Chefs Table meets Midsommar with a streak of dark humour, The Menu is a tension-filled night out that can't quite balance the richness of it's message with the smoothness of it's cast, but somehow manages to still come out delicious. While I feel a little targeted by this movies critique of the artist/critic dichotomy*, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't fully satiated at the end of this lengthy, multicourse meal; the appetiser didn't match the main course, and worse the dessert was bitter and unbefitting of what preceded it. While on reflection I enjoyed each piece of this movie individually (and there are some very memorable moments throughout), it didn't quite gel together as one cohesive whole for me. Maybe that's by choice, a reflection of the chaos of creation and the immense pressure placed upon the creators by critics such as myself? Eitherway, something feels unfinished, regardless of how delicious the individual courses themselves are. Good, even very good, but not great.
*I will say, the movie has made me feel a little existential with the way it called out critics for not understanding the work that goes into the things they haphazardly cast aside with a sentence and a snarl. As an armchair film reviewer on this very website, I completely teardown peoples work on a near daily basis; work that has taken them years to acquire the knowledge to craft and present to me through the medium of film, just for me to attach a score and a quick review laden with pokes and quips at their expense. As someone who hasn't the foggiest idea of how to even begin to make a movie (outside the basics of point a camera and start rolling), I'm now questioning my position in this creator/consumer situationship I find myself in. To further add to this, I feel like Tyler and his obsession with Slowiks work in respect to my love of video games. I understand the in's and out's of game production, who developed what and a rough year of when it came out, but if I tried to apply any of the knowledge to the actual act of making video games? Well, mine would probably come out bullshit too. The more I muse on this movie and the way it has made me second guess myself, maybe my impression and score will increase with time. Maybe a second viewing is in order for me to fully appreciate everything on show here. We shall see.
Review by XiofireBlockedParent2023-01-04T17:58:03Z
Chefs Table meets Midsommar with a streak of dark humour, The Menu is a tension-filled night out that can't quite balance the richness of it's message with the smoothness of it's cast, but somehow manages to still come out delicious. While I feel a little targeted by this movies critique of the artist/critic dichotomy*, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't fully satiated at the end of this lengthy, multicourse meal; the appetiser didn't match the main course, and worse the dessert was bitter and unbefitting of what preceded it. While on reflection I enjoyed each piece of this movie individually (and there are some very memorable moments throughout), it didn't quite gel together as one cohesive whole for me. Maybe that's by choice, a reflection of the chaos of creation and the immense pressure placed upon the creators by critics such as myself? Eitherway, something feels unfinished, regardless of how delicious the individual courses themselves are. Good, even very good, but not great.
*I will say, the movie has made me feel a little existential with the way it called out critics for not understanding the work that goes into the things they haphazardly cast aside with a sentence and a snarl. As an armchair film reviewer on this very website, I completely teardown peoples work on a near daily basis; work that has taken them years to acquire the knowledge to craft and present to me through the medium of film, just for me to attach a score and a quick review laden with pokes and quips at their expense. As someone who hasn't the foggiest idea of how to even begin to make a movie (outside the basics of point a camera and start rolling), I'm now questioning my position in this creator/consumer situationship I find myself in. To further add to this, I feel like Tyler and his obsession with Slowiks work in respect to my love of video games. I understand the in's and out's of game production, who developed what and a rough year of when it came out, but if I tried to apply any of the knowledge to the actual act of making video games? Well, mine would probably come out bullshit too. The more I muse on this movie and the way it has made me second guess myself, maybe my impression and score will increase with time. Maybe a second viewing is in order for me to fully appreciate everything on show here. We shall see.