The Menu

Recommendation

My recommendation for this movie is going to be colored by my disappointment that this didn’t become an instant one of my favorites. It has all the makings of the type of horror/thriller movie that I deeply enjoy, but it spoils the suspense part way through. If you are watching it for the suspense like I was, you will be disappointed.

If I take a more objective look at the movie, and assume it’s not meant to be what it was sold to me as, then I think there is something good there. The movie has humor and a lot of layers to the political statements it’s making, but I was too distracted by the crumbling suspense and missed opportunities, that I had trouble focusing on those aspects.

I would recommend this movie to watch once, because I think it’s a more than adequate film. The performances and imagery are both very well done. My only real issue is with the writing.

Thoughts

I Swear I Don’t Hate it

I want to preface my criticism in this “thoughts” section by saying that I enjoyed watching The Menu and I definitely found it thought provoking. Occasionally I write my recommendations and thoughts because I feel like I have to, but this time I couldn’t wait to put something out!

It’s movies like this one that have so much potential, but just miss the mark in some ways that are the reason I started writing this site in the first place. I always have a bunch of strong opinions about them! I don’t, however, want to become the type of person that the film criticizes. What I mean is that I don’t want to be a heartless critic like Lillian or an amateur chef fan boy suck up like Tyler. I enjoyed the film, but I also had issues with it.

Underutilized Premise

I was immediately drawn in by this film’s premise. I think the setting and the antagonist are both super engaging. I have a weak spot for the style of horror movie that sets up a situation as in the realm of normal and slowly progresses into madness. Get Out and The Invitation (2015) are two films in this exact archetype that I loved.

The Menu starts out strong with the diners arriving on the secluded island to partake in a once in a lifetime meal. We are primed for things to be exclusive and it is immediately fun to wonder what aspects are just part of the experience and what aspects are going to come back later. A number of strange mysteries are introduced like the meat in the smokehouse and the chef’s cabin. As the dinner unfolds in the first act, mysteries continue to be stacked up. We are shown a silver door and told that something special is behind it. We also get hints that the diners are hiding dark secrets.

Unfortunately, at this point, the movie releases the tension, and never fully capitalizes on its potential. The meal is going to be several courses, but things go off the rails a little too fast. The first course is normal, the second course (a bread-less bread plate) is a bit heavy-handed, but still seems like something a chef who thinks they’re an artist would put out. The third course is where things start to get out of control, when he reveals blackmail on each of them at the same time as he retells a pretty horrific story about his childhood. Then one of the chefs commits suicide and the entire plot is blown open.

I’ll admit, it was a shocking scene, but the repercussions of that scene on the tension of the film are a problem. In the moment, it’s exciting, but if you think about it logically, the chef has shown his hand. From that point on you know that death is an option and you know that it’s not just some exclusive experience. They even double down on this by telling the main character, Margo, that everyone is going to die shortly after this scene.

I was watching the movie for the suspense, but after the suicide scene, there isn’t really any left. There’s some question about whether everyone will be able to get away or not, but it feels pretty hopeless as all of their attempts fail immediately.

If I were able to suggest changes to the script, I wouldn’t have escalated as quickly. I think one way they could have tread the line between “experience” and psycho would have been to butcher an animal in front of the group. That would be brutal, but it’s part of the meal that most people don’t think about. It would tie in with the chef trying to make statements with his cooking, but has the underlying cruelty that feeds the suspense.

The best way to achieve the suspense that the movie lost with the suicide scene, in my opinion, is for each escalation to logically follow from the previous one. Comparing The Menu to something like The Invitation might be illustrative. In The Invitation, (spoilers for that so go watch that or skip to the next section), there are two key pieces to the plot that keep the suspense right until the last 10 minutes or so. The first is that we are never given proof that anything bad is happening. Several people leave the party over the course of the evening but their fate is always unclear. They might’ve just left or they might’ve been killed. The second, is that the protagonist is framed as unreliable. We know that he has some traumatic events in his past and he might just be paranoid.

If part way through The Invitation one of the bad guys was shown killing another member of the party, then none of the tension would work anymore because we would know that he isn’t just being paranoid. The problem with The Menu is precisely that they do kill someone in front of us and dispel all of our doubts.

Missing Punchlines

The other major issue I have with this movie is that there are so many setups without punchlines. For one thing, I don’t understand why half of the people were killed. It seemed like the chef was going to have a grand plan for the evening and reasons for all of the people dying, but that turns out not to be the case. He kills the movie star over a movie he didn’t like and the movie star’s assistant just because. If there were direct reasons that each of the people needed to die, it would also justify logically why the chef is being nice to Margo, and would make him more sympathetic.

The business men characters are set up with a lot of blackmail. They are stealing from the company and the chef shows them that he has proof, but it’s sort of left there. It’s vaguely given as a reason that they all are going to die, but it doesn’t directly affect the chef. It’s sort of unclear why it’s brought up at all.

Margo also kills the chef’s assistant lady with about 40 minutes left in the movie and that is just completely unresolved and unaddressed. It was in self defense, so you could write it off that way, but the woman’s dying words were, “He didn’t tell me about the barrel” which is another thread that doesn’t get tied off. I thought that implied that he actually did expect Margo to come to the island and that this was all part of the plan, but that’s not the case.

There’s also a silver door in the restaurant that Margo asks about and is told that, “something special” is behind it. When she goes to the chef’s cabin, she sees that it’s a replica of the room where they are eating dinner, and behind the door is his bedroom. What I’m wondering is, “is there a bedroom in the restaurant?”

I’m not sure what we’re supposed to infer based on what Margo finds in the cabin. It’s hard to imagine the chef would somehow have identical photos framed in a bedroom in the main dinning area of his island. What would be the point of that? I can sort of understand the reverse: he has his house in the same layout as the restaurant because he’s that committed to perfection or something, but having a bedroom in the restaurant doesn’t make sense.

The final scene leaves the film open ended, but I don’t really hold that against it. It’s unclear if Margo is really escaping although it seems likely that she is. Taking this ending along with all the unresolved threads, left me generally feeling like the movie was lacking a conclusion.