After “Triangle of Sadness” and “Glass Onion”, rich and arrogant snobs will be on the receiving end of another satire filmed in 2022. The combination of black comedy and horror, shot by Mark Mylod based on the script of Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, is perhaps the most brutal satire of all three films and it is the ultimate mockery at the expense of not only cooking and enjoying food, which has long since turned into much more than mere satisfaction physiological needs, but also the elitism and snobbery of those who are ready to pay a fortune for lunch or dinner, who often look like a bird has pooped in the middle of a large plate.
As much as 1,250 dollars is ready to pay for dinner for a dozen people invited to exclusive dishes at the famous chef Slowik (excellent Ralph Fienes), whose elite restaurant is located on an island that can only be reached by boat. Among them are several macho types from the technological world, a failed actor (John Leguizamo) with an assistant, a food critic and her editor, an elderly couple and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a young man obsessed with that celebrity kitchen who pretends that he knows at least as much about food as and a famous chef. He took with him Margot (Anya Taylor – Joy), the only girl who doesn’t seem overly interested in all the kerefek prepared by Slowik and his team.
Before the dinner itself, which should last for hours, there is a tour of the islet, the garden where they grow their own vegetables, the dryer where they dry and process the meat themselves, and when the dinner itself starts, it will all look like first-class banter. The meals that Slowik initially sends them with his highly coordinated and army-trained team seem like something no normal person would try. All the same, these snobs admire everything that comes their way, and the eccentric chef completes each sequence with a bizarre monologue, and very soon the situation will completely get out of control. “The Menu” is one of those movies that’s best to dive into with as little information as possible about what’s going to happen, and it’s a movie that repeatedly crosses the lines of good taste.
But in a good and fun way, because we will understand that almost none of the guests of that exclusive dinner were there by chance and that everyone deserves what awaits them. It is a film that brilliantly pokes fun at today’s fascination with food and the time when everyone knows everything about everything, including, of course, culinary arts. Just as filmmakers, musicians or athletes probably get on the nerves of all those guys (like me!) who talk about their achievements, but have never picked up a camera in their hands, sing as if an elephant farted in their ear or don’t know how to kick a ball, so and it must get on the nerves of those top chefs and be incredibly annoying when some idiots shit on their dishes.
With dishes that they spent a lot of time designing and preparing, they made an effort to make something original, inventive, and yet delicious. And then some krkan from Donji Lapac appears who has a TikTok channel where he complains about everything and shits on what this guy did. “The Menu” makes fun of such and such, but also those arrogant and rich snobs convinced that money can buy everything. But the chef, who spent his whole life trying to satisfy all the whims, humbly suffered the mistreatment of such a man, decided that time had passed and came up with one of the most original revenges seen on film lately.