The Menu

Director: Mark Mylod
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, John Leguizamo, Aimee Carrero, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Rebecca Koon, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr
Running Time: 106 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

There's a character in the horror-comedy film The Menu who comments that they're starving after multiple courses of food have already been served. And we're inclined to believe it, since mouse-sized portions are common when eating at an exclusive restaurant like the one depicted here. It's also easy to lose your appetite if the evening's meal is unexpectedly derailed by murder, suicide, torture and a side order of psychotic ramblings. But what matters most is the preparation and presentation of the food, along with the fact you're dining at an important establishment that others of prominent social standing frequent. If the reward is often just being seen there, you have to appreciate how screenwriters Seth Reis and Will Tracy acknowledge that bread crumbs rarely do the trick, no matter how nice it looks on the plate. 

While the carefully selected dinner guests in this film probably don't mind paying a pricey bill, they won't even get their bread crumbs, nor will they be allowed to leave. Held hostage by an obsessive chef who favors "tasting" over "eating," he's determined to deliver a message that's uncomfortably hilarious, violent and offensively truthful. And if the conceit seems crazy, it's at least tightly constructed chaos, immersing us in the thrill of  two top class actors facing off against the backdrop of high cuisine. Surviving each course may be an endurance test for the patrons, but watching it all unfold is a twisted delight, entertaining and suspenseful enough to return for seconds.

Enthusiastic foodie Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult) and his date Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) are traveling by boat to Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant that's operated by renowned celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) and located on a remote island. Other guests are food critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer) and her editor Ted (Paul Adelstein), wealthy couple Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne Leibrandt (Judith Light), washed-up movie star George (John Leguizamo) and his assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero), business partners Soren (Arturo Castro), Dave (Mark St. Cyr), and Bryce (Rob Yang) and Slowik's unresponsive alcoholic mother Linda (Rebecca Coon). 

Following a tour of the island's facilities by dutiful maître d' Elsa (a perfectly deadpan Hong Chau), dinner begins with Slowik introducing a series of bizarre entrées with a theme, often punctuated by some uncomfortable monologues and personal anecdotes related to each course. But when things take a drastically dark turn and the guests' secret wrongdoings are exposed, it becomes clear the host and his militant staff aren't about to let anyone exit on their own accord. As Tyler remains blindly loyal to his favorite chef, Margot's had enough, looking for ways to outsmart Slowik at his own game before their last dish is served.

Slickly Directed by Mark Mylod (who's helmed multiple episodes of of TV's Succession), much of the premise's fun comes in an inability to predict what this sadistic chef will say or do next. There's a slow building sense of tension as these self absorbed patrons swoon in anticipation of each course, blissfully unaware what's ahead, or the dastardly purpose of Slowik's menu. The film also makes hilarious use of title cards, flashing the name and ingredients of the meal on screen, with pithy comments reflecting the chef's sarcastic displeasure. It's a great touch, allowing us to go along for the ride with these unsuspecting guests as their dinner goes from bad to worse. 

Slowik's deadpan humor and stringent demands only grow more unsettling and confrontational, underlined by some really disturbing stories, including a gem involving his dysfunctional childhood that informs a chicken dish in all the wrong ways. Then comes the point of no return, as this perverse dinner theater crosses the line and the true motivation behind these invites surface. The reason for Margot's presence is a little murkier, which bothers Slowik, who has very specific plans for the evening's menu. And she wasn't factored in.

Fiennes channels an outwardly calmer, more calculating version of Gordon Ramsay in a performance that's undeniably the picture's biggest highlight, holding court with his brutal treatment of these customers, who dread the mayhem following each menu reveal. Taylor-Joy is captivating even in silence, but when Margot proves to be the only one willing to challenge Slowik, her performance really soars. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Margot's an outsider who understands his psychology better than most, looking for a weak spot to exploit in order to stay alive. In doing so, she briefly resurrects a piece of him he thought was long gone, as the screenplay makes a great philosophical point about people slowly falling out of love with their jobs, drowning in the miserable minutiae of it all. 

Hoult's Tyler wastes little time throwing his date under the bus when given a chance to sit under the learning tree of his culinary idol. Revealing himself to be more of a narcissistic weasel with each embarrassing outburst, he only generates further sympathy for Margot's plight. The rest of the cast deliver in their roles, with John Leguizamo standing out in the film's funniest scene opposite Fiennes, as we discover the real reason the chef's so repulsed by him.

With an intriguing concept likely to draw comparisons to recent pop culture satires of the rich like Glass Onion and The White Lotus, this has more than a few flourishes that set it apart, like characters who would still be equally unlikable in a lower income bracket. And it turns out recognizing the difference between a expensive dish and a high quality one comes in handy. The filmmakers at least know that nothing beats a really good cheeseburger, giving hungry viewers incentive not to think too hard about The Menu and just savor the meal.      

Ozark (Season 3)

Creators: Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams
Starring: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaetner, Julia Garner, Charlie Tahan, Lisa Emery, Janet McTeer, Felix Solis
Original Airdate: 2020

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)


When the first season of Netflix's crime drama Ozark premiered in 2017 to strong reviews and even stronger viewership, few could have guessed it would eventually emerge as the streaming network's most reliable and tightly written series. Much like Breaking Bad, to which its been endlessly compared, it's the rare show that's gotten better as it's steamrolled along, culminating now in a third season that's easily its best. But in hindsight, maybe we should have known. It was always great, moving at a breakneck pace while still managing slowly develop its characters and dropping narrative bread crumbs that result in major, but logical payoffs. The show knows what it is and makes sense, with performances heightening the suspense and impact of an already exhilarating story.

All of those Breaking Bad comparisons seemed lazy at first, based solely on the series' premise of a regular guy and his family being dragged into the drug business. But now that reference seems truly earned, based not on the show's plotline, but its escalating quality. Season 3 is simply a thrill ride and as good as ten episodes of a drama you're likely to see, putting its central characters married characters at war with not only the dangerous outside forces controlling their lives, but each other. In way over their heads, but with wildly different ideas about how to manage, the crisis has become a mirror reflection of their contrasting personalities and histories, ripping their relationship apart in the process.

Fluctuating between clumsy incompetence and Machiavellian genius, The Byrdes have sucked so many people into their vortex, things were bound to blow up. And yet, the show remains at its core about the quest to keep their family safe, even as their actions seem to result in the exact opposite. When launching this new business, everything becomes about facades and keeping up appearances,
 but the arrival of an exciting new character throws a wrench in the power dynamic, providing the ten episodes with almost unbearable levels of tension. It's also one of the best acting performances of the year, as this previously unknown actor takes us to hell and back with one of the saddest and scariest recent on screen depictions of mental illness in any medium. You may as well just hand him the Emmy right now.

After opening and managing the new Missouri Belle casino as a means of laundering money for the Navarro Mexican drug cartel, Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) Byrde find themselves at a crossroads, with him wanting the family out of this terrible situation that followed him from Chicago, and her doubling down, more determined than ever to make this business work. Suddenly she's in the driver's seat, getting another taste of the power and ambition she once had early in her political career, impressing icy cartel lawyer Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer) and her boss, the terrifying Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), to whom Wendy now has a direct line.

While fighting over how best to keep their teen kids Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skylar Gaetner) safe now that they know everything, the Byrdes have entrusted the fiery, foul-mouthed Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) to manage the casino's day-to-day operations. But her frequent clashes with Kansas City mob boss Frank Cosgrove's (John Bedford Lloyd) son, Frank Jr. (Joseph Sikora), as well as her lingering resentment toward the Byrdes over her father's murder, make her a potential liability.

Still lurking in the wings is local drug runner Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery), who not only owns a piece of the casino, but still has custody of Baby Zeke, and intends on making the Byrdes pay for destroying her town. While she's now corrupted Ruth's estranged cousin Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) into helping her, Wendy's black sheep brother, Ben Davis (Tom Pelphrey), comes to town looking for a place to crash, revealing himself as a ticking time bomb unintentionally playing fast and loose their lives. As Marty entertains a new offer from the FBI and Wendy grows closer with the ever-present Helen, it looks like it'll take more than a few hours with their new marriage therapist to solve the Byrde's many problems.

Rarely do you see as many complications stack up over the course of a full season while having them still all pay off this thrillingly by the end. Co-creators Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams just keep piling it on, with everything always circling around the Byrdes, as lawyer Helen has now increased her stranglehold over the couple, now actually buying a house in the area and dragging along her rebellious teen daughter, Erin (Madison Thompson), with whom she has a fractured relationship.

We're given a lot more insight into the cold, calculating Helen's personal life, as Janet McTeer brings some more fascinating shades to Helen, strategically offering glimpses into what could almost be described as genuine human emotion from as the high-waisted pantsuit wearing operative. Of course, she and the writers are so smart in how they subtly walk up to that edge, before pulling back to remind us that whatever no matter what's happening with her ex-husband or daughter, she's all business and won't hesitate disposing of anyone if necessary.

Helen and Navarro are starting to see the floundering, stressed-out Marty as expendable, especially since he's doing everything he can to sabatoge Wendy's planned casino expansion, even wiretapping her. He just wants out, and it's hard to blame him, as he's being pulled in every direction from Helen, Navarro, the KC mob, Ruth, the FBI, his own power-hungry wife, and even at one humorous point, REO Speedwagon. It would be nice to just pack up and leave as he planned at the end of last season, but it's clear that's no longer a possibility, and for the first time since the pilot, Marty faces immenent physical harm, if not possible death at the hands of a displeased and highly volatile Navarro. Bateman is so good at playing Marty when he's lying, completely straight-faced in his deception and denials, all for the sake of keeping him and his family alive long enough to come up with a new plan. The actor does some of his best work of the series thus far, as a hopeless Marty suffers locked up in solitude in Navarro's Mexican prison, with childhood memories of playing arcade games the only thing keeping him going.

Marty from emerges from his torture test transformed, adopting a new philosophy while Wendy further crystalizes her role as the mover and shaker. Her reasoning that she's digging her heels deeper into the cartel to protect this family have been wearing thin since emerging as the Heisenberg of the series, clearly getting legitimate thrills from being in the power position as Helen and Navarro's chosen one.

The drama has trickled down to the rest of the family as Charlotte and Jonah seem more aware than ever of their parents dangerous dealings, with the former now working for her mom and the latter withdrawing further into himself after reeling from losing his only friend, Buddy, last season. But all their lives are about to be seriously shaken up by the arrival of the most pivotal character, Wendy's estranged younger brother Ben, whom we initially meet in a sensational school-set scene. And even without a clue as to his identity at the time, we can tell he'll be making a huge impact. 

Ben re-enters his older sister's life carrying a considerable amount of baggage, but it's only a matter of time before he's clued in to what's going on. The more he knows, the more he'll want to be involved. And that means trouble. But what's so masterful about Tom Pelphrey's electrifying performance is its sincerity, imbuing Ben with such an honest, moral compass that he almost comes across as childlike in his innocence, wondering why people just can't do what they say and say what they mean. Hyper-sensitive and just to a fault, he's just not built for a world filled with toxic criminality.

While the root of Ben's issues stem from a bi-polar disorder he's battled his whole life and his behavior becomes increasingly monstruous off his meds, there's hardly a moment where we doubt his intentions aren't pure or that he's right. He only wants to protect this family without realizing the best form of that he can provide is to either leave town asap or get back on his meds. And the more erratic and dangerous he is off them, the tougher everything becomes for Wendy, having to choose between his safety and that of her kids and husband. And that's a battle Ben could never win. So he has to be handled instead. The suspense in the final three episodes of the season the tension reaches a boiling point largely because his problems can really only be resolved one way if he continues down this road. And time's running out for all of them.

Despite Wendy's warnings to her, Ruth's relationship with Ben grows, with her emerging as the only person who seems to believe in him, to both their detriments. The decision Wendy feels she's forced to make regarding her mentally disinegrating brother is heartbreaking, with the scenes Linney shares Pelphrey in the penultimate episode representing a series-high on every conceivable level. Even as she senses an increasingly infantile Ben has gone completely off the deep end, there's this apologetic sadness in Pelphrey's eyes and voice that reflect an awareness of what he's done and how badly he's screwed up, all while remaining powerless to stop it. It's really some performance, especially considering he wasn't even a series mainstay until this season.

It all eventually comes down to loyalty. On shaky ground with their slip-ups, the only thing Wendy and Marty seem to agree on is that they need to make a big move to survive. The whole season sets up this power struggle with Helen over Navarro's allegiance that culminates in a truly shocking final moment, and one that  lays the table for a new beginning. The Byrdes may have temporarily gotten what they need, but as usual, the cost hardly seems worth the sacrifice, especially when it's difficult imagining a future where they're ever free from the shackles of the cartel.  For the time being, they've made their bed and have to lay in it, as the show teases the frightening possibility that the worst is yet to come.