The Menu is big-time saucy. As slick and entertaining as it is . . . discouraged and disappointing.
The idea is that Margot goes to dinner. She’s wondering why Tyler is so excited about it, but the restaurant’s boat takes them to its island where the staff lives. Other diners include food critics and movie stars. Margot, if you don’t want your rez, I’ll take it!
The intro to all that is a bit bland and choppy, but next comes the meal, when things really get tasty.
Course by course, the chef explains what’s happening. This dish is this, but also, it means that. Moviewriting like this pokes fun at fancy restaurants and their diners just as often as it plays with our expectations. This is smart and funny stuff.
And horrific. To give more detail would spoil the fun, but basically, the diners get way more than they paid for. I have changed my mind about that rez.
The casting, acting, and editing (like almost every aspect of this movie) illustrate professional execution of a distinguished variety. Well done!
And yet . . . I am disappointed. It feels like the moviemakers wanted to say nothing matters in the most beautiful, cinematic, opposite way. What’s the point in that?
Ah yes, the meat and scissors course.