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The Menu is a new dark comedy set in a restaurant where the Chef, played by Ralph Fiennes (The Dig), is more Gordon Ramsay than Gordon Ramsay!
Tyler (Nicholas Hoult – Those Who Wish Me Dead) has hired Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy – The New Mutants) to be his date for the night – since his original one bailed for reasons to be discovered later – and he’s especially looking forward to some posh nosh, since he’s such a fanboy of the Chef, while she couldn’t care less about the man’s apparent fame. Also in attendance are regular diners at the Hawthorne restaurant, Richard (Reed Birney – Mass) and Anne Liebbrandt (Judith Light – We’ll Never Have Paris), plus smart Alec faded film stars George Díaz (John Leguizamo – American Ultra), as well as food critic Lilian Bloom (Janet McTeer – Ozark) who held bring Slowik to the fore… although, after tonight, she might be wishing she left him at the ‘three'(!)
Following some awkward niceties with Vietnamese maitre d’ Elsa (Hong Chau), who shows everyone around the place – including the living quarters to get across how they all live together like a family, and if you think the Chef gets obsessed, then even the cooks know the customers’ names off by heart, along with everything about them.
But then events turn to Chef describing each course in turn. He’s crazy posh and exact, and delights in filling every entree with snow, but each course begins with him taking centre stage with a loud CLAP!; and just as I was wondering why don’t all the chairs face towards the kitchen area – since that’s the most interesting thing to look at – he did another loud clap, which left Margot shuddering to Tyler, “Is he going to KEEP doing that(?)”
Similarly odd, another course features a “breadless bread plate”, so the customers just get a plate with the elements of toppings etc which would go ON the bread, but they’re denied the actual bread! And if you ask for bread, despite being the customer, Elsa berates one of them with a whispered “You’ll eat less than you desire and more than you deserve”; and another, “Memory“, sees them served tacos which have certain images which refer to elements of each of their lives.
In the second act, events start take a very dark turn, and there are surprises which wouldn’t necessarily work a first time, but are incredible the first time round.
Just one important thing: Don’t question the menu!
Oh, and following the problems with Cineworld Didsbury’s Screen 5, this film was in there as well, but in the intervening time, it turned out the problem was that that projector’s lamp need replacing. Hence, on returning for The Menu, the picture was spot-on and looked fantastic and sharp as a tack.
The Menu is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 107 minutes
Release date: November 18th 2022
Studio: Searchlight Pictures UK
Format: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 8.5/10
Director: Mark Mylod
Producers: Will Ferrell, Katie Goodson, Betsy Koch, Adam McKay, DanTram Nguyen, Zahra Phillips
Screenplay: Seth Reiss, Will Tracy
Music: Colin Stetson
Cast:
Chef Julian Slowik: Ralph Fiennes
Margot Mills: Anya Taylor-Joy
Tyler: Nicholas Hoult
Elsa: Hong Chau
Lilian Bloom: Janet McTeer
Ted: Paul Adelstein
George Díaz: John Leguizamo
Felicity: Aimee Carrero
Richard: Reed Birney
Anne: Judith Light
Linda Slowik: Rebecca Koon
Bryce: Rob Yang
Soren: Arturo Castro
Dave: Mark St. Cyr
Sommelier: Peter Grosz
Katherine Keller: Christina Brucato
Sous Chef Jeremy Lowden: Adam Aalderks
Boat Waiter: Jon Paul Allyn
Boatman: Mel Fair
Server 1: Cristian Gonzalez
Server 2: John Wilkins III
Coast Guard Officer: Matthew Cornwell
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.