‘The Menu’ 2022 movie (now streaming on HBO Max) with Ralph Fiennes

Wow. An entertaining, dark black comedy. Fiennes is excellent as is Ana Taylor-Joy. It is a bizarre mixture of black comedy and a thriller (I wouldn’t call it horror).

The Menu (2022 film) - Wikipedia

 

Watched it tonight. The wife and I loved it. Skewered so much and not just about the current food culture. Acting was top notch and the story was so fresh and interesting.
We thought of it as a great thriller with slices of weirdness that could be seen as comedic touches. And no camp or winks or nudges, thank god. The bleakness in the Mess or Hoult's cooking was powerful.

 

"What's this?"
"It's a tortilla."
"Yes, but, what is THIS?"
"It's a mexican tortilla."

 

Enjoyable hokum

 

Spouse and I really enjoyed this. Some great surprises. While it is spot-on in its takedown of foodie culture, it equally skewers class structure and the sense of entitlement and privilege that great wealth brings.

JohnK

 

very well done, enjoyable as all hell.

highly recommended.

 

Nahh, the satire, I get and, the acting by Fiennes and Joy was excellent.

SPOILER ALERT




However, to presume that a chef's staff of 12 or so, would agree to die because he wants to extract revenge on a select group of people, is just silly. Also, one of the attendees agrees to attend knowing full well he will also die? GMAFB.

 

You may have missed some of the satire after all. The concept that you point to as being unbelievable is one of the key satirical elements in the film, that the cult of personality around chefs and strong beliefs about food effectively create literal cult like behavior.

 

I missed nothing. I don't accept that the cult of personality around chefs is so strong that their staff would voluntarily die for them as would one of their customers

Silly and utter Bollocks. Acting was fine and some scenes worked. Loved Margot/Erin for calling him out on the type of food he presented and his response.

 

Let’s go back to Jonathan Swift, textbook satire. It’s not literal. Swift doesn’t reasonably think the poor should sell their children for food. It’s an exaggeration of a cultural point of view to make a point.

It’s fine to not enjoy the satire, but criticizing satire for using one of the primary tools of satire (exaggeration) is a head scratcher that suggests you don’t really like satire and would prefer a more realistic take.

 

Spoiler: It's not that hard to use the spoiler tag

I don't see Ralph Finnes's chef as that much less credible a cult leader than Marshall Applewhite, the leader of Heaven's Gate or Jim Jones of The People's Temple. And his food was a lot better than Snack Pack chocolate pudding, or Flavor Aid.

 

I guess I'll now have to dislike the hundreds of satirical films I've loved over the last 50+ years of movie viewing. Thanks for clearing that up for me

 

It was one of the underling chefs that suggested everyone should die. Everyone who was "serving" in some way had had enough, including the head Chef.

 

SPOILER






Oh, I see. One of the underling chefs had the choreographed immolation for everyone at the end of the meal planned. Thanks for clearing that up

 

They were obviously all working together...
Anyway. Great movie!

 

Spoiler

I like Snack Pack pudding!

 

With ground up barbiturates to give it that extra zing?

 

No way - straight from the cup. I'm no drug fiend!

 

Thought it was a great movie, even better on the second viewing. And I hope it is not too much of a spoiler to say I searched out the best place for a real cheeseburger around here right after watching.

 

Having watched it a second time, it would've been funny if , at the end, we see Tyler's original date reading about the explosion of the restaurant, and she says, "I KNEW not to go!"

 

I got a cheese burger afterwards too.

 

what was in that cheeseburger?

 

Onions, salt and pepper, good beef. Not sure there was anything suspect.

JohnK

 

It was just a well-made chesseburger.

 

And American cheese, the best kind of cheese for a cheeseburger.