Review: ‘The Menu,’ with Anya Taylor-Joy, Serves up Satire

Nicholas Hoult attends the premiere of "The Menu" at AMC Lincoln Square on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in New York. (AP)
Nicholas Hoult attends the premiere of "The Menu" at AMC Lincoln Square on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in New York. (AP)
TT
20

Review: ‘The Menu,’ with Anya Taylor-Joy, Serves up Satire

Nicholas Hoult attends the premiere of "The Menu" at AMC Lincoln Square on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in New York. (AP)
Nicholas Hoult attends the premiere of "The Menu" at AMC Lincoln Square on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in New York. (AP)

“What are we eating? A Rolex?” 

So quips Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) in Mark Mylod's “The Menu” as she waits with her date, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a devoted foodie who has landed them a reservation at the exclusive restaurant Hawthorne. Like the opening of Rian Johnson's upcoming “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” an eclectic, upscale bunch gathers eagerly on a dock to be ferried to a private island. 

The movie, like their meal, unfolds as a series of courses, each more elaborate, and sinister, than the last. This is such rarified haute cuisine that entrees are promised that will not just represent food realms like protein and fungi but “entire ecosystems." A paired pinot wine is said to feature “a faint sense of longing and regret.” Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), Hawthorne's celebrity chef, presides over the restaurant less like a cook than a military commander or, possibly, a god. “Do not eat,” Slowik tells the diners. “Taste.” He is, to say the least, not someone James Corden would want to quibble with. 

The world of fine dining has, for a while now, been ripe for satire. And “The Menu” happily supplies a heaping plate of it. The film, which opens in theaters Friday, may be aimed at somewhat low-hanging fruit and may ultimately not have all that much to chew on. But Mylod, who directed a number of the episodes to “Succession,” brings an icy, stylish flare in another kind of cleverly staged eat-the-rich comedy that — particularly thanks to the elite eye-rolling of Taylor-Joy and Fiennes' anguished artist — is still a very tasty snack. 

The screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, both veterans of the Onion, bake an amuse bouche of commentaries on class and service industry dynamics into an increasingly unhinged, and bloody, romp that doesn't offer too many surprises but consistently hits a satirical sweet spot. 

Dining alongside Margo and Tyler are a trio of tech bros (Arturo Castro, Rob Yang, Mark St. Cyr), a movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant (Aimee Carrero), a prominent food critic and her editor (Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein) and a married couple who are Hawthorn regulars (Reed Birney, Judith Light). From the beginning, the question of whether they're worthy of the brilliance they're about to be served is a pervasive tension — a feeling that accelerates absurdly and disturbingly as the evening wears on. 

Elsa (Hong Chau), their guide and the restaurant's manger, certainly doesn't seem to think so. She deliciously tours them through all things Hawthorne, inviting the guests to watch the chefs in the open kitchen “while they innovate,” announcing dishes like “a breadless bread plate” and generally stealing the show. Her pretentiousness is merciless and grows increasingly less subtle. In the ear of one complaining tech bro she whispers: “You will get less than you desire and more than you deserve.” 

The same, perhaps, could be said of “The Menu,” a film with many tantalizing ingredients. Of all the patrons, Margot fits in the least, something that Julian recognizes immediately. His immaculately orchestrated morality play isn't intended to have a place setting for her. As we can see in how she winces when Tyler describes the “mouthfeel” of a meal, she doesn't worship at the same altar of high cuisine. But even as “The Menu” teeters unevenly in its third act and things get gruesomely less appetizing, its greasy last bites succeed in capturing one common aspect of molecular gastronomy: “The Menu” will leave you hungry. 



Brian Wilson's Top Five Beach Boys Songs

Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
TT
20

Brian Wilson's Top Five Beach Boys Songs

Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Musician Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs onstage at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

From the carefree sound of California surf music to the sophistication of later darker works, here are five of the top hits penned by influential Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.

'Surfin' USA' (1963)

"Surfin' USA" was the Beach Boys' first global hit, taken from their eponymous debut album. A youthful ode to sea, sun and girls, it became an anthem for the West Coast and beyond.

It demonstrated Brian Wilson's increasing songwriting prowess as well as the band's unique vocal sound achieved thanks to double tracking.

"We'll all be gone for the summer/ We're on safari to stay/ Tell the teacher we're surfin'/ Surfin' USA," it rang out.

Wilson intentionally set his lyrics to the music of "Sweet Little Sixteen," by Chuck Berry, leading Berry to take legal action.

'California Girls' (1965)

On the big hit of the summer of 1965, Wilson's cousin Mike Love burst into song to celebrate the sun-tanned women of California.

"I wish they all could be California girls," the band members sang in seemless harmony.

It was also the first song written by Wilson under the influence of LSD, "which could explain why the accompaniment seems to move in a slow, steady daze at odds with the song's bright, major-key melody," Rolling Stone magazine wrote.

'God Only Knows' (1966)

It took Wilson just 45 minutes to write "God Only Knows," the legendary eighth track on the album "Pet Sounds" which has gone down as one of the greatest love songs ever.

Sung by brother Carl Wilson, Brian's rival Paul McCartney declared it to be his favorite song of all time and said it reduced him to tears.

But the record company and other members of the group were wary at the new turn in style.

'Good Vibrations'(1966)

"Good Vibrations" was a massive commercial success, selling one million copies in the United States and topping charts there and in several other countries including the UK.

At the time the most expensive single ever made, the "pocket symphony" was recorded in four different studios, consumed over 90 hours of tape and included a complexity of keys, textures, moods and instrumentation.

The song was a far cry from the group's surf-and-sun origins and the enormity of the task brought Wilson to the brink. He was unable to go on and complete the album "Smile," of which the song was to have been the centerpiece.

- 'Til I die' (1971) -

On side B of the album "Surf's Up,'Til I die" was composed in 1969 by a depressed Wilson worn down by mental illness and addiction.

He wrote in his 1991 autobiography that it was perhaps the most personal song he had written for the Beach Boys.