Honest Reviews

This movie actually at first glance may look boring and all that, but when you sit down and watch it, you realise that this movie has a lot to deliver in the 108 minute runtime it has. I got lucky enough to see The Menu twice, and it wasn’t like a big movie exprience but somehow the exprience is different wehn you’re seeing it on a home media versus when you’re at the theater. But seeing this oin the theaters was a great choice, because in all honesty: there’s some things that would get to you if you saw it in the theaters compareably if you didn’t and just streamed it or rented it!

The plot follows a group of people that goes to this exotic reaturant where it cost over $1,000. The main characters are Tyler (Nicholas Hoult ) and Margot (Anya-Taylor Joy) who gets this exprience. Weird things start happening even before they reach their first course. At first notice glance, it seems like this will be a good evening with plenty of rich food (and not to mention rich food nuances/references) and just having a lesuire night. But things turn a dark twist when a person commits a suicide. And The Menu they thought they were going to feast on all night, just turned out to have a big twist in it!

When I first saw this in theaters by myself I didn’t have much expectations going into the film, but as the movie progressed forward, I knew something was off and things may not be as it seemed. But I didn’t get fully immersed into the story till that one most unexpecyted suicide happened. I was as shocked as the people were when they saw it unfold. I literally had my mouth covered with my hands . . . it was a shocking moment! And after that, things turned more bleak, dark, and more appealing and interesting to watch. This movie knew how to have a slow-build throughout the movie, and in all honesty I loved that!

It’s a movie at first glance that you feel is going to bore you. Not going to lie, the trailer hardly seemed appealing enough to go actually see it (due because they hardly exploited any of the good moments). So when I first saw the trailer, I didn’t much plans to go see it at the theaters. But somehow, I found myself sitting in the room where The Menu was playing. After first time watching it, I was more or less delighted on what I saw. I didn’t make immediate plans to go see it again in theaters, but I decided, “the heck why not!” The second time I saw it, it made me appreicate the movie a whole lot more even knowing the twist and turns of the movie.

I’ve seen this movie (as of 1/11/2023) three times; twice in theaters and a third time on HBO Max. For me, I can say I appreicate this movie a lot more every time I see it! This movie is near pefection, but there are I feel like a couple things holding it back to getting. The first one I always struggle to enjoy in the movie is Nicolas Hoult acting/character in the movie! Everytime I watch him in the movie, I get a bit more frustrated at not only his acting but his character. I feel like Nicolas’ role in the movie was crucial for the movie, but was it did well/also was it needed(?) is the real question. Nicholas does an umemorable job on his role. Everytime I see him on screen and after I watch it, I keep on forgetting that he is even in the movie. He does such an unimpressive job at his role, it’s quite boring to see him on screen.

His character on the other hand . . . is just mad, frustrating to watch. Tyler is a person I feel like that has no emotions, and all he cares about is being noticed by Chief Slovik. It’s a character that you want dead after spending more time on him and after he does it, you don’t feel bad what he did. He’s the main character that gets on my nerves. The other characters are not so memorable, but I feel like they are more or less on the sideline for the movie that I don’t give too much thought on them. The most noticeable character of this movie is Chief Slovik and Margot! They steal the scene everytime they’re in it, and they’re the ones that keep the movie going . . . in fact, I feel like they carry a lot of the movie on the shoulder!

Another thing I dislike about this movie is all the food nuances. I mean, I get it! They’re trying for you to get something from it, and I respect that. But I don’t give a rat’s fart about it. It feels a bit unneded (but needed at the same time), and it’s what keeps this movie I feel like from progressing forward a bit faster. I mean, I love my food, but I don’t need to know that food is art and because of that, here’s a lot of nuacnes that I bet is cool for the movie but in the end, I could care less about. But besides that, this movie does rock solid in a lot of ways!

For starters, I love how this movie uncovers the truth about the people dining in the movie. It feels rich and it feels like a nice touch to the movie. It may derive from other film doing something like that, but this one does it with its own styles and does it in a not so boring way. Another is how this movie makes you want to understand what the chief is saying about our world . . . about the lost of love for art, and how the world is declining (in some sort of shape or form). It feels like a movie with a story to tell that everyone needs to hear. It has a message that needs to be told. It may say it is “horror”, but in truth and all reality and in my preseptive, it’s just is telling a rich story with some neat twists and turns!

This movie does not succumb of boredom or lackluster moments at any acts . . . each act builds upon each other for the final act that may not agree with some people. But for me, the final act is the Chief’s Kiss hoping you were satisfied on what you “ate”, and maybe even asking the longing question, “will you come back for seconds?”

4.5/5

The Menu

Director: Mark Mylod

Writers: Seth Reiss and Will Tracy

Film Editors: Christopher Tellefsen

Executive Producers: Seth Reiss, Michael Sledd, and Will Tracy

Producers: Will Ferrell, Katie Goodson, Betsy Koch, Adam McKay, DanTram Nguyen, and Zahra Phillips

Cast: Anya-Taylor Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, and Hong Chau

Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

Rated: R

Releasers: Searchlight Picture

Released: November 18th, 2022