Films are no stranger to twist reveals and character revelations but having them as meticulously planned as seen in “The Menu” is a rarity. 

The film follows a group of wealthy foodies who travel to an island to taste and savor exquisite delicacies, all of which have been carefully planned and prepared by Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) in order to punish them for their self-absorbed natures and their tendency to take advantage of the food industry. 

The acting in “The Menu” is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of both quality and quantity.  

There’s plenty of talent to be found within the actors, but only a handful stand out among the group with the rest either falling into boredom or irrelevance. 

Other than Fiennes, who is perfect for his role as seen by the passion behind the sparkle in his eye matching the passion Chef Slowik cooks with, Nicholas Hoult as Tyler, Anya Taylor-Joy as Margo and Hong Chau as Elsa are the other standouts. 

Hoult and Taylor-Joy’s characters are meant to be a couple and have plenty of tension between the two in more of an argumentative sense rather than a romantic one, something the film explores further in the second act. 

Chau’s cadence for her role as Elsa isn’t unnerving per se, but is most certainly creepy. 

Furthermore, the way Chau manages to remain flat and monotone for the entire film until confronting Elsa in the second act which prompts her to finally get a tone like someone saying, “Who do you think you are?” in a negative tone is worthy of a chef’s kiss. 

Aimee Carrero as Felicity Lynn and John Leguizamo as Movie Star (yes, that’s really what he’s listed as on IMDb) are honorable mentions for their acting upon introduction and a few scenes in the second and third acts, but their characters don’t have as much weight behind them as the others do. 

That’s not to say that each character doesn’t have any depth behind them as that’s simply untrue. Each character gets their background expanded on during the third of six courses where the guests are given tortillas that have incriminating evidence against them lasered onto the tortillas. 

Despite this, I was still hungry for more about these characters because I couldn’t be brought to care about the majority of them. 

The film could’ve expanded the opening scenes to give the audience more time with the characters, but that would harm the runtime of the film as the pacing would be thrown off.  

I suppose the portions of printed tortillas and pretentious dialogue characters describe the courses with will have to suffice. 

“The Menu” also features a type of humor that isn’t exactly funny nor dark humor but rather a dark irony. 

For example, Chef Slowik gives a monologue during the second course about how bread has been the meal of the “common man” for centuries, which the guests are not. 

So naturally they get served a breadless bread plate for the second course. 

It’s the little things like these that make the film entertaining, but something even more entertaining is the cinematography and visuals. 

The camera moves a lot around the soundstage the restaurant was built on and stays mostly steady at eye level to make everything seem innocent before shifting to more shaky, handheld movements as the plot’s intensity increases roughly halfway through the film. 

This culminates in the third act’s tendency to focus on characters’ faces and their expressions more than previous acts, highlighting the fear in the audience and the near-obsessive passion in Chef Slowik. 

The restaurant’s exterior extensions, the time of day outside of the windows, the blood and the fire are all VFX but look so incredibly realistic to where I wasn’t aware it wasn’t practical until someone I know who worked on the film told me, further showing how every aspect of the film is well-crafted. 

“The Menu” is expertly crafted both in its courses and filmmaking but manages to fall short with the large cast of characters and the balancing act between them. 

I recommend watching the movie at least once to appreciate everything that went into it, but you may find yourself starved for more by the end of the runtime. 

Rating: 3.5/5  

Luke Brewer can be reached at 581-2812 or at lsbrewer@eiu.edu.