The Menu

From producer Adam McKay who brought us the multi Oscar-nominated satirical comedies The Big Short (skewering the financial/banking sector), Vice (skewering politics and Dick Cheney) and Don't Look Up (skewering climate change), we get this bleakly dark comedic satirical thriller skewering fine dining and foodie culture. 

The Menu, directed by Mark Mylod and written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, may not be as well executed as those aforementioned films (mostly written and/or directed by McKay), but boy was it immensely fun. At a sleek 106 minutes long, this film relentlessly poked fun at not only the foodies and fanboys, but also the chefs and the whole hospitality service industry. This was a non-stop laugh fest as the scathing absurdism of the satire was unfortunately all too familiar and recognisable. 

However, the key ingredient (hah!) to this film's success was how expertly Mylod et al delivered the expectantly unexpected turns in the story. How the film was going to end was never really in doubt, but how it was eventually going to get there was a delightful cat-and-mouse game of guessing and giving yourself up to just go with the storytelling. 

But, this film would not have worked as well as it did without its tremendous cast! Ralph Fiennes was fiendishly good. He would have made Gordon Ramsay peed in his pants!! By gosh, he was terrifying and yet oddly empathetic. And the other scene stealer was Hong Chau. She has been doing so much fantastic good work since she broke out on Downsizing and Homecoming. 

Of course most people would come to see Anya Taylor-Joy and she really did well here. Reminding us of her haunting debut in The Witch and excellent performance in The Queen's Gambit which seemed to have been suppressed by the Hollywood factory recently. And Nicholas Hoult was hilarious in an unexpectedly darkly comedic role. 

Judith Light and Janet McTeer should have more screen time and things to do. Actually they should have been paired together. That would have been dynamic!

Following the success of Knives Out (and seemingly Glass Onion), smartly written whodunnits or whydoits are excitingly coming back to the big screen!

Without the behind-the-camera pedigree, the on-screen Oscar A-listers and a subject matter that may be alienating, it will be hard for this film to really enter the award conversation, much less the race. Although I do see chances for it in Best Original Screenplay and a long shot for Best Actor. Hong Chau might have a chance to use this film as a bolster to a possible campaign for The Whale.