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The Menu
Movie

The Menu

2022 • Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Woke Score
7
out of 10

Plot

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.

Overall Series Review

The Menu is a black comedy-thriller that functions as a ruthless social satire on wealth, pretension, and the commodification of art. The story centers on a chef who gathers an exclusive clientele on a remote island to serve them a dinner that doubles as a deadly, theatrical reckoning for their 'sins' against his craft. The film pits the 'givers' (the staff) against the 'takers' (the wealthy guests), arguing that a life of unearned privilege and consumerism is hollow and deserving of punishment. The only character who escapes is a woman of modest background who demands a simple, authentic cheeseburger, which momentarily reminds the disillusioned chef of his forgotten love for simple cooking. The movie is heavy-handed in its class-based moralizing and vilification of wealthy, successful people.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics8/10

The narrative is primarily a lecture on class and privilege, which acts as an extension of intersectional politics. The plot exists to establish a rigid hierarchy between the morally 'pure' working class/artists and the morally 'corrupt' wealthy elite, who are all vilified. The guests are judged and killed based on their financial privilege and the way they exploited the 'system' or the chef's art. The non-wealthy, working-class character is the sole survivor.

Oikophobia7/10

Hostility is directed toward the modern, hyper-capitalist, elite Western institution of 'fine dining' and the pretentious culture of consumerism that surrounds it. The chef expresses self-hatred for allowing his passion to be corrupted by this system, viewing the island restaurant as a monument to be destroyed. The story valorizes the simple, working-class American staple—the cheeseburger—as the only pure and authentic form of cooking left, effectively deconstructing the pretentious 'Western' fine dining heritage.

Feminism8/10

Gender dynamics heavily favor the female protagonist and demonize the main male characters. The male character who introduces the protagonist is a self-obsessed, sycophantic, and incompetent man who is brutally exposed and executed. The only survivor is a capable woman who uses her intelligence and authenticity to save herself. Furthermore, a female sous-chef is revealed to be a co-architect of the final, devastating plan, motivated by revenge for sexual harassment by the head chef, painting women as capable agents of justice while men are either toxic abusers, incompetent worshippers, or doomed elites.

LGBTQ+2/10

The plot focuses entirely on themes of class, art, and mortality, with no centering of alternative sexualities or gender ideology. The characters' sexual identities are private or incidental to the main conflict.

Anti-Theism8/10

The chef operates with a 'God Complex,' positioning himself as a self-appointed judge over his guests. His action is a form of secular judgment, framing the guests' 'sins' as moral failings against his art, entirely divorced from any transcendent or objective moral law. The morality of the film is completely subjective and relative to the chef's personal vision of artistic purity and class revenge, which embraces a spiritual vacuum where only one man's subjective judgment dictates life and death.