Film Review: The Menu

By What on What's Good - Jovin Tardif August 10, 2022

The Menu

Hyperobject Industries, Searchlight Pictures

Release dates

September 10, 2022 (TIFF)

November 18, 2022

Description

A young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. The dark comedy is written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy, and directed by Mark Mylod.

My Rating

8/10

#whatonwhatsgood Fan Club Rating

73%

#whatonwhatsgood Express Review (by: Jovin Tardif)

A young couple Tyler and Margot (Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy), food critic Lilian (Janet McTeer), Lillian's editor Ted (Paul Adelstein), three hotshot businessmen Soren, Dave and Bryce (Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr, and Rob Yang), a Movie Star (John Leguizamo), the movie stars assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero), and an older couple Anne and Richard (Judith Light and Reed Birney) hop on a boat to head to a remote island to eat a multi-course meal that costs more than $1,000 per person. The menu is prepared by Famous Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes).
Each course has a specific theme. As the evening progresses it becomes clear that the menu has been specially selected for those in attendance.
The menu is quite an entertaining movie. There's a nice balance of comedy and horror. The cast is amazing. I particularly liked Fiennes's character. I'm hoping you will take a moment to check out this film.

Directed by

Mark Mylod

Written by

Seth Reiss and Will Tracy

Produced by

Adam McKay and Betsy Koch

The Menu Searchlight Pictures Release date November 18, 2022

Starring

Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik

Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot

Nicholas Hoult as Tyler

Hong Chau as Elsa

Janet McTeer as Lillian Bloom

Judith Light as Anne

John Leguizamo as a movie star

Reed Birney as Richard

Paul Adelstein as Lillian's editor

Aimee Carrero as Felicity

Arturo Castro as Soren

Mark St. Cyr as Dave

Rob Yang as Bryce

Rebecca Koon as Linda

Peter Grosz as Sommelier

Cinematography

Peter Deming

Edited by

Christopher Tellefsen

Music by

Colin Stetson

Director Mark Mylod discusses casting the film

“I got really lucky with the cast, but there is an old adage that good things come to good scripts and this was certainly a case of that. One of those good things was Mary Vernieu, the casting director who is a bona fide genius. I described the tone and the way I wanted to work in this Altman-esque fashion of having everybody present on set the whole time. I needed the kinds of actors who were intelligent and confident enough for that and to leave some room for improvisation. Gradually, one by one, we built each guest table.”

Ralph Fiennes discusses his character Chef Slowik

“He’s come to loathe the elite consumer, and himself, for being corrupted by them.”
“They’re a clientele that can never be satisfied. He’s a perfectionist and constantly having to maintain a level of perfection for people who never really appreciate it. The appeal of the script was that it considers the whole spectrum of the characters in a framework of a dark comedy.”
“I had the cliché of the chaotic kitchen in my head, with the chef shouting over everything. But when Dominique told me about her kitchen and how she liked to work, that is how I saw Slowik’s kitchen: the control and the power is in the kitchen staff’s dedication to the chef and his food. There is no loudness or violence. Just a nod, a look, and little mutterings of correction or encouragement.”

Anya Taylor-Joy discusses playing Margot in The Menu

“It was interesting because Margot is an enigma. In the script, she’s quite sardonic, and it’s fun to be able to improv with that. She is tough, funny— and she’s very, very quick. She knows her job; to figure out what the person she’s with wants and how to be that ideal. It was truly fun to play her.”
“There’s a game-recognizes-game situation going on there. But, also, I think they both dislike the same things. What’s wonderful about the way that Ralph has played Slowik is that rather than being an out-and-out madman, we do feel this empathy for him because he just loves something so much but also happens to be a little bit insane. There are moments where it’s fascinating, you don’t know whether to be frightened or have empathy for this person who clearly just loves food and is upset that these people have tainted the thing that he loves more than anything else in the world.”

Nicholas Hoult discusses playing Tyler in The Menu

“It’s his dream come true getting to go to this restaurant; he’s been saving up for a long time to go there. He had plans to go with an ex-girlfriend who then broke up with him, so he's brought Margot for the evening because at Hawthorn you can't have a table for one. He’s a character who you can like on some level because of his passion and the enjoyment that he gets out of this restaurant. But he’s also someone who has got a lot of deep psychological issues.”
“Margot is very much playing a role for Tyler that evening, this cool girl who he never had dates with in school.”

Janet McTeer discusses playing Lillian Bloom in The Menu

“My character is somebody who adores food – adores restaurants. But somewhere along the way, it’s become about the review. It’s become about being clever – and it’s become about her. She’s overly respected and self-important.”

Paul Adelstein who plays Lillian's editor Ted discusses The Menu

“Lillian really put Chef Slowik on the map, so Ted and Lillian take credit for him in a lot of ways. I think there's a fun mirror dynamic between Ted and Lillian in that Ted also takes credit for Lillian. Ted is always trying to match her but also shows that she's the alpha.”

John Leguizamo discusses playing the Movie Star in The Menu

“I portray a super obnoxious American egotistical actor who is full of himself. His career is on the downturn, so he becomes even more erratic and ugly. Aimee and I played off all that toxic behavior between actors and their assistants. She feeds on my insecurities and I feed off of her insecurities. Neither really know what to do at a place like Hawthorn.”

Aimee Carrero discusses playing the assistant Felicity to the Movie Star in The Menu

“Even though she’s his assistant she has all the power in the relationship. Her mother is a big studio executive. She wants this to be her last evening working for the Movie Star, but he doesn’t want to hear it. Felicity actually has a lot of love for him, but she doesn’t respect him. When you feel like you’re doing everything for someone, a lot of resentment can build up. She has to do a little dance around his fragile ego.”

Judith Light discusses playing Anne in The Menu. Her significant other is Richard played by Reed Birney

“Richard and Anne are those people that you see sitting there in a restaurant, and you look at them through the entire meal and notice that they have not said a word to each other. They have been to Hawthorn eleven times. They are moneyed and go to places just because they can get in.”
“This experience on this night brings out her courage, and her ability to speak the truth she has long known. It’s a truth that she has not let herself know before this, and that’s pretty powerful stuff.”

Mark St. Cyr. who plays Dave discusses The Menu

“There was an industry boom in the tech age where people that are at the front of the curve can get really wealthy really quickly. For these characters, the power that comes with wealth has definitely gone to their heads. They’re young and rich, and they have no issues flaunting it, although none of them feel like they were born into a really wealthy class.”

Arturo Castro who plays Soren discusses The Menu

“These guys feel like they're entitled. They have a chip on their shoulder any time anything's ever denied or not to their liking. In some ways, though I think Rob and Mark have an intense vulnerability about them and that makes them three-dimensional.”

Rob Yang who plays Bryce discusses The Menu

“Bryce is deeply conflicted about what his life has amounted to even though he's got all this money. He's got this real douchey sense of ‘If there's a problem, I can throw money at it.’ To me, this film is about putting up a mirror to each one of these diners. There's a real dynamic in this story between people who are entitled and not concerned with others, and then the service side of giving. It’s about takers and givers.”

Hong Chau discusses playing Elsa

“Elsa maintains her composure under all circumstances and she’s really about following through on Chef Slowik’s plan. She’s a very enigmatic character. We don’t know a lot about her. One of the challenges was that there was so little information about her on the page. Mark and I had a lot of conversations about how to make this character more dimensional and to humanize her. I think it’s really interesting for the audience to wonder about her and never actually get any answers.”
“Elsa admires and looks up to Chef Slowik for his tenacity in terms of standing firm in his beliefs,” Chau continues. “I think it’s sometimes really hard for people who work in a service industry to stand their ground because there’s the idea that the customer is always right, and you are there to serve them.”