The Menu (2022)

Highest praises must be given to each and every performer on screen. Every single scene is acted to perfection, with every unsettling emotional detail presented to its greatest degree.The film’s first act is also something to behold. Not a second is wasted as we get right into the story and are quickly and very efficiently introduced to the characters and the posh pretentious culture that is to be satirised.Dialogue can be hard to get right in a satire, and I thought the writers did a great job of it. The script is sharp with wit while still retaining the nature of the people involved in the story.The one big problem I had with the movie as a whole is that it runs out of momentum about halfway through. The true nature of the story’s mystery is revealed WAY too early-about 45 minutes in. From then on, there isn’t anything investing about the narrative besides the fun dialogue and unique death scenes.This is because once all 15 or so characters have their effective introductions in which their natures and personalities are established, the writers quickly run out of things to do with most of them. They become generic and passive characters.By the end of the movie all they’ve really done is sit around waiting to die, and their behavior collectively shifts rather abruptly away from being consistent with who they’ve been shown to be earlier in the film. It’s clearly to achieve the desired ending, and it’s inorganic at best.It’s all difficult to discuss without spoilers, but if you’ve seen the film I think you know what I’m talking about.But I still had a great deal of fun with this one. It’s more than original, witty, and unexpected enough to be worth the price of admission.