UNHAPPY EATING | Former Cook Reacts to and Analyzes The Menu (2022)

I also think it's worth noting a little detail in that the cheesburger is made with bread. Bread which none of the customers were given.

50:04 there’s a deleted scene that explains why the chef got fed up with everything. at the height of his career, he quit cooking and essentially disappeared and just cooked at some korean taco truck. until the food critic found him again, wrote an article about his whereabouts, blew up, and is the reason why he got the funding for the island this scene happened while everyone was on the boat heading to the island

Honestly, its less that Erin is an eater/taker , its more along the lines that the interaction at the end between her and Slowik was a transaction between service workers . Nothing more , nothing less. She gave him the chance to feel like an artist again and he gave her the freedom to walk away from a "dish" she shouldn't have been in to begin with.

The guests not fighting to survive was the reflection of the guests never having to fight for anything because everything was always given to them

I think Tyler’s suicide was Slowik’s most exquisite punishment. Here was a man so caught up in the mysticism around haute cuisine—the whole “chefs cook on the edge using the very tools of life/death, where God lives” and such—that he VOLUNTARILY came there—and paid—to die as part of the culinary experience, callously signing Erin’s death warrant in the process. And once Chef called his bluff-and he was exposed for the fraud he was—Chef denied him the chance to become an ingredient in the glorious foodie death he craved. It’s almost tragic in a way, because you can see the death of Tyler’s twisted dream in his eyes as he goes to hang himself.

Your lambasting of Tyler throughout the movie was honestly such a serve, his entire trope made me SO ANGRY. Hoult's acting was to perfection here for that very reason, but from the perspective of someone who grew up in high society social circles without wanting to be there, Hoult's trope during this movie was the type of person that made me want to break every single rule of high society lmao

I've heard that Margo wasn't originaly supposed to punch Tyler. She was supposed to just stare shocked and sadly and shed a tear. But the actress didn't like it and sugested that it would be better if she would punch Tyler instead. Director agreed aaaaand... Yeah 😅😄

I think the ending shows that Erin/Margot is good at her job. Her job as an SW is not just about sex, but about meeting the emotional needs of her clients -- and more the latter than the former. She figures out what Slawik needs and gives it to him. She gave him a reminder of what had made him happy, what drew him into the industry in the first place. No, it was not enough to redeem him, but it was enough for him to recognize that she was what he claimed to be -- a giver -- and that because of that it would be unfair for him to take her life.

My understanding is that the critic was eventually waterborne with broken emulsion, but the scene was cut for triggering people. They literally shoved it down her throat, drowning her in a single mistake.

I think something that I haven't seen discussed so much is the price of the burger. Erin asks for a burger at a fair price, what she expects food, she gets what she wanted and leaves satisfied, and the chef is happy to serve her. The restaurant's elite clientele pay an exorbitant amount, but they demand even increasing perfection, they're never satisfied, and show no appreciation for the work put into the food, despite him and his staff dedicating their lives to this food. The customers want a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience, and this is what the chef ultimately gives them. He gives them his life, and the lives of his staff, but they must pay for it with their lives. It's the ultimate expression of his obsession with perfection, while also being a reflection of this perverted client-server relationship.

Julian Slowik calling Richard a donkey is the icing on the cake. I got Gordon Ramsay vibes from that. Also, the Tyler’s Bullshit scene was funny too

One thing that's been pointed out to me is that Slowik has gathered these guests together because they're "eaters", yes, but they also represent what he hates about himself. The overly harsh critic, the sycophant, the aging passionless professional, the prestige hungerer, the terrible customer, the name dropper, and so on. As he puts it, he's a monster. He isn't killing for "justice" or "revenge" -- he's just killing because he wants to. And himself perhaps most of all. John Leguizamo's character was never named. :) So no surprise you couldn't remember, lol.

Oooo so I didn't think the wife KNEW I just thought she was broken by the whole experience that she finally understood how thankless she and her husband had been to the chef (not able to remember a single dish of the 11 times they had been there) and that she was thanking him now for his services to her. But I kinda like your interpretation more! Love the video 💗💗💗

Holy shit, the level of foreshadowing that you caught in all of the dishes is AWESOME! On first viewing I just assumed they were mostly just designed to be overly-complicated and pretentious - it didn't even occur to me that the Chef was speaking to them in his chosen language the whole night. :)

“He’s immune to the fire”. Literally! He has heat proof hands. It’s something he needed to develop to be “good” at his job and may even be something he prides himself in but also means he can’t actually feel anything. He can’t be hurt by the fire or by the people he serves. But as a result he can’t feel any of the good things. I love your commentary on this.

I don't think the wife knew about the intent of the menu, but I think she realized that Slowik was correct about her being a thankless consumer, stuck in a dead-end marriage with a man she despises. She, like the others, just bowes down and accepts her fate. I also got the feeling she was always aware her husband was unfaithful (hence the cold, passive-aggressive atmosphere between them), but what shocked her was that he was specifically and intentionally sleeping with a woman who looks like their daughter, and the darker implications of that, which is why she is fine with him dying. I also think it was a great touch that she didn't show animosity towards Erin/Margot. So often you get catfights between the cheated wife and the SW in fictional media, when it was the husband who cheated. The SW is just doing her job. I liked that the wife gave Erin an approving nod when she left, showing that she isn't mad at her or wants her to get hurt. She understood that Erin was not the one she should blame.

The first time I watched this movie was with my best friend, who works as a head chef at one of the most famous ski resorts in the United States, and while I would’ve loved this movie regardless, watching it with her made the movie so much better. My best friend understood this movie on a level I could never because she’s worked in that type of kitchen from the moment she graduated culinary school. Her watching the movie was so entertaining for me because I could see how cathartic the movie was for her. She’s had the exact type of customers that were in this movie every single day, and by the end of the movie she looked so satisfied and almost vindicated. She also talked a lot about the movie and broke it down while we watched it and after, and discussed everything from what you were saying about the food preparation, as well as the amount of cult like devotion members of a staff will have towards an executive chef that they work under, even under conditions that can only be considered abusive. It was honestly really cool to see and I’m not sure that I’ll have another experience like that again with the film.

Ralph is scarier in this than he ever was a Voldemort. His cadence and his delivery is so freaking incredible.

Funny side note- there was an emulsion ‘water boarding’ scene with the critic, which was cut from the film. So you weren’t far off with the expectation that Elsa would shove her face into the bowl. 😂 By the way, I loved the character of Elsa, too. ☺️ When I first watched the movie, I also thought, “ugh, why are they taking Jeremy’s body through the kitchen?” too. Then I had to remember… he was part of the menu. 😎🤣 Ralph Fiennes killed it in this movie, no pun intended, haha. His portrayal of Slowik was indeed menacing. I was at home saying yes, chef! like I was part of the crew. 😂😂 Especially when he started having people taken out. Technically he’s a mass murderer, not a serial killer but that’s neither here nor there because he still made me feel like I was in danger through the screen. 😂

I love your analysis of the dishes themselves!