The people that will enjoy this movie will understand the struggles of working in customer service. You can’t escape appeasing people in any job. Whether that be a boss or the consumer, you are bound to a role of performing. If you’re going to do something that involves performing, you better like it, or life’s purpose is wasted. The Menu, though dark and equally comedic, also has a deep-rooted mind-bending experience of losing the love of a job. In one way or another, any person will relate to this.
Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Holt) aboard a ship that will sail them off on a remote island with ten other guests. Here, we meet an array of characters: a movie star, his assistant, a food credit and her assistant, three “businessmen, a graying couple, and the head chef’s mother. It’s here we meet the chef Chef Slovik (Ralph Fiennes). A very tense chef who has lost the love of cooking and serving. He chooses his guests carefully, as each group has wronged him in one way or another. The issue is Margot was not invited. She is Tyler’s replacement guest, which causes a rift in the Slovik plans. He sees Margot as someone like him. Everyone in the dining hall has done something “wrong.” Some of Slovik’s reasons are unreasonable, but I digress. This is his show.
If you’ve ever dabbled in customer service, you know the difference between a bad customer and a good one. It’s at this point, where Margot and the chef are alone in his off, that the purpose of this movie is unveiled. There’s a key moment when you begin to hate what you do. It’s ruined because of the people that taint your work.
Mark Mylod as the director, and the writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy nailed the meaning. They, to some degree, work in customer service as well. As the audience, we are the customers– the consumers. And they mirror this perfectly in John Leguizamo’s character as the movie star. He asks Slovik why he is here. And what was Slovik’s reasoning? He hated one of his movies. One film can skew your entire perception of the actor in question. Hilarious but definitely true when you are in the film industry.
Ralph Fiennes absolutely killed the role as the antagonist. It was the way his character was aware of how messed up he was but also still assured that he was willing to do horrible things just for the sake of it. The ending itself shows Slovik wasn’t born a crazy madman. Instead, as he furthered his career in the restaurant industry, he began to hate his job. Something he used to adore became the bane of his existence. Talk about cathartic?
Anya Taylor-Joy is always a joy to be on screen, but the opening scene left me not liking the character. As we further the story, the audience can understand that Taylor-Joy’s character doesn’t need to be liked, just understood. Like the rest of the cooking crew, she works in customer service in her own way. Margot has her horror stories with customers, and this one is the icing on the cake. It’s not explicitly stated what Margot does, but it’s inferred she’s either an escort or a prostitute. It never occurred to me that you could like this role in life, but Margot did until she came across her bad customer.
You’re going to hate Nicholas Hoult’s character, yet you’ll love every second of it. His character is unhinged compared to his other companies aboard the food excursion. From a glance, he’s a “nice” guy, but as we progress in the story, we realize he’s simply just a man with a bucket of money and overtly obsessed with Slovick.
We place shallow judgments on people by how they talk or dress, and once you fully know a person is when it’s best to do that. Each character’s true nature is exposed because there’s no such thing as a universal ‘bad customer.’ It’s equally entertaining while also thought-provoking.
Rating
5/5
The Menu manages to balance horror and comedy equally. Nothing is actually scary or gut-wrenching, and there’s nothing that is absolutely hilarious. It’s this delicate balance of reality. This satire reigns true to our everyday lives. Some parts are funny, and some are downright terrifying. Morals are twisted in knots as we go through each dining table. What are they willing to sacrifice? The real question is, what have they done to deserve such an awful treatment?
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