"The Menu" (2022)

 

This post has spoilers for the movie "The Menu" (2022).

"The Menu" (2022) is not a perfect movie but it had more than a few elements that appealed to me. My expectations were low; the movie surprised me.

I liked the idea that cooking should be about love, and what "the chef" loved most of all was to make good cheeseburgers. And in a sense, the movie had a riddle and the riddle was what could penetrate this cold heart. I liked the premise that the world is made of two classes, a privileged elite and the slaves/workers who serve them. I liked the idea that even one of the best rewarded slaves resented being made a whore instead of doing what he did for love. A fallen romantic, you see. I liked that while (most) everyone dies, you die by class: the workers meet one fate, the rich another. And so it was important to know who the young woman was in order to determine which group she belongs in. Ah, a hooker with a heart of gold, then you deserve to die with the workers. I liked the idea that the assistant sous chef attacked our heroine saying (approximately) "I am not going to be replaced! I did not forget the barrel!" I liked the s'mores. I liked the conceit of the cheeseburger as an unpretentious gift of love. I liked the practical fluid dynamics on the fatal neck wound of the betrayed assistant. I like any movie with catfights, and this movie definitely has a catfight. So all in all, not a brilliant movie, but certainly a movie worth seeing.