The Menu (2022)
- Mark Mylod originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Mark Mylod's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
The Menu is a 2022 American comedy horror thriller directed by Mark Mylod. Ralph Fiennes stars as Chef Julian Slowik, a celebrated culinary genius who hosts an exclusive, astronomically expensive dinner on his private island restaurant for a group of wealthy, privileged guests, including a young couple β Tyler, a sycophantic foodie played by Nicholas Hoult, and Margot, his skeptical date played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who was a last-minute replacement. As the meticulously crafted courses are served, each dish is accompanied by increasingly disturbing revelations and escalating violence, and the guests realize that Chef Slowik's final menu is designed not merely to feed them but to punish them for representing everything he despises about the commodification of art.
Ralph Fiennes's controlled menace as Slowik was the film's engine, his soft-spoken authority making every polite instruction feel like a death sentence. Anya Taylor-Joy's Margot, the only guest who didn't belong to the elite crowd and whose genuine connection to food β rather than performative appreciation β made her the story's moral center. The Menu earned $79 million worldwide on a $30 million budget.
