The Menu: A Meal To Die For

 I just returned from watching my new favorite Christmas movie.  Okay, it's not about Christmas, but it is a gift of laughs and horror - and I got to see it Christmas day.  

The Menu is, hands down, among the most uncategorical flicks I've ever seen.  Social commentary, art, black (the blackest) comedy, horror, thriller, revenge . . . all take their places and each part, like the well constructed menu of the title, works in concert to complement the entirety of this, oh, too fabulously insane meal.  

Using the world of haute cuisine to present this morality tale, written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, director Mark Mylod skewers the super wealthy and turns it more into haughty cuisine.  In his hands the sublime and the ridiculous walk hand in hand, sometimes uncomfortably for the viewer, but really, quite perfectly.

Hawthorne is the brainchild restaurant of egotistical genius Chef Slowik, a restaurant on an island, with but a single seating of 12 diners each night, at the cost of $1,200 per head.  Naturally, the wealthiest, snobbiest, as well as poseurs and wannabes vie to dine there.  On this occasion, Chef has hand selected a dozen obscenely wealthy foodies, a mixture of old money, food snobs, a bad, narcissistic actor, a  well respected food critic and her editor, and a trio of youthful Wall Street punks.  

Pretentiousness runs in both the front and back of the house, along with insults, rudeness, rule breaking and social faux pas.

It's impossible to really review this movie without giving away critical details that make it so . . . delicious.  Sorry, but that IS the first word that comes to mind here.  The cast is a perfect ensemble, mostly equally balanced but for three performances that must be singled out. 

As Elsa, Chef Slowiks' "enforcer" - guide to the experience and mistress of ceremonies, Hong Chau is a force of nature.  Efficient to a fault, direct and lacking in anything resembling reasonable warmth she is chilling and terrifying in her way.  And an absolute delight. 

Anya Taylor-Joy (who impressed the world in "The Queen's Gambit") is Margo, the put upon and put down date of obnoxious foodie and human cartoon Tyler (Nicholas Hoult).  She's the most relatable character - one hopes - to the viewer.  She is splendid.

Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik, turns in yet another sensationally complex role, and, for me, one of the best performances of his career.  The very essence of calm and order he is at once proud yet disillusioned, and, is he perhaps, dangerous as well?  Difficult to say, but oh, what fun he must have had creating this egotistical monster.

As with every other aspect of The Menu, the look, the feel, the sounds of the restaurant, the score and design of the island all serve the Big Picture, and what a gloriously vain, eye-opening picture it is.