Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Menu Blu-ray Movie Review

A dining experience to die for.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 4, 2023

Television has given us droves of things in both the positive and negative categories, but among the more curious items tv has, well, dished up for us is the phenomenon of the celebrity chef. Now, as with the many things, it took a while for the sheer glut of these personalities to become overwhelming, and back in the "Dark Ages" of low res black and white, chefs on the small screen were still a rather rare (or at least medium rare) item, with such personalities as Julia Child and Graham Kerr holding court in their studio kitchens. But just a cursory glance at current day and relatively recent cable listings will divulge all sorts of cooking and/or cooking related (often competition based) shows, including Top Chef, The Great British Baking Show, MasterChef, Hell's Kitchen, 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray and Restaurant: Impossible. That surplus of productions has brought any number of chefs to at least perceived prominence, including such well known names as Gordon Ramsay, Tom Colicchio and Giada De Laurentiis*. Some of these personalities are on the prickly side, to put it mildly, but even their outsized personae might shrink a bit under the withering glare of one Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), the at least neurotic and quite possibly psychotic and even sociopathic chef at the heart of The Menu.

*One of my fondest interview memories from my work at this site was with the late Martha De Laurentiis, who did a press junket during the run of Hannibal. The interview came to a wonderfully funny halt at one point when I mock suggested that Martha's step-granddaughter Giada would be a perfect guest star, which thankfully Martha found to be laugh out loud worthy.

Before The Menu introduces Slowik, however, a young couple named Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult) and Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Jones) are seen arriving at a dock, where soon a number of other assorted people show up for what almost seems like it's going to be a "three hour tour" lifted from the likes of Gilligan's Island, replete with a rather mismatched set of passengers. There's an erstwhile movie star named George Diaz (John Leguizamo) and his personal assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero), restaurant critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer) and her editor Ted (Paul Edelstein), elderly regular patrons Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne Liebbrandt (Judith Light), and a trio of tech entrepreneurs named Bryce (Rob Yang), Dave (Mark St. Cyr) and Soren (Arturo Castro). All of these people have happily handed over four figures (per head) for the privilege of riding a private boat to an equally private island where Slowik holds court at his extremely elite restaurant Hawthorn (some online sources spell this "Hawthorne", but the subtitles on this disc are missing a final 'e').

Now part of the fun of The Menu is the series of slow reveals as to some of the backstories of these characters and so I will attempt not to go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that Margot turns out to be an unexpected addition to the guest list, as Tyler's original date for the evening broke up with him. Margot's story is increasingly layered, but her "outsider" status ultimately gives her unique insight into what transpires, even if it sets her almost immediately at odds with Tyler, who is a simpering fanboy around Slowik. The rest of the characters also have little "tidbits" (amuses bouches?) that are doled out as Slowik's kind of slightly scary maitre d' Elsa (Hong Chau) snakes through the restaurant and overhears various conversations.

The Menu offers blacker than black humor, and as such it may not be to everyone's taste (sorry, food puns unavoidable at this point). But some of the scabrous humor is delightful, especially some of the back and forth between the hoity toity Lillian and her sycophantic "partner" Ted. Some of the other interchanges don't have the same energy that this particular pair offers, and if there are some passing qualms about rather gaping holes in the screenplay and even basic premise, it may be with regard to things that are simply plopped down as plot points, without much context or development.

Now vis a vis that basic premise, this review has tried not to divulge what turns out to be a rather, well, interesting turn of events that Slowik has planned for his guests, which is when the film becomes even darker. The Menu simply has to be accepted on its own bizarre terms, kind of like some of the "frou frou" (technical term) food you get at tonier restaurants, but for those with a somewhat jaded sensibility who may, like Slowik, lament the "dumbing down" (another technical term) of culture in general, it will be very tasty indeed.

The Menu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Menu is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. I haven't been able to track down authoritative information on the cameras utilized, and the bonus featurette that does have candid shots of the cameras never disclosed a brand (that I could make out, anyway), but the IMDb does offer a 4K DI datapoint on its technical specs page for the film. This is a really nicely detailed presentation that probably understandably offers a lot of so-called "food porn" shots that typically features excellent fine detail levels (the featurette gets into some of the actually fascinating food design aspects of the production). It appears that all of the background ocean material was green screened, and that can look just slightly soft at times, but all of the practical items including everything from props and sets to the performers themselves are presented with typically great detail levels and an appealingly natural looking palette. A couple of scenes taking place either in nighttime or extremely dimly lit interior locations can see fine detail ebb slightly, but really not by much. I noticed no compression issues.

The Menu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

According to both the closing credits roll and the IMDb, The Menu evidently had Dolby Atmos in at least some of its theatrical exhibitions, but this disc offers "only" a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The surround activity here is rather subtle at times, though there is clear engagement of the side and at times especially rear channels in some of the restaurant material, where background sounds are well placed, offering a subliminal sense of the spaces involved. A playful score also resides comfortably in the surround channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, though I found the mix, especially in the early going, seems to push some of that dialogue slightly in back of some of the ambient environmental effects. That may make the optional English, French and Spanish subtitles all the more welcome for some listeners.

The Menu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Open Kitchen: A Look Inside The Menu (HD; 17:21) is a fun three part piece (First Course, Second Course, Dessert) that offers some good interviews.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 4:56)

Additionally, a digital copy is included.

The Menu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are parts of The Menu that rather oddly reminded me of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, including an isolated location run by a megalomaniac, as well as a bevy of badly behaved characters about to get some serious comeuppance, not to mention a, well, explosive climax. There are other referents some other viewers may feel are relevant, including everything from And Then There Were None to The Most Dangerous Game , but commendably the film never feels like a haphazard casserole of leftover ingredients. Things might have had even more power had a bit more information been imparted as to how exactly all these characters were "chosen", not to mention what the background between Slowik and Tyler in particular is all about (I kept waiting for some major reveal there that never quite came). Technical merits are first rate, and the main featurette supplement very enjoyable. Recommended.