The 2022 film The Menu has dominated the Netflix charts, hitting the number one spot in the Top 10 movies section on the streaming service. Directed by Mark Mylod, The Menu is a scathing and hilarious social commentary that centers around working-class woman Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she becomes unknowingly trapped in the restaurant of a high-end Chef (Ralph Fiennes) on a remote island, along with several high-class and incredibly wealthy socialites, not knowing the twisted surprises that await in the menu for the evening.
The Menu is filled with clever, dry humor and riveting performances from the likes of Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, John Leguizamo, and many others, each representative of a facet of high society whose tone deafness and lack of empathy land them in the hands of a chef gone mad. The way Fiennes portrays the unhinged cook with incredible levels of restraint helps to make the movie that much more unnerving in certain moments and hilarious in others. The film, which could also be found on Hulu (albeit with a cable channel add-on), is now more readily available to the vast number of Netflix subscribers, giving viewers a chance to experience Mylod’s foodie-fueled horror movie.
Besides his work directing The Menu, Mylod is also most well-known for executive producing the HBO series Succession, for which he directed several episodes. The last feature film Mark Mylod directed was released 11 years before The Menu, titled What’s Your Number. The romantic comedy has a 23% rating on the review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus calling it “predictable” and “boilerplate.” Unfortunately, the Anna Faris and Chris Evans-led project wouldn’t be the director’s only critical miss. His two other films, The Big White and Ali G India House, both have “rotten” ratings of 30% and 56%, respectively.
With an 88% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Menu is the director’s first feature film to receive widespread positive reviews, proving that he can create engaging films, given the right story material and themes. The movie’s newfound popularity on Netflix speaks for itself, as the tonal departure from the rest of Mylod’s rom-com filmography might hint that the director’s sensibilities are more towards morbid and sociopolitical stories than anything else. Besides The Menu, Mylod’s next work can be seen in the upcoming second season of The Last of Us, in which he directed the second episode of the new installment. Mylod has also been tapped to direct and executive produce the upcoming Harry Potter series for HBO, a massive undertaking for the network that will undoubtedly consume much of his time.
The Menu may be the director’s last feature film for some time, so viewers should continue to enjoy it on Netflix as Mylod shifts his focus back to HBO. For now, the film represents a break in Mylod’s television work and a phenomenal, small-scale horror with plenty of moments of comedy that offer a concerning reflection of poor societal standards and classism.
