The Menu (2022)

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

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.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chao, John Leguizamo, Judith Light 

[methodwriter85]

I loved how "Margot" got herself out of it. And that cheeseburger looked so good!

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Yes!  And her casually eating the cheeseburger.  So perfect. 

This was very well acted.  Ralph Fiennes was incredible.  I saw an interview with the writers in which they said they wrote the part with him in mind.  In that case, they did an excellent job of matching the actor and the part.  He has a way of expressing sadness without saying a word that was so needed here.  

I loved the way they spoofed foodie culture.  I say that as a bit of a foodie.  They had the language down perfectly.  Also the way people will justify almost anything once they have determined that the chef is brilliant.  The bread course without bread during which they then tell the diners about the bread they are not receiving was so great.  I felt like I've experienced this, although not to this extreme.  

There was such a trend of high end restaurants doing takes on s'mores - housemade marshmallows, ganache or dipping chocolate, housemade graham cracker variants, tiny burners at your table on the server torching the marshmallows.  If this had come out before Halloween, I would have gone as a human s'more. 

[AimingforYoko]

Here's what I didn't get: Why did they all so willingly follow Slowik into the incinerator? I figure a few proteges at best would get sucked in that deep, but everybody?

That was a tasty looking burger.

[enoughcats]

I had read two reviews of this and they left me undecided.  What y'all have written helps with decision making.

Thanks you, PrincessPurrsALot, for defining the other things I wanted to know.  Skewering s'mores is a necessity.

[MaggieG]

On 11/28/2022 at 4:41 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Here's what I didn't get: Why did they all so willingly follow Slowik into the incinerator? I figure a few proteges at best would get sucked in that deep, but everybody?

That was a tasty looking burger.

Yeah I had that question as well. I figure one of them would have tried to make a run for it.

I kept waiting for some twist where Anya's character was related to Ralph's character.

Also, did he let her go because she challenged him or because she wasn't supposed to be there?

[AngieBee1]

If that kind of high dining experience is cult-ish and Chef Slowick is upheld like a god, it made sense to me that his staff would willing die alongside him. They were zealots.

I think he ultimately late Margot go because she was neither like the other diners, nor was she blindly fawning of him like his staff. He was right that she didn't belong there but she didn't belong with them (diners) or  "us" (he and his staff).

She still criticized his food, lacked pretention by wanting a simple cheeseburger (without a fancy cheese, thank you) and for a moment, while he prepared it, it allowed him to feel that same joy he had in the old pictures she saw of him. She gave him a gift of reliving those days and he returned the favour by sparing her life.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Margot understood that food should be enjoyable.  She also knew from the photos that chef looked happiest when he worked at the burger place.  She let him get back to his roots and didn't look down on him for it. 

The diners staying to become human s'mores aligned with the idea of extreme foodies so in awe of the chef that they consider anything he does great.  We heard them justifying one scallop on a rock and the bread course with no bread. At the end it's Stockholm Syndrome or they are honored to be part of his vision.  

[StatisticalOutlier]

I think y'all's reasons why Slowick let Margot go are sound, but I can't help but wonder if the cheeseburger was poisoned.

On 11/30/2022 at 11:47 PM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

At the end it's Stockholm Syndrome or they are honored to be part of his vision.  

That certainly seems to be the case with Tyler, who knew going in everyone was going to die.  I realize it wouldn't work for the plot, but if I were him, I would have moved heaven and earth to get the former girlfriend there.  "Come with me to this one more thing, it's really really special, and expensive." 

[Shannon L.]

On 11/28/2022 at 10:37 AM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I loved the way they spoofed foodie culture.  I say that as a bit of a foodie.  They had the language down perfectly.  Also the way people will justify almost anything once they have determined that the chef is brilliant.  The bread course without bread during which they then tell the diners about the bread they are not receiving was so great.  I felt like I've experienced this, although not to this extreme. 

I loved Margo because, while I'm not as courageous as her, I have always had her attitude when it came to the almost cult like nature of the diners.  My husband and I have watched a lot of cooking/baking shows over the years and I've always laughed at the way in which the food is described by some of the judges.  I was also amused that I watched this after my first experience eating a meal from a well known chef:  Gordon Ramsey.  When driving our kid back to college, she, my husband and I stopped in Vegas for lunch and decided to splurge a little.  I had to try the beef wellington because I've heard so much about it over the years.  It was....good.  Certainly not what I expected given the amount of attention Gordon and his wellington have gotten over the years.  The Sticky Toffee Pudding, however,.....omg--heaven.

Anyway, I digress.  I expected this to lean a bit more into horror territory, so I didn't originally plan on seeing it.  I'm glad I did, though, because I really liked it.  My only complaint was that there was something about the way the s'mores scene was shot that was off, imo.  Stylistically, it went from a beautifully shot movie into camp for a brief moment.  I'm not sure if that was done on purpose, though.

[SeanC]

Fiennes was great in this. He doesn't do comedy much at all, but when he's got the right sort of dark comedy role, he's excellent. This has a bit of an evil M. Gustave vibe.

Taylor-Joy is as good as usual, despite being kind of miscast as a regular working class American gal (she should always be either upper class, a magical being, or a psychopath).

[methodwriter85]

9 hours ago, SeanC said:

Taylor-Joy is as good as usual, despite being kind of miscast as a regular working class American gal (she should always be either upper class, a magical being, or a psychopath)

The original casting was Emma Stone, which made perfect sense. I can just hear Emma Stone's voice doing the cheeseburger negotiation scene. I do agree that Anya Taylor Joy doesn't really look the part of the Everyday Gal from the working class, but I figure character-wise it makes sense. That's precisely the reason why she's a high-end call girl. 

[truthful]

I found the character of Margot boring and predictable. All the other characters were way more interesting than her. I think because, and I'm not sure how else to describe it, but it's like the writers wrote her to have the winning moves all throughout the movie. She does the right things, she says the right things, and she makes the right moves. In a film where the other guests fail so horribly, having her basically be seemingly perfect at everything stood out to me.

I wonder when the guests accepted their fate? I think it must have been after the men were recaptured.

Overall an ok movie.

[oliviabenson]

I stepped out for a bit.

Who was the person with Angel wings who drowned in the lake?

[Shannon L.]

35 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I stepped out for a bit.

Who was the person with Angel wings who drowned in the lake?

It was the chef's silent partner. 

[oliviabenson]

25 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

It was the chef's silent partner. 

Thank you!

[oliviabenson]

This is hands down my favorite movie of the year! A must see.

[veronicadubois]

Adored it, so darkly funny with absolutely no fat to trim. Fiennes' child-like smile while making the burger is one of my favorite movie moments of the year.

[methodwriter85]

On 12/10/2022 at 7:39 AM, truthful said:

I found the character of Margot boring and predictable. All the other characters were way more interesting than her. I think because, and I'm not sure how else to describe it, but it's like the writers wrote her to have the winning moves all throughout the movie. She does the right things, she says the right things, and she makes the right moves. In a film where the other guests fail so horribly, having her basically be seemingly perfect at everything stood out to me.

I wonder when the guests accepted their fate? I think it must have been after the men were recaptured.

Overall an ok movie.

You kind of wonder what Margot might have been like under Emma Stone, who was supposed to play her. I did enjoy Anya Taylor Joy regardless but I get your criticism about the character. She's kind of supposed to be the Everyman audience point of view character and I think she's only one who really does want to go home. The other guests are resigned to their fate and as Ralph puts in, none of them put up much of a fight. I think it's supposed to be because at the end of the day, they want to be part of the art.

Edited December 27, 2022 by methodwriter85

[nomodrama]

On 12/26/2022 at 8:36 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I found the character of Margot boring and predictable. All the other characters were way more interesting than her. I think because, and I'm not sure how else to describe it, but it's like the writers wrote her to have the winning moves all throughout the movie. She does the right things, she says the right things, and she makes the right moves. In a film where the other guests fail so horribly, having her basically be seemingly perfect at everything stood out to me.

 

Agree, I was immediately annoyed with her, she was so smug in the beginning. 

This movie was so intense, my stomach hurt by the middle of it. I think it was most interesting how Slownik revealed how terrible they all were, first by having the men abandon the women immediately to save themselves the first chance they got, then when the pretend Coast Guard guy showed up, they were willing to rick his life to save themselves. Maybe that is why they all were so willingly went to their deaths. I'm not sure I by it though, these people did terrible things for their own self gain, to think they suddenly developed a conscience and decided to die for their sins is extremely idealistic. 

[chediavolo]

It seems like everyone was a shit person except possibly Judith Lights  character? The wife of the cheating husband who had his finger chopped off. What did she do that in the chefs mind she deserved to die? I felt  bad for her. 
I watched the movie to the end but I didn’t really like it .

[methodwriter85]

8 hours ago, chediavolo said:

It seems like everyone was a shit person except possibly Judith Lights  character? The wife of the cheating husband who had his finger chopped off. What did she do that in the chefs mind she deserved to die? I felt  bad for her. 
I watched the movie to the end but I didn’t really like it .

*sarcastic voice* Daring to be an older woman who is no longer sexually desired by her husband or society at large? I mean she was just begging to be put out of her misery. *rolls eyes*

In all seriousness, I did wonder if she and her husband were grieving their daughter because I kind of got the feeling that the daughter was either dead, or estranged from them. Margot's story about the husband wanting her to roleplay as his daughter raised all kinds of red flags about what might have gone on between the husband and their daughter. Maybe it's possible that Judith Light turned a blind eye and that could have been her sin? 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Wasn't Judith Light's character the foodie in the relationship?  Was she a restaurant reviewer that could be seen as encouraging the excess of the modern restaurant industry / celebrity chef complex? 

[SeanC]

14 hours ago, chediavolo said:

It seems like everyone was a shit person except possibly Judith Lights  character? The wife of the cheating husband who had his finger chopped off. What did she do that in the chefs mind she deserved to die? I felt  bad for her. 

He thought she was indifferent to the food he was serving (hence, why she didn't remember any of the dishes he had served when he asked).

I don't think the movie asks you to identify with Slowik's reasoning for why these people deserve to die -- the actor he deems worthy of death because he didn't like a movie he was in, his assistant because she was able to afford university without scholarships, etc. He's insane.

[Chyromaniac]

Yeah, that’s the thing that I feel actors and writers sometimes get wrong about the “villain is the hero of their story” trope.  The point isn’t that the villain’s motivations need to actually be noble or reasonable to the audience - they just have to make sense to themselves.  We don’t need to agree with Slowik’s reasons for wanting to kill these diners- we just have to know what they are, and believe he’s willing to act on them.

[oliviabenson]

It’s on HBO! 

[Spartan Girl]

I took Julian ripping on the s’more personally. I love s’mores.

[DoctorAtomic]

I watched because it came on HBO, and it had a lot of actors I like. I enjoyed my Saturday night movie experience. I did like the cheeseburger conclusion, but that was a long walk to get there. I did like how the 'main' guy completely blew it with the undercooked lamb and hung himself. I mean, I'm not a culinary artist, but I cook for myself 99.9% out of the month, and I'm still around. Just sear the lamb and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. 

[Chaos Theory]

Three things I took away from  the movie.  

Don’t take an escort to your food tasting murder/suicide.  It is just bad manners.

A cheeseburger will set you free.

I don’t think I will ever be able to eat s’mores again.

[DoctorAtomic]

I did like the no-bread course because I don't usually fill up on bread when I go out. 

[meep.meep]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:30 PM, Shannon L. said:

It was the chef's silent partner. 

Not just his silent partner - his "angel" investor.  The VC guy who provided him the funding to create the restaurant.

We got halfway through this and decided it would work pretty well as a play.  Was it adapted from one?

[Cranberry]

I liked it. I was tense all the way through, I laughed quite a bit, and I found the ending satisfying. I'm glad there was no cannibalism; I feel like that would have been too easy of a direction to take.

I could have watched another half hour of Tyler being a pretentious fawning douchebag over the food while Margot became more and more baffled and disgusted. I loved the no-bread bread plate bit. All the early stuff made me think of this review of the worst Michelin-starred restaurant. 

[DoctorAtomic]

It certainly seemed to be shot like a play. I think the kitchen set was always in the background, for example. The people were really all stationary basically.

[The Solution]

This was the best movie I've seen in a minute. I watched it twice yesterday. Interesting and unique concept, entertaining and humorous if you have an offbeat sense of humor and an interest in high-end restaurants. For once, I could not predict what was going to happen or feel like I'd seen this before (even the second time I watched it). I will say, however, that chopping off fingers is so 2022.

[Chaos Theory]

This wasn't a bad movie. It had all the ingredients for a good movie and it was prepared with to perfection but there was just something about it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I just need to watch it again. Sometimes I need to chew on a movie a couple of times before I get a good taste for it.

I did really like that Tyler and Margot aren't actually a couple but instead Tyler is nothing more then a fawning douchebag who had hired Margot a high end escort to be in date because he could not go alone and that to get an invite he literally signed both their lives away.  Yes it would have made more sense if he convinced his ex to come with him but then the main twist of the movie wouldn't have happened.  The wealthy vs service workers premise of the show.   All the actors did their part and the movie was good but maybe I just need to watch again because there was just something about the movie that just didn't work for me.   

[Chyromaniac]

I think what helps with the “theatrical” feel of the film is that- from my understanding- the entire cast was generally present during filming.  Normally you wouldn’t expect actors to stay on set if they weren’t required for a scene.  However, by keeping them around (like they would need to, if this were a play), they were able to get character reactions that they otherwise wouldn’t have.  They actually touch on this a couple of times in this video - 

 

[AimingforYoko]

4 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

This wasn't a bad movie. It had all the ingredients for a good movie and it was prepared with to perfection but there was just something about it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I just need to watch it again. Sometimes I need to chew on a movie a couple of times before I get a good taste for it.

(Sigh) I see what you did there.

[slowpoked]

Saw this movie last night and loved it! It’s certainly a good “eat the rich” movie, in the vein of Ready or Not and Knives Out. My husband and I love fine dining so we were enraptured by this movie from the start. Most foodies or elites would probably think of French Laundry when they think of Michelin-starred fine dining w/ a well-known chef, but the setting reminded me of The Restaurant at Meadowood more, where the staff moves rhythmically in sort of a military style, though they were far friendlier of course ( I hope they bring that restaurant back).

I love the metaphors of the movie, especially for me as I have worked in the industry. The staff willing to die with the chef is a great symbolism for the restaurant industry being that demanding, asking employees to work 80+ hr weeks, not giving time off, or even asking staff to come in on their scheduled time off, essentially wanting the staff to sign off their lives to the restaurant. The house where the staff sleeps in a dormitory like setting is also a great metaphor for that. 
 

I see this movie as both an “eat the rich” satire and an indictment of the restaurant industry.

Edited January 9, 2023 by slowpoked

[Grammaeryn]

The line that had me barking laughing, “Student loans?” to the gal who went to Brown. 

[snickers]

22 hours ago, Grammaeryn said:

The line that had me barking laughing, “Student loans?” to the gal who went to Brown. 

Yeah that line/scene was pretty good-

Me and my friend watched this on HBO, we were so excited to see it based on what we heard about it...

But I gotta say it fell flat for me-

Ralph F was great-he was the best thing in the movie, and I get the message, but the whole, "his staff just willing dying" reminded me too much of Midsommar (another movie didn't care for)

But I did like the humor in this-

[Whimsy]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:08 PM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Wasn't Judith Light's character the foodie in the relationship?  Was she a restaurant reviewer that could be seen as encouraging the excess of the modern restaurant industry / celebrity chef complex? 

No, Judith Light's character and her husband are just bored rich people who went 11 times and couldn't remember one single dish they had.  She even named the wrong kind of fish, so she definitely wasn't a foodie. 

On 1/8/2023 at 1:59 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

It certainly seemed to be shot like a play. I think the kitchen set was always in the background, for example. The people were really all stationary basically.

Yeah, but a lot of high end restaurants also have open kitchens. 

On 1/8/2023 at 10:34 PM, slowpoked said:

Saw this movie last night and loved it! It’s certainly a good “eat the rich” movie, in the vein of Ready or Not and Knives Out. My husband and I love fine dining so we were enraptured by this movie from the start. Most foodies or elites would probably think of French Laundry when they think of Michelin-starred fine dining w/ a well-known chef, but the setting reminded me of The Restaurant at Meadowood more, where the staff moves rhythmically in sort of a military style, though they were far friendlier of course ( I hope they bring that restaurant back).

I love the metaphors of the movie, especially for me as I have worked in the industry. The staff willing to die with the chef is a great symbolism for the restaurant industry being that demanding, asking employees to work 80+ hr weeks, not giving time off, or even asking staff to come in on their scheduled time off, essentially wanting the staff to sign off their lives to the restaurant. The house where the staff sleeps in a dormitory like setting is also a great metaphor for that. 
 

I see this movie as both an “eat the rich” satire and an indictment of the restaurant industry.

My daughter is a chef.  She went to CIA in Hyde Park so I loved that shout out.  I thought of French Laundry at first when I started watching this, as well and I also thought of Grant Achatz when I saw the plating.  

I have to admit. I didn't know anything about this movie AT ALL when I started watching it.  I was bored, saw it on the main screen on HBO, recognized some actors and decided to watch it.  I thought it was going to be closer to The Bear.  I got super excited when I saw them walking on the Driftwood Beach since my husband and I were just there in November.  But..... after that it went way downhill for me. I think if I knew a little more about what this was going in I would've been prepared.  As it was, I turned it off before it was over.  I just couldn't deal with it. 

[giovannif7]

Just sat through this, and disliked it immensely. Thoroughly unpleasant storyline completely populated with unlikeable characters behaving stupidly, with nothing interesting or worthwhile to say. Sorry I wasted my time - if I'd paid to see it in a theater, I would have walked out. 👎👎👎👎👎

[paramitch]

I liked it, and the performances and production were great. I'm not sure the theme is as grand (or successful) as the writer intended, though.

Like, I get the subtext about the chef wanting to punish the diners -- a final explosion against a life of killing himself for his art, ironically for people who did not care what he served, etc.

But I just don't get why the script included visibly innocent diners -- the cheating husband's wife, the movie star's assistant -- they don't deserve to die. Everyone else, I got, but their presence muddied the waters and turned the story into something more unpleasant and immersion-breaking for me. Like, if it doesn't matter who's in the restaurant (except, very obviously, the heroine), the story loses its bite for me.

I also absolutely question that the diners did not rebel and try harder to escape. Why didn't they? Easy answer: the script needed them not to.

I did love the nuance that Anya T-J recognized the joy Fiennes felt as a young chef and asked him to do some actual cooking very deliberately -- to satisfy hunger and just freaking COOK -- and that was a lovely thing. Fiennes really lit up there, and the cheeseburger did look divine.

On 1/7/2023 at 6:55 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I took Julian ripping on the s’more personally. I love s’mores.

I hate s'mores. Am I the only one? Chocolate, great. Marshmallows? Sure. Graham crackers? Ugh. Then mix them all together? it just feels like wasting two out of three ingredients on something nasty. I can't stand them.

On 1/8/2023 at 1:52 PM, Chaos Theory said:

This wasn't a bad movie. It had all the ingredients for a good movie and it was prepared with to perfection but there was just something about it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I just need to watch it again. Sometimes I need to chew on a movie a couple of times before I get a good taste for it.

I did really like that Tyler and Margot aren't actually a couple but instead Tyler is nothing more then a fawning douchebag who had hired Margot a high end escort to be in date because he could not go alone and that to get an invite he literally signed both their lives away.  Yes it would have made more sense if he convinced his ex to come with him but then the main twist of the movie wouldn't have happened.  The wealthy vs service workers premise of the show.   All the actors did their part and the movie was good but maybe I just need to watch again because there was just something about the movie that just didn't work for me.   

I thought it was facile and fun, but not as deep as it thought it was. Like someone had a great idea but didn't follow through. I just do not buy that everyone just sat there and died in agony for sins as shallow as "I did not care what I was eating." I mean, good lord.

On 1/8/2023 at 7:34 PM, slowpoked said:

I love the metaphors of the movie, especially for me as I have worked in the industry. The staff willing to die with the chef is a great symbolism for the restaurant industry being that demanding, asking employees to work 80+ hr weeks, not giving time off, or even asking staff to come in on their scheduled time off, essentially wanting the staff to sign off their lives to the restaurant. The house where the staff sleeps in a dormitory like setting is also a great metaphor for that. 
 

I see this movie as both an “eat the rich” satire and an indictment of the restaurant industry.

It reminded me sharply of the Willows on Lumi Island here in Seattle. Right down to the island, the ecology, and the psychology of people going to incredible extremes to cook (and eat) there.

I enjoyed this a ton, even if it wasn't entirely successful for me. 

[slowpoked]

37 minutes ago, paramitch said:

But I just don't get why the script included visibly innocent diners -- the cheating husband's wife, the movie star's assistant -- they don't deserve to die.

I think their “sins” are simply that they are rich, and to Julian and his staff, they all represent the ruin of his art. The assistant went to Brown w/o any student loans (heh) - that was her sin. The cheating husband’s wife’s sin is she’s also rich, and also like her husband, was oblivious to all of the food she’s eaten at the restaurant all those 11 times they went.

It was really only with Margot that Julian was bothered and slightly thrown off his game. For some reason, he also easily picked her out as an escort (or prostitute), and that she’s their “kind.”

37 minutes ago, paramitch said:

I did love the nuance that Anya T-J recognized the joy Fiennes felt as a young chef and asked him to do some actual cooking very deliberately -- to satisfy hunger and just freaking COOK -- and that was a lovely thing. Fiennes really lit up there, and the cheeseburger did look divine.

The cooking-the-cheeseburger picture was the only picture Julian was shown to be smiling. All others he wore a scowl, even in the picture with his wife and kid. Sheesh.

The cheeseburger does indeed looks delicious. No frills, nothing fancy, just the burger and cheese. There’s a restaurant in West Hollywood that has Just A Well Made Cheeseburger on their menu:

https://linktr.ee/irvsburgers?fbclid=PAAaYVAJP5edoWnEfGNfikK16S33grjzeCu48SLF_LB3WZQ8Hfq38vFep84mU

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by slowpoked

[paramitch]

16 minutes ago, slowpoked said:

The cooking-the-cheeseburger picture was the only picture Julian was shown to be smiling. All others he wore a scowl, even in the picture with his wife and kid. Sheesh.

 

Yeah, I did get that, and loved that detail. I wasn't clear enough in post, but I really liked that she saw that nuance -- him smiling in that ONE picture -- and used it as ammunition that was also a way of showing him she understood him. It was my favorite aspect of the entire story.

I definitely agree with you on the story's focus, I just thought condemning poor Judith Light to death because she didn't necessarily appreciate his food enough was a bit much. 😁  On the other hand, I loved his deliberately serving the broken sauce to the critic, and then sending over a huge bowl of it. She was definitely someone it was evilly fun to watch become a human s'more.

[heatherchandler]

On 1/9/2023 at 9:56 PM, snickers said:

 

But I gotta say it fell flat for me-

Ralph F was great-he was the best thing in the movie, and I get the message, but the whole, "his staff just willing dying" reminded me too much of Midsommar (another movie didn't care for)

But I did like the humor in this-

Fell flat for me too.  I got midsommar vibes from this too, but this wasn’t as good as midsommar, and I actually kind of didn’t love midsommar that much!

I was rooting for the people to not be saved, and to die.  Was that how everyone felt?
 

On 1/10/2023 at 7:57 AM, Whimsy said:

 

My daughter is a chef.  She went to CIA in Hyde Park so I loved that shout out.  I thought of French Laundry at first when I started watching this, as well and I also thought of Grant Achatz when I saw the plating.  

 

Yes Grant Achatz, with the nests, and the foam!

What happened to Tyler??  He ran off down the hall.. then what?  Did I miss something?

[methodwriter85]

3 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

Fell flat for me too.  I got midsommar vibes from this too, but this wasn’t as good as midsommar, and I actually kind of didn’t love midsommar that much!

I was rooting for the people to not be saved, and to die.  Was that how everyone felt?
 

Yes Grant Achatz, with the nests, and the foam!

What happened to Tyler??  He ran off down the hall.. then what?  Did I miss something?

He hung himself in the meat locker to deal with his humiliation at the hands of the chef.

[slowpoked]

17 hours ago, paramitch said:

I wasn't clear enough in post, but I really liked that she saw that nuance -- him smiling in that ONE picture -- and used it as ammunition that was also a way of showing him she understood him. It was my favorite aspect of the entire story.

I wonder if that was the reason why he decided to let her go. That among all of the diners he had that night, it was that one person in the lowest hierarchy class who was able to see through him. 

 

17 hours ago, paramitch said:

On the other hand, I loved his deliberately serving the broken sauce to the critic, and then sending over a huge bowl of it. She was definitely someone it was evilly fun to watch become a human s'more.

Yes, that was funny. Food critics (before Yelp, I guess) can be world-class elitist snobs. Someone pointed out in another article I read that she may not even be that good of a food critic, considering she smokes, in juxtaposition with Margot being chastised by Tyler at the beginning of the film to stop smoking so as not to ruin her palette. 

One thing that remained unanswered for me though, was why Julian sent Margot to get a barrel (?) at the smokehouse on the pretense that Elsa forgot to do it. when Elsa said herself later there that Julian never asked her to get that barrel. Was that Julian implying to Margot that he was letting her go, and was only foiled because Elsa followed her? 

[snickers]

On 1/30/2023 at 12:20 AM, heatherchandler said:

Fell flat for me too.  I got midsommar vibes from this too, but this wasn’t as good as midsommar, and I actually kind of didn’t love midsommar that much!

I was rooting for the people to not be saved, and to die.  Was that how everyone felt?
 

I was not rooting for them to be saved....I was not opposed to them dying, just wasn't a fan of his "staff" dying....what was the point of that!

[Spartan Girl]

With the exception of the cheeseburger, everything on the menu didn’t even look remotely tasty. It was fancy to look at, but I wouldn’t eat it. Not even the tacos lol.