SnoopyStyle
It's Christmas Night 1959 Baltimore. A group of friends reunite for Eddie Simmons (Steve Guttenberg)'s marriage. Shrevie (Daniel Stern) and Beth Schreiber (Ellen Barkin) are unhappily married. Boogie (Mickey Rourke) is the slick womanizer. Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) is the prankster. Modell (Paul Reiser) and Billy (Tim Daly) round out the group. Their hangout is the Hilltop Diner.It's a very impressive cast. Everybody is terrific acting-wise. However I couldn't really get into the meandering nature of the movie. I found it hard to concentrate on any of the characters. It doesn't have the light fun of 'American Graffiti'. I would have liked a movie of them just talking in the diner about their lives.
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW)
When a movie has star quality, it must be good. For "Diner", it's Great! I mean just look at the list: Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, and Paul Reiser. Set in 1959 Baltimore, the gang are enjoying the last week of the 50's. One of them is about to get married, while the others talk about different stuff that they don't care about, or just as obnoxious as the person who says it. Though in their 20's, they still act like they're younger. One plays a joke claiming the car is wrecked, in which he staged it to look like it was wrecked. The diner scenes are all to common. Debating, trading food, comparing, and other whatnot's. The one scene that got me the most is when Boogie(Rourke) unzipped his fly, and put the popcorn box in his pants while watching "A Summer Place". He freaked her out when his "member" peeked from the popcorn. He explained his situation, and she's cool about it. Other women would run for their lives. Then there was the late night jam when two of the friends decided to kick up the joint, and everyone have a great time. We all need to grow up, but who says who has to stay that way. Watch this movie, and you'll be back in your youth. 5 stars.
PWNYCNY
This movie provides a glimpse into the difference between true friendship and mutual association. in this movie all the principle know each other, talk with each other, even spend a lot of time with each other, but they are not friends. That is, although there is an appearance of camaraderie, they really don't care about each other. Although the movie lacks a conventional plot, it still tells a story about people who play off each other with dramatic results. Unlike, let's say, the principle group of friends in Deer Hunter, in which the group is held tightly together by bonds of religion ethnicity and cultural heritage, the glue holding together the group in diner is much weaker and less definable, and may not even exist. All they do is talk, laugh, and complain, and it does not take much to split the group apart. Perhaps the point of the movie is to dramatize the tenuousness of relationships and not to bank on seeking support from those you hang out with because they may not be there for you. Now, the cast is universally excellent with Mickey Rourke delivering the strongest performance. His character is the one that comes closest to being a real friend, yet even he is involved with stuff that sets him apart form the others. Ellen Barkin also gives a strong performance as the woman who is a symbol of everything the guys talk about regarding women. This is a good movie that provides dramatic treatment of group dynamics in a fluid social context.
Jackson Booth-Millard
This was the debut film from director Barry Levinson (Good Morning, Vietnam; Rain Man), and it also introduced us to many then mostly unknown actors that each went on to do bigger things. Basically the film is set in Baltimore, 1959, where a group of twenty-something male high school students reunite for the wedding of one of them. The group's regular hangout and meeting spot is in the Fells Point Diner, and they are challenging their relationships as they head for adulthood. Edward 'Eddie' Simmons (Steve Guttenberg) is the one getting married, Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber (Daniel Stern) questions why he is married to Beth (Ellen Barkin), Robert 'Boogie' Sheftell (Mickey Rourke) is a gambler with many debts, Timothy Fenwick Jr. (Kevin Bacon) is an irresponsible drunk with attitude problems, and William 'Billy' Howard (Tim Daly, as Timothy) is in love with a woman who is pregnant but doesn't want to marry him. There is no real plot as such, it is just taking a look at each of the five group members one at a time as they struggle with whatever problems they face as they grow up. Also starring Paul Reiser as Modell, Kathryn Dowling as Barbara, Michael Tucker as Bagel and Jessica James as Mrs. Simmons. It was nominated the Academy Award for scripting, but actually the actors were mostly ad-libbing which makes it look all the more naturalistic. My favourite scene is Stern getting moody when his wife doesn't order his record collection properly, I can be like that sometimes with my DVD collection. I think the big reason to see this film is to see where big stars like Guttenberg, Rourke and Stern really had their careers kick off in the way they did, it is a good old fashioned comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Levinson, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. It was number 57 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Very good!
AD
