Starring
Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Rebecca Hall, Cloe Sevigny,
Charlie Plummer, Adepero Oduye, Joel Bissonnette. Directed by Oren
Moverman. (2017, 120 min).
Watching
The Dinner is like sitting at a poker table with someone who
plays like each hand is the last one. Every time it's his bet,
he hems & haws, fumbles with his chips and repeatedly checks the cards in his hand as though they'll magically change. Then after an eternity of contemplation -
and everyone at the table is ready to kill him - he folds
anyway.
An
admittedly good cast is wasted in this frustrating tease of a movie
that's about as entertaining as a tax audit and, like your poker friend's tactics, ends up being much ado about nothing.
Two estranged brothers and their wives meet at a ritzy restaurant to
discuss and decide the fate their sons, two little bastards who
recorded themselves torturing a homeless woman to death. Since one of
the brothers (Richard Gere) is running for governor, the political
ramifications loom large.
 |
| "Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women." |
While
this has the makings of a compelling one-act morality play, The
Dinner's deadly two-hour running time is padded with needless
ambiguity, arty pretensions, ham-fisted metaphors and boring
flashbacks which establish most of these
characters as awful human beings. As a disgraced history teacher with
mental issues, Paul (Steve Coogan), is often the most unbearable
person in the room. Despite what we learn of his tumultuous past, Paul's abrasive personality & verbal venom make it tough to muster any empathy.
Worse yet, he's the primary focus of the story.
The
reward for our patience is the realization that we're no more
enlightened by these characters or events than we were at the
beginning, just like waiting on that anal-retentive poker player
whose hand but turns out to be nothing. The Dinner is a
joyless and frustrating endurance test that wallows in
self-importance.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - With Writer/director Owen Moverman and Laura Linney
PHOTO
GALLERY
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
BLEH...LIKE COUGHING UP A HAIRBALL
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