Dinner in America

I was fortunate enough to catch this film at Sundance. It is absolutely wonderful. The style of directing is very clean and stylized, and the humor used is biting but not trite. It's the perfect mixture.

Simon and Patty are misfits, forgotten or ignored by society. They are pushed aside. Simon is the kind of person who fiercely lives his life out loud by the code of punk rock, uncaring about what others think about him, but he has a good heart. He is often in the wrong situation at the wrong time and forced to make the best out of the options laid before him. Patty is often made fun of by her peers or complete strangers for no reason. She lives her life almost in secret, letting go and losing herself in her room to her music as she dances without abandon. From the outside, she's the last person you'd expect to be a punk rocker.

These two meet and what ensues is a beautiful, touching, and humorous journey about seeing someone else for who they truly are--learning to look past whatever first impressions that may have been formed and seeing the person inside of them who is often lost to others or afraid to come forth. By finding each other, Simon and Patty find themselves. Go see this movie!

A modern day version of Badlands or True Romance (without the killing), the Ben Stiller produced indie Dinner in America features two outcasts of society banding together through a chance encounter as Kyle Gallner's feisty punk rocker Simon and Emily Skegg's awkward recently fired retail worker and music super-fan Patty find solace in one another's company in the midst of the American mid-west.

A hit at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the covetous Grand Jury Prize and a key player at other film festival's over the last few years, Dinner is an impressive feature from director Adam Rehmeier who manages to give his film heart and soul amongst its pitch black showings of dark humor and bubbling tension that appears set to give our two main characters a journey that can only end in way in which they attack life with a fearless recklessness that society has forced them to undertake.

Key to the films success as a darkly in tune exploration of lost souls roaming the increasingly unhinged surrounds of the American working class system is the performances of Gallner and Skeggs, who are both likely to benefit greatly from Dinner finally being available to a mass audience as their turns here suggest both actors are sure to be staple of the industry in the years yet to come should they stay as committed to their craft as they are here.

Full of rage and often misguided energy but also a charisma that is hard to ignore, Gallner does impressive work as the not always likeable but hard to hate Simon while Skegg's is beautifully vulnerable as Patty who starts to grow into a whole different version of herself once Simon enters her life and allows her to be the person she was always supposed to be, even if the landscape and people around her might not be as ready to accept the new version her being.

In many ways Dinner is a slight film, there's no big payoffs or revelations here and for the most part the film plays entirely off the work of its two leads but for anyone that connects to these two lost souls that find acceptance and meaning in one another, Dinner will provide a modern day gun-free Bonnie and Clyde that is fuelled by a wicked sense of humor and desire to stick it to the man.

Final Say -

A dark and sometimes tricky dramedy that won't strike a chord with everyone, Dinner in America is a noteworthy independent offering with two of the more intriguing main duos of recent memory, making this character driven escapade worth seeking out.

3 1/2 Nintendo 64 consoles out of 5

For more reviews check out Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

The first 15 to 20 minutes struggled, with the cuts too sharp and the dialogue a little clunky. However, stick with it - once it got going it found a good pace with a light tone, comedic moments and some highlights that were genuinely touching. I didn't think it offered anything new in regards to the story (ultimately it's a bad boy and a 'weirdo girl') but it was so well done with thorough, fleshed out characters, that it was very hard to find anything to dislike about it. It felt genuine and, importantly, it offered something different to what gets churned out nowadays. Plus points for a catchy headline song as well.

Quirky, offbeat comedy centered around two intensely unconventional characters. Much of the film is spent passive aggressively or all-out aggressively railing against banality and status quo in the American suburbs but there is also a sweet, heartwarming core and a lot of charm. It did feel a little long in the 2nd half without quite as much momentum as the 1st but overall this was a really enjoyable and unusual film.

It's these little indie movies that restore my faith in cinema. I'm sort of guy that trawls IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes looking for new movies, but there are always ones that fly under the radar. Looking at this movie being over 4 years old now and only having over 5000 ratings on IMDB is quite sad. No doubt it will gather an audience over the years, but someone should release it on a streaming platform or something to get it more exposure. Its basically a James Dean for the 2020's, but much funnier. Although rough on the outside it's actually a feel good movie. Was very impressed with the direction and the 2 main lead's. To be honest, thought they were better performances than those who just won Oscars this year.