The Menu (2022) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Mark Mylod

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, John Leguizamo, Judith Light, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Paul Adelstein, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr, Hong Chau

The Menu begins intriguingly enough.  A group of wealthy people are taken by boat to an exclusive island to indulge in a $1200 per plate meal prepared by Chef Julian Slovik (Fiennes) and his loyal staff which unfailingly responds to his commands like privates would to a drill sergeant.   Chef Slovik's reputation is such that people would pay obscene amounts of money to attend his dinners, but his speeches before each course begin to sound more ominous as the night progresses.   The Fiennes performance is the most fascinating in The Menu.  We are never sure what's inside him or even what he's planning, but he remains a dense mystery.  

Very little is known about the dinner guests, except to say they all have either met or hoped to meet Chef Slovik previously.   One is Tyler (Hoult), an enthusiastic foodie who gobbles up Chef Slovik's words as quickly as he does the food.   In his mind, Chef Slovik can say or do no wrong.   His date Margot (Taylor-Joy), is not nearly as impressed with the chef or the meal.   She is looking for a quiet place to light up a cigarette, a move discouraged by Tyler because it would ruin her palate, as if that's the worst thing smoking could do to a person. 

The first hour or so of The Menu keeps our attention.  We think we know what Chef Slovik is up to, but we don't know why.  When we find out the why, we are not exactly overwhelmed with joy in its discovery.   The characters, with the possible exception of Margot, who Chef Slovik observes, "doesn't belong here,"  We figure out what he means later on, and Margot's identity reveal is not the stuff of cinematic legend. 

What we have with The Menu is neither fish nor fowl.  It is part black comedy skewering the food world where someone stares in awe of the supposed brilliance of a "breadless bread plate" (which is really just sauces) and waxes poetic after tasting some of the food as if a thesaurus has exploded from his lips.   The other part moves uneasily into horror and gore, which makes The Menu an odd combination which ultimately doesn't fit together.  Kind of like some of the items at Chef Slovik's dinner.