AN EXQUISITE MEAL * USA 2020 Dir: Robert Bruce Carter. 60 mins
Agreeing to host a dinner party, a man prepares for a series of eccentric guests to come visit for the get-together. As the evening descends into chaos with a series of unruly and chaotic behavior featuring everyone descending into the most basic parts of their psyche featuring an orgy of sex, violence, and any other primal instinct they find themselves capable of which begins to cause the party to be delayed. With the night on its last legs, he devises any means possible to salvage the originally intended plans.
For the most part, this was a waste of time. The dark, black comedy stylings on display here offer up more of a comedic vibe to the night as the date spirals out of control with the guests continually screwing up their plans for the evening and how absurd the whole affair becomes. While this can be interesting enough for some to stay invested while the events constantly come up, it just has an air of amateurism throughout that renders any and all thrills and suspense null by going for an extremely bizarre tone rather than scares or thrills. The film works because the characters are weird and the situation grows increasingly more bizarre the more this goes on, but if the viewer isn’t interested in these factors this will be a mess of an entry.
Review by Don Anelli
AN EXQUISITE MEAL is available on Amazon