Searchlight Pictures invites you to experience the Menu - That’s how the audience sees the opening title. Its located center-right on-screen, which invokes an image of an open menu. It’s a fun little appetizer in a film that’s full of treats. The camera immediately cuts to our first of many not-so-subtle scenes of foreshadowing: a close-up of Anya Taylor-Joy’s Margot lighting a cigarette - it’s a fun tasting of what’s to come (I’m having a lot of fun thinking up restaurant and food puns).
The foreshadowing doesn’t stop there. My favorite of many such moments is when Elsa, the hostess, shows the guests the grounds and the staff living quarters. A diner asks her if the staff experiences burn-out. She reveals a little too much: “We never burn anything unless it’s by design … to make it delicious.” Her hesitation is a giant wink to the audience.
After the opening scene, we meet Tyler played by Nicholas Hoult. Tyler is that foodie you know but this version is on cocaine. He only cares about the restaurant's “concept.” Even Margot’s health is secondary - when Tyler tells her to stop smoking, he’s concerned about a ruined pallet as opposed to Margot’s health. As the film progresses, we discover the bone-chilling depth of Tyler’s foodie addiction.
We also get a taste of the other diners’ egos in the next scene as they shuttle to the restaurant. We learn that John Leguizamo is a washed-up actor who won’t accept that his career is in the rearview mirror. The tech bro and his friends are hiding shady financial dealings. The restaurant critic relishes tearing others down in her column. There is nothing unique about the diners’ pretentious behaviors.
But this movie isn’t about the customers. It’s about the Chef - he holds himself to a higher standard than his dinner guests, but he’s actually the most egotistical, insecure person on the island. He claims that his motivations are pure and egoless, but the rationale for his anger is petty revenge. For example, Chef is angry with the actor for making a bad movie. He’s angry with the critic over a bad review. That soliloquy on eaters and takers sums up Chef’s emotionally immature view of the world, well - it’s us versus them.
But, Chef’s perspective of the world makes the absurdity of the courses work. Each course tops the next, so the final course almost makes sense when it arrives. I love how the film concludes like a James Bond movie. Margot is floating with the “evil island lair” up in flames behind her. A cheeseburger replaces the Bond girl, but of course it does in this movie.
Finally, I have a question for you - dear reader. Would we consider this movie a period piece? I kinda liked the covid-19 references in this one. The investors yell out that they supported him during covid. But, Chef barks back that they asked for substitutions. In my favorite scene, Chef turns to yell out, “There are no substitutions at the Hawthorne!” It was a fun bit. Glass Onion also did a good job weaving covid into the background. I like it when it’s subtle.
Anyway, the Menu is a fun ride. As I noted before, we’re getting a lot of “eat the rich” films post-Parasite, but I also think the pandemic has something to do with it. Despite the oversaturation of “eat the rich” movies, we got three really good ones in a year’s time: Triangle of Sadness, Infinity Pool, and the Menu are all excellent films worth watching.
I don't think it's a period piece because it's set in the same general time period that it was released, but the pandemic references definitely do fix it in time, so anyone watching the movie in the future will know exactly when it came out. Kind of like how You've Got Mail was a contemporary movie in 1998, but if you watch it now, you definitely know it came out in that time period when everyone was all excited about dialing up AOL.