Review: 'The Menu' leaves a bad taste in the mouth, in spite of strong performances by Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy

A dark comedy that’s not quite as clever as it thinks it is, “The Menu” is a scathing takedown of foodie culture and the shared obsessions of megalomaniacal chefs and the diners who demand to eat their food.

The dinner guests hop onto a yacht headed to a remote island, where they are paying $1,250 a head for the most unique dining experience of their lives, at The Hawthorne. We follow one couple, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), and his date, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), as they sample the amuse-bouche, an oyster with some kind of foam and lemon pearls. Tyler, who obsesses about fine cuisine, shows off his knowledge by informing Margot that the “pearls” are made with alginate. Margot isn’t particularly impressed.

Tyler, Margot and the other diners — who include a fading movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant (Aimee Carrero), an imperious food critic (Janet McTeer) and her editor (Paul Adelstein), a rich older couple (Reed Birney and Judith Light) who are regulars, and three expense-account dude-bros (Rob Yang, Arturo Castro and Mark St. Cyr) — are led on a tour of the island’s garden, seafood harvesters, chicken coop and smokehouse by the head waitress, Elsa (Hong Chau), before entering the dining room.

Once inside the restaurant, where the kitchen is in plain view of everyone, Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) starts the show. The movie gradually reveals, course by course, that Slowik has meticulously planned not only the menu but the guest list — and that everyone has some past tie to the chef. Everyone, that is, except Margot, a last-minute fill-in for Tyler’s ex-girlfriend. Slowik recognizes that Margot doesn’t belong, and takes her aside to ask a question: “Are you with us or are you with them?” Margot soon realizes the question has deadly implications.

Director Mark Mylod (a veteran of “Succession” and “Game of Thrones”) works off a script, by comedy writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, that seems wedged between being a dark comedy and being a thriller — and not quite working as either. The comedy elements run toward heavy-handed absurdity, and the thrills are telegraphed too early and often.

The central conflict — between the devilish Slowik and the quick-thinking Margot — brings out some sly acting both from Fiennes and Taylor-Joy, whose cat-and-mouse moments almost sustain “The Menu.” Unfortunately, almost isn’t enough.

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‘The Menu’

★★

Opens Friday, November 18, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for strong/disturbing violent content, language throughout and some sexual references. Running time: 106 minutes.