The Menu concerns a group of ultra wealthy diners- among them the pretentious Tyler (Nicholas Hault) and his companion, Margo (Anya Taylor-Joy)- who visit an island restaurant under the direction of the obsessive Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). As the visitors progress through seven increasingly disturbing and violent courses, Slowik’s true intention for the diners reveals itself.

Despite a long development prolonged by covid, The Menu arrives raw. It feels unpolished, a first draft where the narrative beats and social commentary are there on paper but not on celluloid.

The film is tightly wound in the beginning, effortlessly drawing viewers into the glamor and excess of high class dining, while also gradually ratcheting up the tension. But as soon as the film shows the first card up its sleeve, any suspense the viewer feels dissipates entirely. From the second act on, The Menu meanders its way through a series of digressions and underwhelming set pieces until any excitement is sucked from the screen.

The last quarter of the film, surprisingly, seems to pull most of its tricks from Ari Aster’s Midsommar, including a finale complete with self-immolation and dramatic swells of music. What worked there, however, feels unearned and abrupt in The Menu.

Worse than its awkward ending, the film’s class criticism is underbaked and lacking in depth. Its critique boils down to “wealthy people are classist and evil”. True as that may be, The Menu vamps on it for its hundred minute run time and never proposes any sort of constructive response or alternative, and never mind how cynical that message sounds when the production is ultimately financed by Disney.

Yet The Menu shines when it throws its comedic weight around. Both Tyler and a group of bro-y businessmen (Arturo Castro, Rob Yang, Mark St. Cyr) provide plenty of laughs that render the absurdity of high class dining plainly, and they compliment the more wide eyed moments of terror. Washed-up actor George (a wonderfully sleazy John Leguizamo) also has his moments.

The Menu works best when Slowik’s presentation teeters on the knife’s edge between performance and reality. The film is peppered with genuine disquiet and horror, but it ends all too quickly. The germ of a great movie is here, but it could have spent longer in the oven.