The Menu is one of the most successful movies released in 2022 which premiered this November, the film received positive reviews, and also good feedback from the spectators, because they enjoyed watching the black comedy horror film directed by Mark Mylod, written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, and produced by Adam McKay, Betsy Koch, and Will Ferrell. The Menu had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10 and was released to theaters on November 18, 2022, by Searchlight Pictures.
The film focuses on a group of diners at an exclusive restaurant who discover the celebrity chef-owner who tends to kill the all before the night is over. Tyler and his companion Margot Mills travel by boat to Hawthrone which is an exclusive restaurant owned by the famous chef Julian Slowik, the restaurant is located on a private island. Some other guests attending the dinner are Lillian who is a food critic, with her is Ted who is her editor, and Richard and Anne who is a wealthy couple. When dinner begins, it starts getting strange, since it becomes more disquieting and violent, and the guests start suffering consequences as the night passes.
The Menu is formed by an ensemble cast, these are Ralph Fiennes as Julian Slowik who is a celebrity chef and the owner of the Hawthrone restaurant, Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot Mills, an escort who accompanies Tyler to the meal, Nicholas Hoult as Tyler, who is foodie fanboy of Slowik, Hong Chau as Elsa, Julian’s right-hand, Janet McTeer as Lillian Bloom, a food critic who helped Julian to become famous, John Leguizamo as George Díaz, an arrogant post-crime actor whom Julian derides for being a sellout, Reed Birney as Richard Liebbradnt, Judith Light as Anne Liebbrandt, Paul Adelstein as Ted, Aimee Carrero as Felicity, Arturo Castro as Soren, Rob Yang as Bryce, Mark St. Cyr as Dave, Rebecca Koon as Linda Slowik, Christina Brucato as Katherine Keller, Adam Aalderks as Jeremy Louden, Matthew Cornwell as Dale, and Peter Grosz as Hawthrone’s sommelier.
The Menu has grossed around $29 million in the United States and Canada, and $28.7 million in other territories, which is a total of 57.7 million USD worldwide. The film had a total of $30 million budget. In relation to the critical reception, on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Menu received 88% out of 100% with a total of 262 reviews most of which are positive, with an average rating of 7.6 out of 10. On the website, the audience also gave a 77% score, alleging “The Menu’s got a great cast and plenty of fun moments, although the ending might strike some as a little tough to swallow”.
On Metacritic, the film scored 71% based on 45 critics which are favorable reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B on an A+ to F scale. At PostTrak, the film scored 78%, an overall positive score, where most of them were recommending the film.
Andrea Rich