You MUST Watch The Menu... 

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I've worked in restaurants for 15 years. I've been a fast food line cook and a chef in fine dining. My favourite meal, the one I take the most pleasure in making and eating has never appeared on any menu I've made. It's just ramen noodles and sautéed frozen veggies. Sometimes I add eggs to turn it into what I call a ramelette. It costs 85 cents to make, and I enjoy every second of it. Thank god I stopped cooking.

Every time my kid asks me "why don't you be a chef, mom? This is so good!" when I cook for him, I say- "sweetie, I've worked nearly a decade managing a restaurant. You couldn't pay me enough to work with food & service again, but for you, I'd do it everyday."

What’s funny to me, cheeseburger wise, is that I have a friend who loves eating at upper middle-class restaurants, or high end restaurants. I asked her once if we could just go get burgers sometime, since she always pays for the meal, but then she suggested we go to a fancy shamncy bar. The burger I had there wasn’t even that good. I would have had a better tasting burger at a Culver’s, and that’s why I love the scene of the Cheeseburger being served. I don’t care where it’s from. It’s a great tasting version of that dish when it’s made that way, and it just feels right when you eat it.

The Cheeseburger represents a full circle for is culinary adventure. That's why he smiled and enjoyed it so much. It was the perfect ending for him.

"Tyler's Bullshit" was the most rewarding dish of the movie. The cheeseburger was the best food, but "Tyler's Bullshit" really takes home all the points the movie has been trying to say. And is sooo good to see that dish being prepared.

On a side note; I love the way the maitre’d answers the banking-bros when they ask “What are these?”; in the pause after she says “tortillas” you can *almost* hear her saying “…you dumb fucks…” under her breath, like every service worker ever when asked a stupid question with an obvious answer.

My dad has been in the food industry for a little over forty years. We watched this movie the other night and he was laughing his ass off the entire time Tyler was cooking.

One of my favourite little details in the film is that Slowik has tears in his eyes for almost the entire film

“In the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” -Anton Ego

I find the character of Tyler weirdly compelling. He knew he'd die and yet was so desperate to get to Hawthrone Island. So much so that he was willing to take someone else to their unknowing demise. How broken do you have to be to do that?

My dad saw this film and loved it. I saw the trailers and the ending was spoiled for me. We both concluded that "sometimes the best meal is a simple one rather than the fancy stuff". It's kind of when Gordon Ramsay challenged an amateur chef to bake a brownie. The amateur chef, despite only using 3 simple ingredients, won to a Michelin Star Chef that Gordon was in denial!

The actors/actressess are incredible. Anya Taylor-Joy is a tresure and Ralph Fiennes is frenetic. My favorite scene is the Cheeseburger. 2022's year last quarter can be described as rich A-holes on remote island with an exploding ending.

I honestly love how the very last shot is Erin (Margo) continuing to eat the cheeseburger. Sure she may have just been very hungry at that point, but I’d like to believe she really just wanted to respect Chef even in death

“What school did you go to?” “Brown” “Student Loans?” “No” “Sorry, you’re dying” Best line in the whole film

Did anyone catch that the name of Julians first restaurant was Tantalus named after the Greek myth of the man who was cursed to my just in reach of food but never being able to grab it

And the ending was perfect… Margo gave him the gift of 1 last moment of happiness… it even reinforces & reinsures his course. Even affirms his humanity in letting her go. And a appreciation for her helping his overture reach perfection

As a working chef, the representation of that patron/chef relationship is perfect in this movie. By the end I knew exactly what the movie was about, and I understood how he felt, on a really personal level.

I understood Tyler and Margot’s backstory a bit differently. And it makes Tyler look worse yet than he already did. Margot is an escort or sex worker of some sort. Tyler didn’t ask other women to come - he rented Margot because of what she is, because to him, that sort of person is disposable. He knew every guest would be killed here but he didn’t care that he basically had this girl murdered to fulfill his own desire. And that of course reflects how he looks at the other staff aside from the head chef. Tyler doesn’t understand food (art); he is a foodie in it for the prestige, hence why he can’t cook - a wannabe, as you said. But a wannabe who spits on artist before they become popular and doesn’t give a shit about anyone other than prestige. Margot reinforces that. And it’s also why she lives and he dies when he loses the prestige.

Hi, last year culinary student here. Found the movie a week back and have gotten most of my colleagues to watch the movie. It's honestly one of the single best ever made for anyone in the food industry right there with Rataouille. The way it constantly mocks you for dissecting it and the social commentary is just.. immaculate.

This movie just said "f*** you" to the high society. Pretty much this and Glass Onion just nailed that concept for me . And i never get infuriated by a character until Tyler came up.

used to work in a restaurant. we had wine tastings to get acquainted with what we are selling. i don’t know the darnest thing about wine. some is red, some isn’t. every wine tasted the same (bad) but my boss kept going on and on about the cultivating progress of the grapes, or how it was ecologically produced and whatnot. i couldn’t really tell a difference, and i would really fail a blind-test despite tasting the wines just mere minutes ago. but then one bottle.. actually tasted good? i was kinda blown away honestly. here i thought all of these people around me pretended to like the stingy, fermented taste of wine. but there was actually good wine out there that, although pricey, was enjoyable to drink. so it was the only wine i recommended when i was asked, because it was the only one i liked. and i got so many responses that were like “this actually tastes GOOD”. made me ponder why these people even drink at all, if they get surprised when it doesn’t taste like shit.

I recall a show called Fameless where they offered elite food to common people. They raved about how exquisite the food was, but behind the scene, it was cheap food made with things like Kool whip in a glass topped with cocoa powder.

Margot didn’t enact some big change ins Slowik. She simply did what he asked. Not eat but savor her meal, so he lets her go with her food since she is appreciative of what he did. That’s what he meant by “Why didn’t you try and leave?” When the coast guard showed up. They all could have done it. He asked them at the very beginning.

As someone who works in the industry and did all the schooling, this IS the culinary industry. Everything from the pretentious critics to the armchair chefs to the douchey clients, being wound up so tight every night with no release valve, the relentless and necessary pursuit of perfection, it's all there. There's a reason culinary has the highest burnout rate of any field. And honestly, it spoke to me as someone who dropped the pretentious bullshit. I've done this exercise in both school and with coworkers where you make the same dish twice. One as it's meant to be and the other as hoity toity as possible. The one that LOOKS fancy, people are willing to pay more for. Sometimes exponentially more. But the one that's simple and done right people will come back to have AGAIN. And that's the whole freaking point. A simple steak and potatoes is infinitely more appealing to people than some deconstructed bullshit piece. Really to sum up the whole industry and The Menu's message, I point to Zoidberg when he's served foie gras and caviar: "goose liver? Fish eggs? Where's the GOOSE? Where's the FISH?"

About the wine thing: I just noticed that a lot of the customers are holding their wineglasses wrong but acting normally, probably another way to inforce the shallow nature of their behaviour. I was told at a wine tasting thing that if you hold wineglasses by the top part (i.e. with only a bit of glass between your fingers and the wine) you won't taste the wine to its full extent because the contact will over-sweeten the wine. That's why the glasses have that vertical part. I don't know if it was on purpose or anything, but I think it really re-inforces the futile pretentiousness os the customers.

One thing you got wrong here is that Margo doesn't eat the food. She repeatedly rejects the food, calls it bullshit, Fiennes' character confronts her over it a few times. She says she's not hungry or not interested.

I'm a sous chef at a Michelin Star restaurant. They got the snobbery correct

tyler represents most of the people who talks more than actually done something

Cheeseburger scene was so beautiful and emotional in the middle of a thriller, unexpected

I work at a fine-dining restaurant and our head chef had us over to watch this movie. We all thought it was about fine-dining cannibals and were pleasantly surprised

I also love that this film glorifies "the common touch" in a way "eat the rich" films (e.g. parasite, the glass onion) fail to. In the films I'm used to, the endings are usually either, (1) the poor fight dirty and/or kill the bad guys to get one over on them, or (2) the poor are doomed forever because society is unfair. This film illustrates that high society cannibalizes itself with games of status and power, something Margot is completely immune to (which is why she survives). She understands one of the real purposes of art and life (to produce joy and fulfillment) which is something high culture can't accept.

Another interesting point: Tyler keeps taking pictures of the food even though he knows he is going to die. That means he does not take them because he appreciates it but just for show. His interest in the food is surface-level, it is built on him feeling superior because of this kind of hobby, which is later presented by him being asked to cook and failing miserably.

As a Tyler, I remember watching this film with my mom, and I wanted to show her my latest sketches. I absolutely died laughing when it cut to “Tyler’s bs”.😂

Wow, finally someone who knows how to review a movie instead of just walking you through the movie telling you what we already see in front of us. "And right here, we see Margot taking out a cigarette and lighting it next to the open window." 😒🙄🙄🙄 If your reviews are all like what you did here. I will most likely subscribe to your channel! 👏🏻👏🏻

I used to work at Starbucks, and a lot of the themes of this movie speak to me! In particular, the one about customers' superiority complex over the barista/chef/service worker. They think they know better than we do how to do our job, but they don't! Of course, they don't; why would they? They've never done it before!

The cheeseburger isn't what granted Margot her freedom. It was her initial unwavering determination to actually get the service that would match the price tag of the dinner date. Chef recognised himself in Margot, he recognised how she was a service provider, just like himself. That is why he favoured Margot from the very beginning. Unlike the rest of the guests, Margot never boasted, never placed herself on a pedastal, nor did she ever try to act as though she fit in with the snobby rich customers. Not only that, but would it be wrong to theorise that Margot may be the daughter we see Slowik embrace in photograph that Margot found? He seemed to know that her name wasn't really Margot, and that she'd lied, not only to him, but to Tyler about her identity. He also seemed to recognise her need to remain anonymous, as she felt like she was out of place, even before they got to the island, when she was in Tyler's presence. But this is just a side note to serve as food for thought from the initial point of view we are all forced to look at it from Now, back to the initial theory. Chef had been helping Margot since before she even found out about his burger flipping days. The first encounter where he tried to warn her off was in the loo, when he told Margot that she didn't belong there. What seemed like a shallow thing to say to a guest could be viewed as a sincere warning from one soul to another. The second encounter was when chef revealed that Tyler had known that all the guests, including Margot, were going to die after their meal. Unlike the rest of the guests, chef Slowik gave Margot a chance to see things around her for what they truly were. He sympathised with Margot, probably because he recognised her inate innocence in all that mess. The third encounter was when he sent Margot to go get the missing barrel from the smoke house. He knew that she would find the knife and inevitably try and escape. Slowik proved to be a psychological expert, so predicting Margot rationality wasn't a challenge for him. He knew that his second in command was an envious woman who held herself to a higher standard. Thus, he expected her to attack Margot as she returned from the smoke house. A mystery is whether Slowik left the knife in the smoke house himself, or whether it was her who left it there, as a way to help herself escape after hearing the horrifying idea her colleague pitched for their final menu, but that's besides the point anyways. Slowik was counting on Margot's will to survive to help her beat the Asian lady (I forgot her name, i apologise). He knew that if she managed to survive that, she'd be able to figure out the loop hole in his plan. After all, all critical thinkers understand the need to think about the pitfalls of any plans. The fourth encounter was more of a tango; Slowik needed Margot to understand why the others were being killed, for only hen would she be able to escape unharmed, as she didn't fit into his initial plan. Slowik is not heartless, that is what he was trying to show the other guests. Margot, being Slowik's dance partner, or paid attention to Slowik's words and anger. That is why she was able to come up with the cheeseburger idea. She never viewed Slowik as a monster, she just wanted to get home alive. Margot had initially accepted her fate. Slowik wasn't only smiling because he got to prepare a meal that took him back to a better time in his life. He was also smiling, because for once, a customer understood the true passion each chef carries. A chef wants to see the joy in their customer's eyes as they enjoy the meal they requested. But unlike the other guests. Margot expressed that she wanted a dish that only allowed her freedom of choice when it came to what she ate, but also a dish that she would genuinely enjoy and appreciate, because it was a dish she didn't have to overthink in order for her to love it. Slowik respected Margot for being a genuine human being who understood the true struggles of life. The cheeseburger was their mutual understanding. Slowik providing Margot with a getaway boat is a hidden sign that he never meant to kill any innocent life. His staff died with him, because as he expressed about the one chef who killed himself, others want to be him. They want his life, his title, his prestige. But unlike Margot, nobody could recognise the genuine absurdity that was the restaurant and all it seemed to stand for at the point. When Slowik told Margot that she finally had her freedom after Tyler's humiliation was a double, if not triple entendre. The cheeseburger was a farewell gift from him to his passion, which Margot seemed to embody. At the same time, the cheeseburger was also Margot cheat code to beat his game and leave. This film is cinematography genius. And this is my take on it

I did a long post in "The Menu" sub on Reddit talking about it, but this film is actually just Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for adults. It's practically the same film in so many ways. I love The Menu and the performances - but it seriously is the same overall film, with slight differences in characters and plot.

Fun fact: the 🍔-$9.95..the plate its served on-$72 to $85

Something I find fascinating about the difference between Perfection critical movies of the past like Whiplash or Black Swan and movies today like Nope and The Menu is that Whiplash and Black Swan criticize the relationship between mentors and their students. The placement of the pursuit of perfection is entwined entirely on the side of the performer. Meanwhile Nope and The Menu criticize the relationship between the audience and the performer. The pursuit of perfection, or in Nope's case more of spectacle, comes from the desire of the audience to be wowed. There can be no pursuit of perfect performance or grand spectacle if there is no one there to watch it, and so both sides feed into each other, creating a dangerous environment that neither can end. Those movies of the past placed the blame on one end of a relationship, the performance world, but now, I think people, or at least some film makers, are realizing that blame is to be placed on both the manufacturer and the consumer. And that also is the case outside of art. So many people blame corporations for exploiting labor in poor countries, yet don't realize that they continue to endorse it by purchasing the corporation's goods. Both sides are at fault.

I tell you though... Slowik was spitting straight facts about American being the best cheese for a cheeseburger. The way it just oozes over the patty, and fills every nook and cranny of the beef patty with cheesey wonderfulness... Divine!

The fact that she paid with cash while everyone else paid with their credit debit plastic cards.

I firmly believe this was the writer's thinly veiled middle finger to every professional critic, RU-vid influencer, college creative writing professor, and internet troll commenter that's ever read or watched their work. It must have been so cathartic to write this 😆. I enjoyed it immensely.

This film puts before consumers of all creative art forms the issues creatives/creators face. The people that control the market. The consumers that have an insatiable appetite for the works but care less about the mental health of the artisan. The ones who use the art as a status symbol. The critics who judge the work and decide the future livelihood of the artist. The people who launder money with the works created. And the human who is torn in so many directions they lose their way. As someone who creates, this movie made me feel seen.

I found this movie to be a big metaphor for the film industry

Culinary truly is a supreme art. Paintings and sculptures you experience with vision, pottery with touch, music with sound, but cooking is an art you experience for a short time by tasting the food, seeing its presentation, smelling the aroma, and it all exists for you to devour. Chefs have to be able to make endless art with food all for us to eat it and digest it literally.

It seems like the chef Slowik has achieved the perfection he wanted. His reward was being able to serve this super exclusive restaurant. But now that he achieved his purpose, he no longer has a purpose and he is ready to die. Margot is a lot like him. She serves pleasure to assholes with a ton of money, just like Slowik. She knows his struggles and her job is also soul sucking. That is how she knows how to convince him to spare her.

After top gun mavericks, Megan, puss in boot last wish, glass onion, del Toro pinokio and this, I think I'm right if I said we started to burn out with marvels and DC superheroes movies....just a little bit bored. Movie like this give us a refreshments, a point to remember that there are other movies besides super big budget superheroes movies.

My father is a chef and while he is not a regular restaurant chef (private chef) it definitely comes with its own sacrifices, he is at someone else’s schedules mercy at all times. He is there before they eat breakfast and leaves after dinner/dessert. He follows them when they go to a separate house (which means he doesn’t come home for days, sometimes weeks) it’s honestly the reason I never even considered being a chef, because I have never and will never have that amount of devotion or passion in order to sacrifice other aspects of my life.

I like how the Chef sees his own hypocrisy and doesn’t seem himself worthy enough to live either. He could have very easily left the high dining industry and gone on to become a cook for the average person to really enjoy. As he told the customers “if you simply fought harder you could’ve escaped”. But he chooses to stay for years and years, bitter and complaining, choosing to serve the very people he despises. Almost victimizing himself, but also seeing how he fed the circle he also chooses to kill himself

I cook and sell spaghetti/stir fried noodles out of a cardboard box at the Sunday market near my house, may not be as hoity-toity as a Michelin star resto gig but atleast it doesn't make me wanna blow my head off or burn everything in sight

“It’s better to consume what you enjoy, what makes you happy, than spend your time bending over backwards, forcing yourself to like things you may not, just to feel like you belong…” Dude, that PERFECTLY nails my alcoholic drink choices. I’ve believed for many years that one should choose what they enjoy, not what some mooks in society think is “normal,” and that quote hit the nail on the head as to why. Too bad so many people don’t seem to understand that.

Sloak is a flawed hero who knows he's strayed from the art and willing to pay the price for it, but not willing to let those who drove him there to escape blame. His allowance to let Margo escape is his final act of heroism to not allow another servance industry provider to suffer.

It's fascinating how The Menu and Glass Onion were released barely a month apart. Their similarities are pretty hard to miss.

The first course is hilerious. They are eating plain plants and raw scalope. So this is no cooking, just well presented. :D

Great analysis. Shoutout to HBO, a lot of people saw this movie recently because of HBO (myself included). I still think maybe the Chef got the last laugh with a tainted burger.

Voldemort does the best “Gordon Ramsey having a mental break” impression

First time I went into high dining and ordered spaghetti bolognese, the plate was fucking massive but there was barely any spaghetti

i just watched this movie last week. i saw it pop up everywhere. once i started watching it, it turned out be a very well done movie. the interactions between slowick and erin is just beautiful. the back and forth between them on screen plays off really well. erin does know good food, it isnt how pricey it is or some other nonsense. its about food someone really wants to just sit down and eat, not getting the best and most expensive menu items and pretending its good. slowick on the other hand forgot what love for food was about, he threw it all away just to be better and better (he thinks) than anyone else. yet his food is boring and dull in the end because he doesnt care about it anymore. where at the end erin asks him for a simple cheeseburger, something slowick started off with. simple comfort food, he regains his love for food but knows its too late to stop what he set out to do. but he lets erin leave because she appreciates the food he gave her at the end. a good delicious cheeseburger. he respects erin for telling him the truth and she respects him for giving her something she really wants to have.

Never before have I rooted for the antagonist of a movie before watching The Menu

The Menu was a delicious , decadent treat of movie making at its very best ….I gave it a ‘chef’s kiss” ❤

“There will be no substitutions at hawthornnnn !!!”

I’d love to see a celebrity chef like Gordon Ramsey react to this movie and provide some insight to it.

when she took a bite of the cheeseburger, she said "now that is a cheeseburger" instead of "hmmmm...this is A grade wagyu beef cooked in 10 minutes before it was flipped in 45 degree angle"

I work in healthcare which is arguably not an art and different in several regards but it is still a service industry where people expect perfection. This movie and your breakdown of it was so resonant to my experiences and what I've seen. I work with a doctor who is relatively new. He's been out of school for a while but just got licensed as a specialist in the field we work in. He breaks his back working with patients to truly understand their plights and to give them the best treatment he possibly can. Most of the senior providers are not like this. I imagine/hope once upon a time they may have been but now most patients are just another person on the list for that day. Only a month or so into his time at our clinic he had a patient who died. The cause was almost certainly out of his hands. The family of that patients review bombed him on google and I saw it absolutely kill him for a few days. I truly hate the idea that one day I will come into work and he will have be broken down to that level by the overwhelming weight of that perfection that is expected on him. Beyond that I work with a fell Medical Assistant who has worked in healthcare for almost twenty years. They were an EMT/paramedic for almost a decade, an ER tech for a number of years when then only when she couldn't do jobs that physically demanding anymore did she switch to clinical/outpatient medicine. I've heard people tell her that a trained monkey could do her job. A person who has nearly two decades of knowledge and experience. We've had people come in and tell doctors who have trained and lived this for nearly everyday for countless hours that they are wrong because their 10 min google search says otherwise. We are only trying to do our best and go through mindnumbing and backbreaking work to give it. While I understand that when someone's life may be on the line mistakes cannot be tolerated in the same way It's rough. I've seen all the character archetypes from this movie in my work. Both from the service end such as the head chef and those under him as well as from out patients/customers. I hate using that word here but it's true none the less. People who go into healthcare for the renown not knowing that it's hard, doctors who have been broken down and no longer do it for the purpose of helping people, people who think they can just throw money at their problems, people who are nice until you tell them no, people who think they know better.

“Excuse me! What the hell is this!?” “Tortillas. Delicioso!”

[No offense intended] Ironically, this commentary applies also applies to film critics, yes?😁

if i had a nickel for every time a movie sent rich, entitled assholes to secluded islands to revel in their uppity society, then blew them all up, i'd have 2 nickels. which isn't a lot but strange that it happened twice.

I think in the end the reason slovik smiled and seemed happy even if only for a moment was because only this simple service industry (if you even want to call it that) girl who got the opportunities to join the kitchen, to learn more, and to see the full picture all against her will. She was the only person in that entire restaurant who understood exactly why he was doing what he was doing. Even if she didn’t agree with him, even if she wanted to leave. In that moment I like to think she wasn’t trying to escape (though she likely was) I think she genuinely wanted to eat something she’d enjoy made by one of the world’s greatest cooks, not as some psychology exam on a bun but something to just sit back and enjoy. But also knowing deep down slovik would also enjoy that carefree cooking he knew she’d love. In that moment the two of them both understood each other in a way that only the two of them could. They weren’t egotistical assholes seeking clout, and they weren’t hollow imitations looking for your success and fame. They were two people taking a moment to acknowledge the wants of each other. I believe the girl genuinely wanted to have a simple burger because I believe she had fully accepted her death. And I think she accepted her death because she almost seemed reluctant to leave the dining room. You could attribute this to survivors guilt, but it didn’t seem that way, it seemed like a moment of shock. “Is this really happening? Am I actually being allowed to leave?” After she accepted her fate she wanted to share slovik’s joy and passion before she died. And after accepting his fate and his happiness to go out in his own choosing to make that final statement through his art, he wanted to show his appreciation for the one person in that room and possibly in years that cared more about him than his food. So he let her go. I got into cooking through jobs I had out of high school, I learned to cook with passion as an art and I had a lot of employers encourage me to go to culinary school, to take the extra step but by the time I was financially well off to consider it, (just a couple years of constant grinding) I hated cooking. I hated customers who complained constantly looking for free meals. I hated coworkers that blamed me when I made exactly what they ordered back to the kitchen. And I hated the kitchen staff that complained about each other and myself always saying they are better than this person or that person or even me. It was always a competition against yourself, your coworkers, and your customers. I got a compliment and a tip from a customer when I was at my breaking point one day for cooking “a simply great fucking steak” and I actually walked out and quit. That moment of appreciation meant more to me than any paycheck and I stopped right there at that high note. Today im a college student finishing a bachelors degree in biology and chemistry and starting work towards a doctorate in physical therapy. My point being this movie brought back a ton of memories and emotions I forgot I had, and for a moment as I saw slovik with tears in his eyes with the slightest hint of a grin at his passion being sparked mere moments before he killed himself I couldn’t help but cry at the paragon of my own loss of joy, creativity, and passion. This movie was a beautiful and likely ironic piece of work by directors, actors, and the entire production staff. This is by far a new favorite movie of mine. This is what cinema should be.

A part of me finds it funny how people deconstruct this film the same way the guests try to deconstruct the food without enjoying the food/film, if you were in this film you'd definitely be the guests.

I genuinely got emotional during the scene of him making a cheesburger. That's not a sentence I ever thought I would say unironically, but this movie really pulled it off. Easily one of my new faves.

always wonder if the victims are truly so gulity that they deserve to die? Like how Jigsaw chooses his victims (ohh you cheat on taxes? YOU DIE)..all they did was what most typically humans do..if we are all being judge I'm sure every one of us have flaws that would be deemed guilty..I got shit ton that would prob send me to my death lol ..

I see Voldemort has been rather busy lately

I watched another "review" of this movie after watching it and they totally missed the point of it, focusing on the plot and how all these people could've escaped this island not seeing that they paid and WANTED to be there in the beginning. Great video and great understanding man I enjoyed this !

This movie made me make a cheese burger the next day and it was so good

Most of the things in life that have affected me greatly and are now what I call favorites are "acquired tastes". I am a huge advocate that we SHOULDN'T let people just "like what they like" as that doesn't allow for personal growth and we should introduce people to styles. Its inherent human nature to be habitual and when getting in the habit of absorbing easy, digestible culture, one likes to remain that way and not push themselves to trying something progressive instead of familiar, becoming more educated and growing. There is a transcendental quality to life, and it is based on the subtle differences which separate good from great!

One dark aspect of her asking for the burger is that she's manipulating Chef, it's part of what she does for customers. Whether or not she wants a burger was never the question, it's what does the chef really want to serve and then attempting to leave.

As a hospo worker, this movie hit too hard 💀 absolute perfection

I initially thought this movie was dumb. I serve at a fine dining restaurant. I like your take on the menu. Maybe I'm too close to it. Like I thought, this is a movie? But I truly enjoyed your analysis.

Watching The Menu while Montreal's upper-tier dining sector crumbles apart feels a bit like a vindication. Ultimately, people need food because they go hungry without it. They need food because it comforts them. Beyond that, if all you're chasing is taste pairings or presentation or theming, you're not really adding anything significant to the experience, I've found. If I want to eat scallions, I won't perch a single one atop a bunch of rocks and drench it in morning dew or whatever; I'll get a handful, sautée them in garlic butter, maybe toss in a fun aside, and that's it. I've been in a few pseudo-elitist spots in Montreal, and there's times where what's on offer is just ridiculous. Take a basic palm-sized steak, the exact same kind you'd cook for yourself at home, slap a hundred bucks on there to account for the designer dishes and table wares, add a few dozen bucks or more for the sake of tarragon oil or expensively-cultivated mushrooms - and bam. There's times where passion and fun really seep through, sure, and these moments are priceless, but there's nothing I hate more than getting the sense that someone tortured themselves to produce the Hipster version of something I could thaw out in the microwave and snarf in front of the TV after a difficult day at work with no regular dinner hours. I loved that the movie poked precisely at that.

Man, idk. Great breakdown I really enjoyed it. Or you could say I ana taylor joyed it. But idk. The take I just heard was basically, "slowik was right. these people are awful, they all deserve to die for going to a nice restaurant and not appreciating the food." When I finished the movie I thought, "Wow that was awesome. No real message, just a world class chef and his crew who, in pursuit of perfection, lost their minds on a secluded island and decided to murder the customers before killing themselves." lol because that is what happened, as you forgot to mention. Everyone dies. Slowik is essentially a cult leader. Im not saying I disagree otherwise, the movie is fucking amazing as horror / thriller and I loved it. But cmon, the messages were all nonsense. Food as art is nonsense. Im not saying there isnt artistry to making it... but remember what Margot was saying, you are the paying customer. You have no obligation to appreciate the art of the food. You are paying for it. Paying for the service of being fed. And not appreciating the food doesnt even make you a bad customer, let alone a bad person. The staff lost their minds. They murdered everyone. It was pretty awesome. But I didnt really buy into the message of unappreciated art or high society deserving to be punished. Asshole Slowik didnt have to move his restaurant to an island and charge $1200 a plate. He chose to do that, who did he think was going to pay for that, janitors?

13:32 no. He chose to bring her because he had to bring someone and he didn’t care if she died. She was worthless to him. He didn’t care about her at all. She was disposable, a tool to use to get his elite experience. He could have brought someone else, but he probably chose an “elite” girlfriend and thought she had some value. She wasn’t quite disposable like Margo as a paid companion and non-elite was.

Check out the deleted scene, he tried to "get out" , but Lillian (?) The critic found him and kinda dragged him back in. (And isolated him there, perhaps?)

I became a pastry chef and went through schooling and worked in many kitchens by myself creating gourmet desserts but lost my passion and I remember I used to love it so much just baking boxed cupcakes in my own kitchen at like 3 am and decorating with simple buttercream😭😭👏🏼 I love this movie with my entire being and it really represents what’s wrong with money, power, prestige and society. Life should be tasted and savored instead of turning to shit inside your gut

I cried when Tyler started cooking. Ouch ouch ouch. On that note, the whole point of the Tyler character was to confront the viewer with himself, and when Tyler tries to put it all together like a pro, he fails miserably, the viewer is supposed to feel "called out" as you are like Tyler, thinking you understand the show and its message. Your Ego is called out in the form of Tyler, who must acknowledge his folly and kill himself before the rest of the experience can be understood. ego has to go for before any further insight can come from the night. Just as, like Margot, we "weren't supposed to be there" and are only there to learn something, we are Tyler too, and he has to die before we are free to learn and leave fed and grateful.

I had chocolate Swiss roll and matcha ice cream at Nobu after all the fancy meals…I swear it seriously tasted like it was bought off from Family Mart…my friend wanted me to shut up when the host be like…how’s the food? Lol for fear my lack of class per se embarrassed him…I commend the effort into the meal, but if it tastes rather basic…we’ll, take the hit, man…some foods ain’t the cut

The Menu: ‘Black Mirror’, but about craft instead of technology

The breadless bread scene was like a culinary version of the Emperors New Clothes!

The sequel Ratatouille deserved

Fantastic breakdown...what did you think of Margot not tipping on the cheeseburger? It cost $9.95 and she pays with a $10. Is it just meant to fit in with the idea of casual, to-go kind of places where you pay at the counter and don't really tip or did it mean something more?

My respect for Gordon Ramsay increased 10x knowing he had to go through severe levels of stress and maintain his mentals over all these years.

We gave voldemort a nose and he becomes a cultist chef... fanfuckingtastic

When I see those fancy dishes, I feel bad. It's like a beautifully decorated and wrapped Christmas present; both are designed with such artistic wonder yet are meant to be destroyed. I feel bad opening those gifts, and if I had to eat one of those dishes I feel like I couldn't just because it is so delicately made. Now, I've never been to a fancy restaurant, and likely never will. However, I have gone out of my way to try and thank the fast food people whenever possible. Sure mistakes are there, but I know they're on a conveyer belt of insanity so I don't care about the errors. I just appreciate how they can get through the day with a smile on their face despite it all, and I will NEVER want to work in such an environment. Those people, chefs and fast food workers, are stronger than I ever will be.

I’ve done just about everything in a restaurant from dishwasher to manager to bar tender to line cook. This movie was cathartic to watch. It’s a thankless and miserable job to have and I’m so happy I got out. Leave big tips and always be kind to your servers!

Tyler's bullshit would be a meme all chefs who has seen this would smile about.

I liked the movie, but I think it fails in the most important element that movies like this usually have, and that is the subtext. I love "eat the rich" movies, like "US", "Snowpiercer" or "El Hoyo", which always use absurd elements in a coherent way to formulate a criticism of class society. This one, on the other hand, fails to formulate that criticism. It tries, but in the end it all comes down to the chef's narcissistic desire for personal revenge, and that breaks any argument for that subtext. In a way, the movie starts asking you to "don't just eat," but what's to savor beneath the surface doesn't end up being very nutritious anyway.

Did anyone else notice that they're no shots from the kitchen, into the dining area, but most of the shots are from the diner's point of view. And, since the old couple skipped the tour, what if the tour wasn't the same as the first few that they saw. And as for the unpleasable mother, as a little child, if you can never please your parents, you eventually stop caring how your parents care about things.

I see the Cheeseburger as joy in simplicity. Throughout the film Slowik has been miserable preparing all the intricate and kind of pretentious dishes but when he makes the burger and fries he smiles for the first time in the movie because its so simple and comforting. Not complicated at all just simplistic.

okay, so it's not terrible but it's not good. it's decent. it's like a cheeseburger you buy at a movie theatre. it'll be okay but it'll never be as good as a cheeseburger at a normal restaurant. anyway, this movie is like 25% the most dangerous game, 25% glass onion, 25% triangle of sadness, 15% white lotus, and 10% saw. if you're into that, go for it. I guess I'll never understand why rich people make movies about how much they hate the rich. it never comes across as genuine...it always comes across as pandering. if you're okay with an overhanded message shoved down your throat, by all means, watch this movie

you don't have to tell me to see the menu. I already have, and I thought it was truly on of the very best films of 2022. my school SCAD, I think even screened it at the savannah film festival and I believe Nicholas Hoult showed up. this is already a must have for me on blu-ray. but is it crazy for me to think that "the menu" could get a possible Criterion Collection with essay and a director's commentary included down the line??