4.99