Lamar Reviews - "The Menu" (Airdate 12/2/2022) I have spent my life being in love with food. It has been the center point in my life. I love making it, as much as I love eating it. My mantra is, there is a best way to make every food taste the best it possibly can, and there is no such thing as “too much trouble” to accomplish that. I love the dining experience, whether it is a really good bacon cheeseburger in some hole in the wall joint, or a dry aged bone in ribeye in a place where you have to make reservations two weeks in advance, and they call green beans haricot vert. I love it all! So, when I see a movie titled The Menu, I’m in. When I see in the preview the Head Chef is played by Ralph Fiennes, and it also has Anya Taylor-Joy, from the Queen’s Gambit, I knew I had to see it. Turns out this is a dark thriller, not quite horror, but also a good dose of dark comedy, especially if you get the food references. Fiennes plays Chef Slowik, who has worked his way up in the culinary world to the point of having his restaurant on an Island that can only be accessed by boat. The fact that it is not easy to get to only enhances the exclusivity. Only 12 people are allowed for a dinner, and each plate cost $1250.00. Each course has a story to go along with it, and is not to be “eaten”, they are to be “tasted”. For me this is code for, “your gonna want to stop at a drive thru on the way home”. The people eating at this meal are, a once famous actor that nobody recognizes now, played by John Leguizamo, and his assistant Felicity, played by Aimee Carrero. Lillian, a big-time food critic, played by Janet McTeer, and her kiss up editor, Ted, A couple of regulars, Richard and Anne, played by Reed Birney and Judith Light. Three co-workers from a high-end tech company, and Slowik’s mother. And finally, A foodie named Tyler, played by Nicholas Hoult, who is a fanboy and feels like this is the greatest night of his entire life, and his date Margot, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who turns out is a last-minute substitute for his girlfriend that broke up with him. The diners are all there for different reasons. But they all have one thing in common, they are pretentious jerks. The only one that is not, is Margot. She was a last-minute substitute, that Chef Slowik had not planned for. She is a problem for him. He has planned this meal down to the last detail, and she is not supposed to be there. The movie is 1 hour 47 minutes, Rated-R for violent content, language, and sexual references This movie is about how out of hand the high-end restaurant business has come. They are not selling food, they are selling a lifestyle, and the food critics help them do it. This industry is directed at the people who have the money and don’t mind spending it, and as soon as a restaurant becomes “impossible” to get into, these people’s lives depend on getting in. This allows the restaurant to give them an ounce of some meat that was flown in from an island halfway around the world, put it on a plate, throw on a sprig of green something, and drop a few drops of different colored sauces in a pattern, and charge $150.00 for it. The movie is clever, well written, and the scenes where Chef Slowik and Margot and together, are, dare I say, delicious, to the point of being succulent! My Score: 5 Ice Cold Budweisers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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