Nicholas Hoult’s Pathetic The Menu Performance Makes Its Perfect Ending

Nicholas Hoult’s incredible performance as Tyler, a pathetic wannabe foodie, in Mark Mylod’s The Menu makes the film’s great ending even better.

Nicholas Hoult’s pathetic character in The Menu makes the film’s ending truly perfect. Set at Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant located on a remote island, director Mark Mylod’s black comedy satirizes the world of fine dining, skewering many of its patrons in the process. The Menu dishes up an all-star ensemble as its collection of diners, including The Queen’s Gambit‘s Anya Taylor-Joy, Encanto‘s John Leguizamo, and Ozark‘s Janet McTeer. However, no character receives as much ridicule as Nicholas Hoult’s Tyler, a pretentious “foodie” who cares more about having the opportunity to eat at a high-class establishment than he does about anything else.

Nicholas Hoult has received rapturous acclaim for his role as Tyler, especially for his ability to play the character’s arrogance and obsession with getting noticed by Hawthorn’s Chef Slowik. It is this compulsion that sets the stage for what happens to Tyler in The Menu, as Slowik invites Tyler to join the kitchen staff in cooking a course. Unbeknownst to the star-struck Tyler, this invitation to cook is merely a ruse for Slowik to utterly humiliate the man who has “drained the mystery from [his] art.” Through their respective demises, The Menu inextricably links the characters of Tyler and Slowik, making the film’s ending perfect.

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The pathetic notes in Nicholas Hoult’s performance as Tyler make Chef Slowik’s death at the end of The Menu even better. Following his utter humiliation in the kitchen, Tyler takes his own life, hanging himself with his own tie. Presumably, he is instructed to do this when Slowik whispers in his ear. Later, during Mylod’s The Menu ending, Slowik sets Hawthorn ablaze with everyone but Margot inside, himself included. Tyler and Slowik’s shared fates tie The Menu‘s themes of exploitation and death together, and prove the two characters are not entirely different. This connection only happens because Hoult’s performance as Tyler is so pathetic and dorky.

Slowik abuses Tyler in the kitchen until he wishes to die because Tyler has devalued his culinary art. This, in turn, helps cause Slowik’s own decision to end both his life and his restaurant due to a loss of passion for cooking. Both characters die because of the negative impact cooking has had upon them. Tyler’s death makes Slowik’s more poignant during The Menu‘s final moments, as it encapsulates Slowik’s loss of love for cooking in a matter of moments. Had Nicholas Hoult played Tyler in The Menu with a less pathetic slant, the movie’s ending would carry far less weight.

Nicholas Hoult’s performance as Tyler further improves The Menu‘s ending by providing added gratification when Margot escapes. It is revealed in The Menu that Tyler brought Margot along as a date despite knowing she would die. Tyler could not care less about Margot’s wellbeing, and this callousness highlights the pathetic nature of Hoult’s character.

Margot being able to escape with her life regardless of the mortal danger Tyler put her in makes The Menu‘s ending much more satisfying. Through Hoult’s performance as someone so relentlessly obsessed with high-class eating, The Menu creates a desire to see Margot beat her date from hell. Were Tyler played with a down-the-middle characterization, the air-punch when Margot escapes would become slightly less enthusiastic.

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