Parents' Guide to Delicious

The first half of this thriller is compelling, and it feels like it could be a deliciously slow buildup to a gripping finale, but sadly this isn't the case. By the end, Delicious will leave most audiences with a disappointing taste in their mouths. For one, the film's conceit should reveal itself much earlier. This would allow more thrills, play, and fun to be had between the two parties involved. Rather than a thrilling climax, the finale comes in too late and doesn't really make a (bite) mark, especially because audiences have long pieced everything together. The other glaring problem is that this film either isn't sure what perspective it has on "the wealthy" or does have an opinion but fails in delivering it.

In other words, Delicious is clearly trying to do a Parasite kind of thing, but the former ends up humanizing "the wealthy" family way too much, such that most audiences, wealthy or not, will likely sympathize with the family (and particularly the children) rather than hate them. So, is this film trying to say, hey, people should really care about the wealthy; life is hard for them too? Or is it trying to have delicious fun plating out a scenario that has young non-wealthy adult cannibals targeting wealthy people to eat them? The latter could have been unabashed fun, but instead this film feels unintentionally opaque. And lastly, the film makes no effort to provide any motive or background for Theodora and her friends, except for the fact that they, for some reason, clearly hate wealthy people.