‘The Menu’: Eating at a Restaurant Has Never Been More Horrifying
Class grievances are the ingredients for the deliciously biting The Menu, a caustic horror-comedy (premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its November 18 theatrical debut) about haute cuisine pretentiousness, service industry resentments, and the unbridled hatred that a bad movie can inspire.
Director Mark Mylod’s own film, thankfully, generates nothing but excitement, anxiety, and laughter via its story about a collection of disparate high-paying customers who travel to a remote island, where a distinguished chef pledges, for $1,250 a pop, to give them the culinary experience of a lifetime. He makes good on his promise, and so, too, does this sharp and witty satire, which is led by a fanatically intense Ralph Fiennes and an equally imposing Anya Taylor-Joy.
“Tonight will be madness,” exclaims Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a smug foodie oozing enthusiasm for his opportunity to be wowed by Chef Slowik (Fiennes), a renowned artist who’s so successful that he now plies his trade for an elite clientele on Hawthorne island, an expansive farm-to-table get-away that provides all the materials for his gastronomic masterpieces. Tyler’s partner for the evening is Margot (Taylor-Joy), a date in a leather jacket, black boots and slinky dress whom Tyler chides for smoking because it will mess up her palette.