A sharp, glossy satire that turns fine-dining pretension into a darkly funny pressure cooker. It works best as a mean, stylish thriller with strong performances and a clear bite about class, taste, and performance.
The Menu
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Horror
Thu · 1h 47m
Director: Mark Mylod
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult
Overview
A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
Director
Mark Mylod
Cast
Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, glossy satire that turns fine-dining pretension into a darkly funny pressure cooker. It works best as a mean, stylish thriller with strong performances and a clear bite about class, taste, and performance.
Best for
Viewers who like black comedy with horror elements
Fans of social satire about class, status, and elitism
People who enjoy contained, high-concept thrillers
Audiences who like polished ensemble performances and escalating dread
Skip if
You want straightforward horror or gore-heavy shocks
You dislike satire aimed at food culture, art-world pretension, or wealthy elites
You prefer emotionally warm or character-softening stories
You want the twisty tension to stay grounded and realistic
Overview
The Menu is a sleek little cruelty machine: part restaurant satire, part hostage thriller, part class warfare joke that keeps sharpening its knife. It has a great sense of escalation, and the movie understands that the most terrifying thing in a luxury setting is not the food but the people who believe they deserve it.
Worth noting
Ralph Fiennes gives the film its icy authority, while Anya Taylor-Joy provides the necessary counterweight: someone sharp enough to see through the performance without becoming part of it. The movie’s humor lands because it is so specific about status, service, and the rituals people use to disguise emptiness.
Bottom line
It is less interested in surprise for its own sake than in making its point with style. If you like your genre films polished, nasty, and a little smug in the best way, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
sophie (4★) · 78218 likes
never thought i would leave a film being surprised that cannibalism wasn't involved
Brian (4★) · 58271 likes
Ralph Fiennes served and Anya Taylor-Joy ate
Jay (2★) · 31727 likes
even service workers get their own midsommar
lyvie (4.5★) · 29223 likes
what life in the service industry does to a mf
George Carmi (3.5★) · 22972 likes
Can’t even begin to tell you how furious I would be if I wasn’t served bread at a restaurant.
Themes
class conflict, elitism, consumer culture, service industry labor, performance and authenticity, artistic obsession, social satire, control and humiliation
Topics
black comedy, horror satire, class satire, contained thriller, luxury culture, service industry, darkly funny, psychological tension, social commentary, 2020s