PLOT: Margot and Tyler head to an exclusive restaurant on an island where the chef serves them up more than just food.
A prestigious restaurant, with exquisite food, and one of a kind experience. What more could one want?
Not wanting to die after dinner is definitely on top of the list.
The Menu is an interesting take on retribution while the focus is on class and how sometimes the privileged end up getting away with a lot of things.
While the cast does a stellar job with their respective roles, it is Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes who carry the weight of the script.
At times The Menu tries to be too hoity-toity and is brought down by a monologue towards the end. The ending too, is quite convenient and doesn't go down that easily.
It's hard to believe that everyone resigns to their fate and barely put up a fuss when one of them is allowed to leave.
But The Menu uses unique storytelling to strike a point and for that a few flaws are forgiven.
THE MENU Plot
The movie begins with Margot and Tyler waiting at the docks. Margot is joyfully smoking when Tyler tells her to toss it away as smoking ruins the palate. Margot doesn't care. It is clear she isn't as obsessed about food as Tyler is. But he is adamant about how she wouldn't be able to taste food and she finally throws away her cigarette.
A boat comes along and Margot wonders if everyone will fit. Tyler assures her that there will only be a few passengers considering the tickets are $1250 a head. Margot is shocked at the price.
While waiting her turn to get on board, Margot notices an elderly couple and locks eyes with the man who is shocked to see her. Margot looks away but it is obvious that they know each other.
Once on the boat, they are told that it is a thirty minute ride to the restaurant called Hawthorne. They are given a snack which is basically caviar but presented in a unique way. Tyler doesn't let Margot eat until he has taken a picture and once he eats his oyster, he savors it like its the best thing he has ever eaten. Margot watches the way he eats it, copies it but doesn't go overboard with the praise. She's had better.
They finally arrive at the island and are shown around by the restaurant captain, Elsa who isn't too thrilled to know that Tyler brought someone else instead of the name he had given during the reservations. Margot breaks the awkward moment by giving her name and then allowing herself to be shown around with the other guests. The elderly man makes sure to avoid Margot.
Then there is a movie star with his assistant Felicity, food critics Lillian and Ted, and three men who are entrepreneurs.
As Elsa shows them around, one of the businessmen makes a comment about what would happen if the cow meat is aged for more than 152 days. Elsa patiently explains that all hell would break loose considering the bacteria would wreak havoc in the consumer's system. But she then reminds them that they are fortunate to be in the presence of perfectionists.
Elsa then shows them her sleeping quarters and the painstaking hours they dedicate to cooking. The businessmen are clearly obnoxious as they dole out more questions. Elsa takes offence when they use the term "burned out". How dare he imply she ever burns anything!
Tyler notices a cottage from afar but is told that not even the staff is allowed in the Chef's cottage.
They all enter the restaurant and Margot isn't super happy to be sitting at a table that was clearly meant for Tyler's girlfriend. The elderly man continues to avoid looking at her which has become obvious to his wife by now who remarks the girl looks a little like their daughter.
The guests are served a snack and Tyler immediately moves to photograph it only to be told that taking photos is against the rules set by the chef. Don't expect to see any dishes on social media.
There is a woman sitting at the back who does nothing but drink. She doesn't have a single dialogue in the movie yet she is important to the story and the reason behind the Chef's motives.
There is an open kitchen behind where Tyler immediately heads out to brag about his knowledge with the sous-chef. He doesn't need to introduce himself. The sous-chef assures him that he and the others are already told about the guests.
Margot takes Tyler away after the sous-chef tells him to go away. Margot remarks that Tyler didn't bother to ask the sous-chef's name during the introduction. Tyler is unbothered. The Chef has finally come into view and his eyes have gone big.
The Chef inspects the dishes, tastes them and allows it to be served to his guests.
Despite being told not to, Tyler still takes a photo but he isn't stealthy enough and Elsa has clearly noticed but remains quiet.
Tyler can't say enough about the food but Margot is hardly impressed.
The Chef appears and gets everyone's attention with a loud clap. He introduces himself and briefs the guests about what they can expect. He urges the guest to not eat but taste the food.
The first course is served and all the dishes are described in title cards in true Menu fashion.
The Chef continues talking about food and experiences which moves Tyler to tears. Margot is hardly impressed.
The next dish to be served is bread with accompaniments. But the twist is that there is no bread because that is what the common man eats and the guests are told they are anything but common. So what everyone is served is dips.
Food critics Lillian comments on the broken emulsion in one of the sauces and for the remainder of the evening is served huge bowls of broken emulsion. People sure can be touchy about their food.
One of the businessmen remarks that he works with Doug Verrick but Elsa reminds him he works for him. Doug is apparently the owner of the restaurant and island.
Nobody gets bread but Elsa does give one of the businessmen a remark about getting more than he deserves.
Some time later, the Chef approaches Margot and asks why she hasn't been eating. Margot reminds him that he had requested that people not eat his food. The Chef is clearly irritated and tells her that is not what he meant. Margot says she wants to save space for the other courses. The Chef replies he has carefully planned the proportions. Margot isn't about to let anyone decide what she eats and when, and pretty much tells the Chef that.
The Chef walks away but he is sort of impressed with Margot's candor.
He jostles everyone with a clap and tells them about their next experience that is about memories. He points to the old, drunk woman and explains that she is his mother who was an alcoholic. His father was worse because he was abusive as well. The Chef recalls how he had to stab his father in the thigh one night when he went after his mother. He regrets not stabbing him in the throat.
Another clap and the guests are served a course called Memory. In this everyone is given printed tortillas. Each guest is shocked to find something related to their pasts in a photo printed on the tortillas. The food critics find photos of restaurants that went out of business because of their reviews. The elderly couple gets photos of the man sitting with a younger woman.
The actor gets a photo of a movie he did a long time ago that he wasn't exactly proud of. Tyler gets a photo of him taking photos of the dishes. Margot tells him to send these back but Tyler insists they should be grateful for just being let in. He then wraps a tortilla and savours it. Margot is clearly not having the time of her life here.
The businessmen see documents that show the fraud they have committed. They make a fuss only to have Elsa shut them off coolly.
Margot has had it with Tyler savoring his tortillas and snapping his fingers at her. She gets up and heads to a silver door only to be asked where she's headed. She claims to want to go to the ladies room. Once there, she takes the opportunity to smoke and look out the window to see a pair of angel wings being dragged across the lawn.
Margot has no time to ponder whether the wings are a prop for a performance, when the Chef pops in and asks her what she is doing here. Margot has the same question. He is in the ladies room after all. He clarifies that his inquiry was about her presence at the island. Turns out, his plans were thrown into disarray because of them.
But there are more courses to come and the movie isn't ending just yet so we will find out more later.
For now, the Chef behaves enigmatically and leaves Margot with the decision to make a choice: them or us.
Margot is mystified and since she didn't get any privacy in the bathroom, demands that they leave. Of course Tyler isn't going to agree to that. He is smitten by his idol, the Chef.
Before the next course is served, the guests get a taste of what their visit to Hawthorne is really about. One of the businessmen asks too many questions and is punched in the face. Then one of the cooks is brought forward and the Chef gives us his life story. The cook was desperate to join the restaurant and did whatever he could do reach here. In the process, he gave up a chance at relationships and is in constant pressure to perform well at work. The Chef asks him if he's happy. He says nope. He then pulls out a gun and shoots himself, landing on the previously laid out tarp that was garnished.
The guests are startled by the violence while the critics wonder if performance art is part of this experience. The older gentleman tries to make a run for it, only to be caught and have his ring finger cut off, the one with the wedding band. He did cheat on his wife so why does he need a finger to wear a ring? That's what the Chef probably believes.
Margot is called to see the Chef privately. He wants to know about her and seems to think she works in services and is unlike the others. She must choose whether to side with them or the rest of the guests. Margot wants to know if she will get to live. Nope, comes the reply. But she gets some time to decide.
Margot heads back and clearly Tyler is jealous. He tries to brown nose the Chef by correctly guessing an ingredient in the next dish.
The Chef is asked for his motive and he replies that he has sort of had an epiphany that his work doesn't matter to anyone and he is done trying to please people. After all the work he puts in to prepare food, eventually it turns to feces.
To show what he meant, he asks the elderly couple to name one dish they had his restaurant since they aye here eleven times. Of course the man can't name one dish and his wife whispers "cod" to him. Chef calls her a donkey for not being able to differentiate between cod and halibut.
The businessmen put up an argument about the Chef not being the owner; Doug is. The Chef turns their attention to the window where Doug is slowly lowered into the sea. He is wearing angel wings.
Is it supposed to represent a fallen angel? Doug gave the Chef a chance of a lifetime only to ruin his love for the craft. Perhaps that is why he is a fallen angel to him?
Margot's time limit is up and she is called to see the Chef. She reveals she is an escort called Erin and that she was hired once by the elderly man to pretend to be his daughter while he pleasured himself.
The Chef insists she side with them since they are the people in service who are taken for granted.
For the next course, everyone is taken outside. One of the cooks, a woman, reveals how the Chef tried to take advantage of her. She then stabs the Chef with scissors in the thigh and then they make up.
The Chef seems to be recreating his childhood incident where he stabbed his father in the thigh too when instead he should have gone for the throat. Stabbing in the thigh now means that second chances are given.
The Chef tries to make up for the inequality between men and women by stating that the next event will have the men in the group being hunted down. They get a 45 second head start. Before he could even finish, one of the businessmen has already fled. Tyler thinks he doesn't have to participate but he is told there are no exceptions.
The women go inside and sit at a table, bonding. The truth about Erin is revealed and the older woman is disheartened to know she was hired by her husband once.
One by one, all the men are found. The food critic gets a special dish for being the last one to be found. Dejected, the men return to the restaurant.
One of the businessmen is given birthday cake and his friends tell him it was planned before the events of the night and they thought it would be funny.
The Chef announces that before the next course, he wants to point out about Tyler's fascination with him.
Turns out Tyler knew how this evening would pan out and purposely brought Margot because he knew she would die and it wouldn't matter because she is just an escort. Margot lunges at him but the Chef assures her he would handle him.
He invites Tyler to the kitchen and cook since he considers himself to be such an expert. Tyler obviously sucks at cooking and the Chef continuously taunts him. He calls the resulting meal atrocious.
Humiliated, Tyler is taken away to be dealt with.
For the next part, the Chef asks Margot to join him and retrieve a barrel that Elsa forgot to get.
Margot gets the barrel and a knife as well. She looks at the Chef's cottage through the window.
At the restaurant, the Chef calls out the actor for making dumb movies, and the assistant for not having student loans to deal with after having gone to Brown.
The assistant not having student loans probably meant she was either too rich or stole money to pay her tuition fees.
Margot trespasses in the cottage and finds that it looks like the restaurant complete with the sliver door no one is allowed to open.
Elsa appears and tells her she doesn't like her. The two women fight and it ends with Margot stabbing Elsa. Before she dies, Elsa reveals the Chef never told her about the barrel so she didn't really forget it. She wouldn't be that irresponsible.
Margot continues her snooping and enters through the silver door to find that it is sort of like a shrine to the Chef's accomplishments.
The last photo is of him as a young man, happily flipping burgers.
She also spots a radio and calls for help.
THE MENU Ending Explained
Back in the kitchen, Margot gives the barrel to the Chef and returns to her seat. She has already seen Tyler hanging from a noose so knows she will be dining alone now.
The Chef shows off his skills by saying he has special heat-resistant hands since he has worked as a chef all his life. He extinguishes the candle on Margot's table.
Suddenly, a Coast Guard appears and the staff sets about hiding the blood on the guest's faces and their clothes. The Chef warns them that if the guests speak up, it will result in the death of a man.
The guard appears and everyone keeps mum. The guard recognizes the movie star and asks for an autograph. He writes a note asking for help instead. The guard demands to know what is going on and all the guests point fingers at the Chef and are grateful to finally be rid of the Chef.
The guard removes a gun only to light Margot's candle with it. Whoops, it was one of the cooks and not an actual guard.
The guests feel resigned to their fates.
Preparations for the dessert course are underway when Margot comes up with an idea.
She tells the Chef she wants to send back her food. The Chef, trained to hear customer's complaints, comes over to her and asks what she didn't like.
She tells him everything and that he has taken away the joy of eating. All of his food has merely been concepts and lacked personality.
She reminds him that as a Chef it is his responsibility to feed the guests and he has failed at that. Margot tells him she is starved.
Apologetic, the Chef asks what she wants.
A cheeseburger. She asks the price and it is $9.95.
She can afford it and asks him to make it.
The Chef makes it himself, putting American Cheese. How it melts is something Margot is familiar about.
The Chef is finally happy as he cooks the burgers. He even gives her a side order of fries.
Margot digs into her meal and tells him she likes it but that her eyes were bigger than her stomach. She wants the meal to go.
The Chef packs it up for her. Margot pays 10 bucks. He can keep the change.
As she begins to leave, she pauses and looks at the other guests. Their fates are sealed and the older woman gestures for her to go. It's okay.
Margot leaves and finds a boat but has trouble starting it.
Inside the restaurant, the Chef is making s'mores because they are cheap but only popular because it can be set on fire.
Graham crackers are crushed and strewn everywhere. The guests are given marshmallow jackets to wear.
The Chef picks hot coal with his bare hands and sets fire to the restaurant.
Margot has managed to start the boat and sail it away. She takes out her to-go bag and resumes her meal. The restaurant explodes. She reaches into the bag and finds the menu of tonight. She wipes her face with it.
A burger and a show?
The movie ends.
THE MENU is definitely worth a watch, of not for the plot twists, then definitely for the black humor served up in doses.
SCARE SCALE: 3.5/5
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