Movie Review: The Menu
Buffalo Public Schools closed for four days leading up to the Thanksgiving break. While the city of Buffalo got some snow, the Southtowns got a lot more. It was Tuesday when I decided I needed to get out of the house. As much as I love him, my dog and I had already had way too much time together, and I needed a break. I decided to go see the movie I did not get to see because of all the snow: "The Menu." The less you know about the plot, the better. I wish I had seen this completely blind. I will keep my summary to one sentence to honor that.
A group of people gets an exclusive invitation to one of the best restaurants in the country.
That is it. That is all you get. Trust me, the less you know, the better. I will keep the remainder of the review as vague as possible. My favorite, non-spoiler thing about this movie is split into different courses. After each course comes out, a title card appears on the screen, naming and describing the course. When the first one of these popped up, I knew I was going to love this movie.
As much as I like most of the movies that I watch, there are very few I can say I had fun watching. The only words to describe my feelings during this movie are pure joy. When I am watching a movie and realize it is something special, it is a feeling I relish. It is a hard feeling to describe, but I know when it happens. There are very few movies where this occurs. The most recent ones are "Short Term 12," "The Florida Project," "Booksmart," and "Knives Out." I hold all these films in high esteem. The experience I had watching them the first time is something I rarely encounter.
The performances in this are great too. Ralph Fiennes plays the chef, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Holt, and John Leguizamo play some of the guests. I cannot give you more than that because any more information would veer too close to spoilers.
This is one of those movies that surprised the heck out of me, and it was a fun time at the theater. "The Menu' will easily make it onto my top 10 list for the year.
9/10
Rated R for strong/disturbing violent content, language throughout and some sexual references.
1hr. 47 min
