This thing is quite annoying, it’s essentially _Tár_ if the protagonist was turned into a cartoon villain and the movie lacked any subtlety in its messaging.
Within 15 minutes I had a grasp on its shtick (artistic ego; pretension; wealthy people being out of touch), and it never surprised me in an interesting way beyond that shtick, so the movie got old for me very fast.
Not only that, but I could see it potentially leaving those who label any piece of art that requires thought as ‘pretentious’ feeling empowered, which we don’t need in a world where people are getting more illiterate by the day. Not that I think that that’s the film’s intention, but it’s the most obvious read and a better director would’ve made sure that the film can’t be interpreted that way.
It’s completely predictable if you’re paying attention, and most of the comedy I found to be absolutely eye rolling; it’s so obvious and on the nose all the time because it keeps recycling the same joke over and over again. Look at these ridiculous, pretentious descriptions for food, aren't we clever? Yes, but maybe don't do that joke for every single course.
The characters are non existent (everybody is playing a caricature), the logic and character motivations are paper thin and the directing/cinematography are completely average.
The only thing I genuinely liked is the acting (Ralph Fiennes is amazing), and I guess it’s decently paced. The food and sets look nice, but this script needed a bunch of rewrites.


4/10

The Menu is a film defined by one key ingredient, the performance of Ralph Fiennes. His cold, biting acerbic chef, whose every word and nuance expresses a certain irony and a gradually building threat, is compelling.

Frankly, it was Fiennes lynch pin performance that kept me watching The Menu. Had it been a less actor, I might well have walked away. Which brings me to the script. A predictable idea, with a certain promise that's far too loosely executed. The result is a plot that has more than a few dead ends and lacks a certain consistency and credulity. Its not awful, not at all. That said, with a more consideration and tightening of plot elements, it could have been so much more.

In summary, if The Menu is remembered for anything, to my mind, it will be the remarkable performance handed in by Ralph Fiennes. The bulk of my 7/10 rating is based on his remarkable work. Regrettably, in most other respects, this film is somewhat forgettable, horror fare.

This movie is not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. Without giving anything away, the plot is a unique one and the main villain's motivation is original, but the movie spoils everything by treating the audience like idiots.

One example (and this _is_ a spoiler, albeit a small one, so skip this paragraph if you still want to watch the movie) is when one character gets his finger chopped off. This was because he told his wife he was going to 'handle' the situation, and one of the baddies responded by asking 'with which hand?' When he didn't reply, she said 'left hand, ring finger' and one of the other baddies proceeded to chop said finger off.

Now that all sounds very clever (handle/hand - what a pun!) if you don't think about it too much, but if you _do_, you'll realize that the baddies had no way of knowing that that character was going to use the word 'handle', and yet removing his finger seemed to have been pre-planned. Were they going to do it anyway, and his use of the word was a lucky coincidence that allowed them to make a pun while doing it? Or in their meeting earlier, did they say "at some point someone might use the word 'handle', at which point we're going to remove part of their hand"? I don't know, and some of you might say I'm being pedantic, but this movie was _full_ of things like this. It really took me out of it. 3/10, wouldn't recommend.

"You, Margot from Nebraska (Anya Taylor-Joy), you've betrayed our sacred bond of trust. And you've shown your craft to be careless. I was wrong. You're an eater. You're a taker. You're very hard to look at. And you're no Julia Roberts."

_The Menu_ was one of the most unique thriller experiences of the year! The setup is fantastic, and the story gives you just enough information to intrigue even though the story path is somewhat generic. It is dark, honest, and quite hilarious. This unique blend created a thriller like no other.

The performances were great. Anya Taylor-Joy was brilliant and is cementing herself as one of the best actresses of the decade. Nicholas Hoult was hilarious in such a subtle way that never takes away from the tense scenes at play. Ralph Fiennes is haunting but also sympathetic, making him a very interesting and genuine antagonist.

This was such an amazing film and another smash entry into horror palooza that is 2022.

**Score:** _86%_ |
**Verdict:** _Excellent_