The Menu Movie Review

Ralph Fiennes stars in The Menu

Somebody Shoot Us!

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: A couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. Directed by Mark Mylod.

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Judith Light, and John Leguizamo.

What's Good: The Menu sports a delicious (pun intended) cast, featuring Lord Voldemort (Fiennes) as a Gordon Ramsey-type, hell-bent on hosting a "very memorable taco night." The casting is random (i.e. Judith Light from Who's the Boss?) but everyone gets a chance to shine, especially Leguizamo as a "name dropping whore" and Hong Chau as Chef's right hand woman, who runs an extremely tight dining room.

What's Not: The trailer says (spoils?) a lot, but there's still a few surprises up The Menu's chef jacket sleeves. It borders on preposterous (at times) but if you've ever enjoyed an episode of Hell's Kitchen, odds are... you're gonna love it.

Budget: $35 million

Runtime: 106 minutes (Perfect.)

Target Audience: Foodies, fans of satire

Bottom Line: It's not as good as this year's top satire Triangle of Sadness (then again, what is?) but The Menu comes pretty close. I can't recall a single dull moment and how can you say no to a film that boasts a line like, "We've reached base camp of Mount Bullshit?"  

Grade: B (B+ if you're a foodie with a dark sense of humor.)