Foodie Tyler Ledford and his date Margot Mills travel by boat to Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant on a private island operated by celebrity chef Julian Slowik. The other guests are food critic Lillian Bloom and her editor Ted; wealthy regulars Richard and Anne Leibrandt; washed-up movie star George Diaz[a] and his personal assistant Felicity Lynn; business partners Soren, Dave, and Bryce; and Slowik's alcoholic mother Linda. The group is given an island tour by maître d' Elsa, who notes that Margot is not Tyler's designated guest.
Dinner begins and Slowik introduces a series of courses, during which he delivers increasingly unsettling monologues. For the third course, uncomfortable truths about each guest are exposed via images laser-printed on tortillas. During the fourth course, sous-chef Jeremy kills himself. When Richard tries to leave, the staff cuts off his left ring finger as a warning to stay. Unhappy with angel investor Doug Verrick's attempts to involve himself in Hawthorn's management, Slowik arranges for him to be drowned in front of the guests. The fifth course commences with Slowik allowing himself to be stabbed by Katherine, an employee whom he had sexually harassed. The female guests dine with Katherine while the men are given the chance to escape the island via a game of cat-and-mouse, but Slowik's staff catches them all. When Lillian attempts to gain Katherine's favor by offering assistance in starting her own restaurant, Katherine reveals that she was the one who suggested killing the guests and staff.
Slowik explains that each guest was invited because they contributed to him losing his passion for his craft or because they make a living by exploiting the work of food artisans like him. He announces that everyone will be dead by the end of the night. Since Margot's presence was unplanned, Slowik privately gives her the choice of dying with the staff or the guests. When she hesitates, he chooses the staff. Margot reveals she is an escort named Erin, whose clients included Richard, whom she stopped meeting because he hired her to pretend to be his daughter. Slowik reveals that Tyler was informed the guests would be killed. Despite this, he was so zealous to participate in Slowik's craft that he kept it secret and hired Margot to replace his ex-girlfriend because Hawthorn does not seat lone diners. Slowik invites Tyler to cook and his performance fails to live up to his pretensions. Slowik humiliates him by detailing his culinary mistakes, then whispers in his ear, and a deflated Tyler leaves the kitchen.
Slowik asks Margot to go to the smokehouse and retrieve a barrel needed for dessert. As she leaves the kitchen, she discovers that Tyler has hanged himself in a closet. En route, Margot sneaks into Slowik's house, where she is attacked by a jealous Elsa. After a scuffle, Margot fatally stabs her. After seeing a framed employee of the month award showing Slowik as a young and happy cook preparing hamburgers at a greasy spoon diner, Margot finds a radio, calls for help, and returns to the restaurant with the barrel. A Coast Guard officer named Dale arrives. After the guests are convinced they have been saved, Dale reveals himself to be a line cook in disguise and returns to the kitchen.
Margot confronts Slowik for his "loveless" cooking and complains that she is still hungry. When he asks what she would like, Margot requests a cheeseburger and French fries prepared without the pretentiousness of fine dining. Slowik finds joy in personally attending to her meal. After one bite, Margot praises the food, then requests to take it "to go". Slowik allows her to leave, and Margot escapes on the Coast Guard boat docked nearby.
The dessert is an elevated s'mores dish for which the staff decorates the restaurant with sauces and crushed graham crackers, then dresses the guests in marshmallow stoles and chocolate fezzes. Slowik sets the restaurant ablaze, detonating the barrel and killing the guests, staff, and himself. Margot watches the fire from the boat, eats her cheeseburger, and wipes her mouth with a copy of the menu.
Will Tracy dined at Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant, an island restaurant outside Bergen, Norway, during a honeymoon and later suggested a story to Seth Reiss inspired by the experience.[5][6] Several figures from the world of fine dining were brought on as consultants for the film, including chef Dominique Crenn, who recreated several dishes from her San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn for the fictional restaurant Hawthorn, and second unit director David Gelb, who was brought on to recreate the filmmaking style from his Netflix docuseries Chef's Table.[7]
It was announced in April 2019 that Alexander Payne was attached to direct.[8] In December 2019, the screenplay appeared on the annual Black List, a survey showcasing the most popular films still in development.[9] By May 2020, Searchlight Pictures held the distribution rights, and Payne had left the film due to scheduling conflicts, with Mark Mylod replacing Payne as director.[10]
The Menu grossed $38.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $41.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $79.6 million.[3]
In the United States and Canada, The Menu was released alongside She Said, and was projected to gross $7–10 million from 3,100 theaters in its opening weekend.[29][30] It made $3.6 million on its first day, including $1 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $9 million, finishing second behind holdover Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.[2] Over its second weekend, The Menu made $5.5 million (and a total of $7.6 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame), finishing fifth.[31] During its third weekend, the film made $3.5 million, finishing fourth.[32]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 334 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "While its social commentary relies on basic ingredients, The Menu serves up black comedy with plenty of flavor."[33]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[34] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 78% positive score, with 53% saying they would definitely recommend it.[2]
^"IFMCA Award Nominations 2022". International Film Music Critics Association. February 9, 2023. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
^"IFMCA Award Winners 2022". International Film Music Critics Association. February 23, 2023. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
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