$1250/Person for 'The Menu'

Stayed in for dinner at home, and put on a film, 'The Menu' (2022). It was extremely enjoyable! It's written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, directed by Mark Mylod, and produced by Adam McKay, Betsy Koch and Will Ferrell. The film satirizes a specific sort of elitism within the world of gourmet food, critics and diners. (Reviews here, here, here, here and here.)

The film took such a dig at the global fine dining scene, food bloggers, amateur critics and eager diners clamoring to savour the finest dining experiences. Money talks. It took a dig at tech bros and acclaimed food critics. So much was said about theatrics, staff abuse, chef's tantrums, horrible kitchen work environments, et cetera. In this film, diners pay $1250++ per head for dinner at the exclusive Hawthorn sited on a private island somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. The fictitious Hawthorn was headed by celebrity Chef Julian Slowik (played by Ralph Fiennes). 

I giggled. Yes, we just have to take a dig at the Pacific Northwest restaurants sited on the islands. This isn't just Salty's on Alki Beach. It's like Willows Inn on Lummi Island, and Chef Steve Debaste's bistro on Buck Bay. I'll take Gravy on Vashon and Three Stacks on Bainbridge any day. 

This dinner was meant to be Chef Julian Slowik's masterpiece, the final execution of his life's work. This could have turned into a B-grade mass murder revenge 'thriller'. Except that it didn't. What set it apart was its brilliant pacing and script. The horror laid in the film's quiet moments. "I was a monster, and a whore."

⛔️ [Spoilers are discussed after this. Stop reading if you wish to be surprised by a good film. Black comedic gold.]

Ralph Fiennes was absolutely creepy and awe-inspiring as celebrity Chef Julian Slowik. He is talented, obsessive and detail-oriented. I didn't particularly care about the 12 diners. They're a predictable bunch of stereotypes and all that pressurize a chef into choosing the path of suicide than to ensure his restaurant stays on the course of a three-starred Michelin brand annually. The actors who played the rest of the diners were good, but no one was very memorable, except for Hong Chau. She plays Elsa, the Chef's assistant and maître d at Hawthorn. 

Each course on the evening's dinner menu was explained in detail by the Chef himself. As the evening wore on, by the second course, the presentations took a turn for the macabre. This particular menu involved the deaths of all 12 dinner guests, and the restaurant's staff too. The guests would literally be led to their deaths course by course. The staff too, would die. That would be THE MENU, perfectly executed. 

In The New York Times review in November 2022, Jeannette Catsoulis wrote, "this brutal satire of class division — viewed through the lens of high-end gorging — is ruthlessly focused and gleamingly efficient."

Anya Taylor-Joy is the wildcard because she plays 'Margot Mills' who is the last minute replacement date of wealthy foodie Tyler, played by Nicholas Hoult, who didn't ask for permission to replace his date. Margot Mills was a professional social escort whose real name is Erin. Her 'date' Tyler had corresponded with Chef Slowik for eight months. Tyler knew that everyone was going to die at this dinner. He kept it a secret and still hired Erin for the night anyway. 

At the end of the night, before the final course of dessert, Erin the wildcard said she was bored of the fancy food and was "still hungry." She said she would really like a cheeseburger, a real cheeseburger and "not some fucking deconstructed avant bullshit". And Chef Slowik obliged! He said that this would be a $9.95 cheeseburger with good old American cheese. The film gave time to the Chef making patties and cooking a cheeseburger. GOOD GAWWD. The camera zoomed in on the melted cheese on the patty on the grill and the patty sizzling. I could almost smell it. Now, that's a cheeseburger. Erin got that cheeseburger packed to-go, and she was the only one got out alive. 

Yup, everyone else died in a spectacular "purifying" fire.

“Even your hot dishes are cold,” spits Margot, the audience surrogate and the first to challenge the insult embedded in each course, like the “bread plate” with no bread. Intrigued by her working-class wiliness, Slowik is unsettled: He can see that she’s willing to take him on.

Whisking splashes of horror into culinary comedy (“Don’t touch the protein, it’s immature,” admonishes the forbidding hostess during a smokehouse tour), “The Menu” is black, broad and sometimes clumsy, attacking its issues more often with cleaver than paring knife. Yet everyone is having such a good time, it’s impossible not to join them. The movie’s eye might be on haute cuisine, but its heart is pure fish and chips.