The Menu, produced by Adam McKay, is an R-rated satire horror thriller film that tackles concepts of classism, pretentiousness, corruption, self-destruction, giving, taking, and so much more.  

This movie displays the concept of devoting your entire life to your passion just for people to take advantage of the art they are given and use it as a status symbol in a way that’s both Beautiful and heart stopping.  

Directed by Mark Mylod, The Menu follows Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), her boyfriend Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and a few others to a remote island where they dine at Hawthorn, a prestigious and expensive restaurant owned by the famous chef Slowik.  

However, unbeknownst to the wealthy guests, the meals that were planned would be hard to swallow. Throughout the movie, the courses go from quirky to sinister, and in the end, they get their just desserts.  

Each guest is portrayed as a stereotype of the type of people you’d find sitting in a restaurant. Lillian (Janet McTeer), the food critic who’s shut down multiple, probably decent, restaurants and takes joy out of finding mistakes in even the simplest of things, because if she can’t find an issue, she can’t exert her power. Anne (Judith Light) and Richard (Reed Birney), the greedy couple that’s dined at Hawthorn almost a dozen times and can’t even name one meal they’ve had before. Bryce (Rob Yang), Soren (Arturo Castro), and Dave (Mark St. Cyr), who have little regard for the people that are serving them and try to exert their authority at any chance they get. Margot, the food service worker who understands what it feels like to work hard and can appreciate simplicity.  

Throughout the movie, tensions stay high while you impatiently wait for the chef to bring down his knife. It beautifully depicts feelings of horror, shock, and anxiety and even in scenes where nothing is truly happening, you’ll feel your guts clench themselves into a ball and heavily drop to the bottom of your stomach. 

However, one major problem I noticed in the movie is many of the guests weren’t as developed as they could be, some even being flat out forgettable.  

Although we see each guest a fair amount, I did feel a sense of emptiness by the end of the movie when we didn’t learn as much about each character as I was hoping, especially since they’re all built around such interesting premises. Even the main character’s backstory wasn’t as elaborated on as heavily as it could’ve been, thus creating difficulty for viewers to connect.  

If you are the type of person who loves a good thrill, something that makes you feel a strong sense of dread and shock, this movie is perfect for you. You can find this movie on HBO Max, Hulu and plenty of other streaming services. If you can, watch it and enjoy the meal!