The Menu (Anya Taylor Joy, Nicholas Hoult)

[schmojo]

10 hours ago, Kromeo said:

Genuinely surprised about the praise this has been getting, especially about it being called smart. It’s one of the most pretentious films I’ve seen in years; a typical example of a film that has the veneer of intelligence, but in reality is nothing more than fancily dressed convention.

 

Bearing in mind the subject matter, did you not think that any of that is entirely intentional? It's like people criticising it for showing its hand throughout the film when it's, y'know, a menu. You're supposed to know what's coming, it's just how you get there.

[Kromeo]

33 minutes ago, schmojo said:

Bearing in mind the subject matter, did you not think that any of that is entirely intentional? 

 

Yes, but it's still "it's shit, but we know it's shit, so we wrote the film around things being shit, because self-awareness is intelligence, right?".

See also: The Matrix Revolutions. It's becoming an increasingly annoying Get Out of Jail Free card.

[schmojo]

2 minutes ago, Kromeo said:

 

Yes, but it's still "it's shit, but we know it's shit, so we wrote the film around things being shit, because self-awareness is intelligence, right?".

See also: The Matrix Revolutions. It's becoming an increasingly annoying Get Out of Jail Free card.

 

Not shit, just not sophisticated. Despite the veneer. It's a silly film that knows it's silly all day long.

[Kromeo]

2 hours ago, schmojo said:

Not shit, just not sophisticated. Despite the veneer. It's a silly film that knows it's silly all day long.

 

You just described Saw. Or Final Destination.

[Timmo]

14 hours ago, Kromeo said:

Genuinely surprised about the praise this has been getting, especially about it being called smart. It’s one of the most pretentious films I’ve seen in years; a typical example of a film that has the veneer of intelligence, but in reality is nothing more than fancily dressed convention.

 

There was no actual grand, transcendent theme behind the menu; no moral conundrum that required deep thought; no interesting symbolism, only the laziest food metaphors imaginable. It was merely a simple revenge film that wore Ratatouille’s corpse to appear as something sophisticated.

 

Incredibly disappointing.

The thing that disappointed me the most was that it just didn’t really commit to anything. As a comedy it wasn’t very funny, as a satire it didn’t say much, as a horror it wasn’t nearly shocking enough. Characters were paper thin. It was just really unsatisfying. 

[Loik V credern]

Of course real life proves to be more shocking...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/20/extreme-suffering-central-to-culture-of-elite-kitchens-study

 

Quote

'Extreme suffering’ central to culture of elite kitchens – study

 

Chefs in Michelin-starred restaurants tell researchers how brutality, burns and beatings are routine to ‘building respect’

 

One chef told the researchers he was promoted because he had coped with a boss holding a knife to his throat during service and screaming: “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

 

Another said a senior chef grabbed their cut thumb and cauterised it on an oven so he could keep working. And a third said: “They would get you to put your hand into flour, then into eggs and then into breadcrumbs … and the game was who could hold their hand in the fryer the longest, with the breadcrumb mix until you – until – before you feel it burning and take it out.”

 

[PK]

They referred to this on Half in the Bag as a remake of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, which is amazingly spot-on

 

[Uncle Nasty]

On 20/01/2023 at 14:56, Timmo said:

The thing that disappointed me the most was that it just didn’t really commit to anything. As a comedy it wasn’t very funny, as a satire it didn’t say much, as a horror it wasn’t nearly shocking enough. Characters were paper thin. It was just really unsatisfying. 

 

Felt exactly the same after watching it last night. I get what it was saying and thought the idea had potential, but it was largely a wasted concept and didn't deliver much of anything - I was just bored watching it. It lacked the flamboyance and decadence of something like Hannibal and didn't have the laughs or twists of Triangle Of Sadness - both of which respectively did food horror and withering putdowns of the elite much more satisfyingly.

 

There was something naive and undeveloped about The Menu which held it back and undermined it. I wanted to laugh, be repulsed, shocked or intrigued, but I was just bored and by the time the ending rolled around annoyed that I'd wasted my time. The way they wrapped it up was so lazy and low-effort.

 

3/10

[dfq23]

Just watched this and I assumed

Spoiler

The burger was poisoned as it would link back to the bit about having the beef a day too late and it then being full of bacteria that would shut your body down

 

[Ste_S]

On 20/01/2023 at 00:20, Kromeo said:

Genuinely surprised about the praise this has been getting, especially about it being called smart. It’s one of the most pretentious films I’ve seen in years; a typical example of a film that has the veneer of intelligence, but in reality is nothing more than fancily dressed convention.

 

There was no actual grand, transcendent theme behind the menu; no moral conundrum that required deep thought; no interesting symbolism, only the laziest food metaphors imaginable. It was merely a simple revenge film that wore Ratatouille’s corpse to appear as something sophisticated.

 

Incredibly disappointing.

 

Yeah, absolutely. It's a waste of the concept and could have had so much more to say.

[jonamok]

Watched this last night. 2.5/5. Thought Hoult’s character was great, as was Elsa, the second in command. The rest was just okay. Not funny enough, not horrible enough. It’s just a poorer version of Price’s Theatre of Blood with foodies not thesps.

[Cheeko]

Wow, opinions eh. I loved it, I like that it ramped things up in a direction that you couldn’t really see how they could keep scalating in a satisfying way and then..

 

 

Spoiler

They put marshmallows on everyone 🤣 and just went for the absurd.

Really dramatic and fun, great performances. Highly entertaining.

[Broker]

I really enjoyed this. It was incredibly weird, really went for it with its bizarre concept and worked for me on a lot of levels.