MovieChat Forums > The Menu (2022) Discussion > Excellent. But People Seem To Be Missing...

Excellent. But People Seem To Be Missing The Point


Why didn't the customers try to escape, fight back, etc?

Because they didn't want to. They were bored of life. Tyler was the most severely affected by this staggering ennui, hence he was told up front that he would die. And he was fine with that.

The others clung to the notion of wanting to live but in truth... they simply didn't want to.

When the passion is gone, why continue? (I'm tempted to suggest that it's a metaphor for western civilisation as a whole but that might be a little pretentious).

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Not really sure that reasoning applies to the wall street guys though. I could see that working for Leguiziamo and the older couple, and maybe arguably, the food critic.

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They attempted to smash the glass and make a genuine attempt to run for it, so you could argue they were the least accepting of their fate, but even they were ultimately willing to die.

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Definitely disagree with you there. They weren’t willing to die at all. They just didn’t see a way out against the odds. They still should’ve tried though.

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Yes, clearly at the end, they were willing to die. You see them not only not trying anything (like ordering a cheeseburger to go), but also paying for their bills, saying thank you, and even "we love you chef".

It's a little jarring because seemingly nothing really significant transpired between when they thought they were being rescued and when they became willing to die. Margot leaving with the cheeseburger wasn't something the rest of them really engaged in, and while they may have lost hope after the Coast Guard guy turned out to be a cook, you'd think at least some of them would've attacked, panicked, or at least not thank and say they loved the chef.

But this is explained early on, that they wouldn't understand until they had been served all of the courses. So be it brain-washing or a meal experience convincing them that the world would be better off without them, or whatever, they became willing to die when the S'mores were being served.

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I'm beginning to suspect that, like Tyler, they were also informed that they were going to die.

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That was the weakest part of the whole movie. You can see where they wanted to go but they didn’t know how to get there.

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Yes. Dying by fire is how I'd choose to go...

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spot on

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