''Tasting Menu'' is a 2013 Spanish-Irish comedy film directed by Roger Gual and starring

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as ''V for Vendetta'', ''Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and ''Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Award ...

Cast

* Jan Cornet as Marc *

Claudia Bassols Claudia Bassols Alonso (, ; born October 3, 1979) is a Spanish actress from Barcelona, Spain. (filmed October 2007) Career Bassols graduated from the American School of Barcelona in 1997, earned a degree in Musical Comedy from Coco Comín in ...

as Rachel *

Vicenta Ndongo Vicenta Ndongo (born 23 February 1968) is a Spanish actress. She earned early public recognition for her role in ''Airbag''. Biography Born on 23 February 1968 in Barcelona, she is of Equatoguinean descent. She graduated in acting from the Barc ...

as Mar *

Fionnula Flanagan Fionnghuala Manon "Fionnula" Flanagan (born 10 December 1941) is an Irish stage, television, and film actress. For her contributions to the entertainment industry, she was given the IFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Flanagan is known fo ...

as Comptessa *

as Walter * Togo Igawa as Ishao *Andrew Tarbet as Max * Marta Torné as Mina *Akihiko Serikawa as Yoshio *

Timothy Gibbs Timothy Brian Gibbs (born April 17, 1967) is an American director, actor, producer, and screenwriter who has starred in films, such as '' 11-11-11'' as Joseph Crone and ''The Kings of Brooklyn'' as Maximilian Sentor and television programs, such ...

as Daniel *

Santi Millán Santiago Millán Montes (born 13 September 1968, in Barcelona), professionally known as Santi Millán, is a Spanish actor, showman and television presenter. Career Millán studied theatre at Colegio del Teatro in Barcelona and in 1989 he joined ...

as Presentador * Andrea Ros as Paula *Andrés Herrera as Ramón *Iván Morales as Edu *Marc Rodríguez as Hidalgo *

Nancys Rubias Nancys Rubias (''Blonde Nancys'') is a Spanish rock-band created in 2004 in Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan are ...

as Músics

Release

The film premiered at the

Málaga Film Festival The Málaga Film Festival, formerly Málaga Spanish Film Festival (FMCE), is an annual film festival held in Málaga, Spain. The festival was established to promote Spanish cinema and help disseminate information about Spanish films. Since 2017, ...

in April 2013 and was released in Spain on June 14, 2013. In April 2013, it was announced that Magnolia Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. The film was released in U.S. theaters on April 18, 2014.

Reception

The film has a 17% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 18 reviews. Susan Wloszczyna of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

'' awarded the film two stars and wrote, "Yet nothing truly creates any emotional waves, and little seems at stake, no matter what potential disaster might seem to be in the offing."

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

of '' Variety'' gave the film a negative review and wrote, "This relentlessly mediocre ensemble dramedy features several of the least compelling dinner guests in recent memory." Clayton Dillard of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' awarded the film half a star out of four and wrote, "There’s a sinister, even insidious quality to a film that insists upon using incessant food montages not as a source of passion, but fodder for class-based self-congratulation." Mike D'Angelo of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' graded the film a D+ and wrote, "Among other demerits, this is the rare foodie movie that doesn’t seem to care much about food." Jonathan Holland of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' also gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Deliberately insubstantial, sometimes savory, sometimes tasteless and ultimately dissatisfying, ''Tasting Menu'' is the filmic equivalent of its title."

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, menu_degustacio Spanish comedy films Irish comedy films