The Menu – Film Review

A 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.

Never have I ever been so surprised that a film wasn’t actually about cannibalism like I thought it would be. Cannibalism movies can be extremely good (such as Luca Guadagnino‘s Bones and All) but let’s be honest – they can be a bit tiresome. There’s only so much you can do in terms of a story when you center it all around people eating other people. It’s creepy, sure, but only to a certain extent. Oftentimes cannibalism movies struggle to find that second helping of fear.

But thankfully, Mark Mylod‘s The Menu isn’t even about cannibalism. Not one bit. The trailers are quite deceiving as it seems that that’s what it’s hinting toward. But make no mistake – the food that the characters in this film eat is legitimate food. If they’re shown on-screen eating a piece of meat, it’s actually meat from an animal. But what’s the big mystery about The Menu? If you’ve seen even one trailer for this movie, you’ll know that something’s up with this restaurant, and more specifically, the chef.

Of course, I won’t spoil the big mystery surrounding this story, but what I will say is that I found myself consistently shocked at every twist and turn. In all honesty, The Menu is easily one of the most unpredictable movies I’ve seen in ages. Even once you understand what’s really going on at this restaurant, screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy find incredible ways to keep the audience on their toes.

The third act of the film is where things get truly unhinged and it’s there in which I knew how much I adored the film. It’s one of the most creative dark comedy thrillers in years and it will only get better on rewatch to pick up on subtle clues that I surely missed on my initial viewing. It also contains a remarkably disturbing ending that definitely won’t be leaving my head for a long, long time to say the least.

All of the performances across the board are terrific, as well. Anya Taylor-Joy has always been one of my favorite actresses of all-time ever since seeing her in Robert Eggers‘ The Witch. Since that film, she’s had a long and prosperous career and in The Menu, she delivers one of her best performances. She portrays a woman who is essentially trying to piece everything together, and the things that the filmmakers do with her character took me by complete surprise.

Ralph Fiennes also turns in one of the most disturbing performances of his career. Voldemort who? I only know Chef Slowik. Even just the way this character looks at certain diners is absolutely chilling. Once you get to learn more about him, he only becomes even more menacing and utterly terrifying. I would love to see him get nominated for his work here at the upcoming Academy Awards, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, unfortunately.

It would be a pleasant surprise to see this movie get anything at the Academy Awards because it definitely does have some horror-esque qualities to it, which we know they don’t tend to like. Even still though, this movie is sure to land some nominations at other awards ceremonies which is great because this is without question one of the best movies of 2022. If you missed it in theatres, do yourself a favor and check it out now.

The Menu is a deliciously unsettling dark comedy thriller that’ll inject you with a ton of suspense and keep you guessing until the very end.