American Diner

As far as capturing a bygone era, DINER is a superb piece of cinematic worldbuilding: the cars, clothes, music, and popular culture shown all scream of the 1950s without glamming up the period too much, as everything looks lived-in and ordinary. The acting is superb across the board with Mickey Rourke as the standout.

The story itself is nothing too special. It clearly wants to be like AMERICAN GRAFFITI, capturing a sense of lost innocence and Baby Boomer nostalgia, but I did not care for the characters at all. When it comes to characters in a story, they have to be at least one of two things: sympathetic or interesting. The folks peopling DINER are neither. Most of the stories don't add up to much either: I was most interested in Rourke's conflict with the mob and the dilemma of the young pregnant woman who wants to keep her job rather than become a housewife, but none of this goes anywhere.

Much has been made of the misogyny in the film, but I have to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt-- it's probably intentional since all these guys are self-absorbed, immature, and (with the exception of the Timothy Daly character) unable to see the women in their lives as anything other than add-ons to their own lives. None of this is portrayed as natural or good, though it is true that the women in the film don't receive much development... though again, neither do the male characters, hence my disinterest in the film as anything other than a technically competent exercise in nostalgia.

PS To be honest, the only scene where I laughed was during the hilarious butchering of "Blue Moon" at the wedding. That's it.

I can't believe how many posters missed the point of the film.

The basic premise of the film is how men don't understand women and are even afraid of them.

Guys DO talk about women like meat when they are with other men. Did you expect them to gush about a female's personality to his fellows in the late '50s???????

See how guys even refer to Carol Heathrow as "death". Women are not to be understood and to be feared.

And the reason we never see Eddie's bride....think about it,,,if you SAW her, you'd make a judgement about that actress. "Wow, how could a guy pass her up just because she doesn't know more about football?" That's the reason we never see her. We must only know that Eddie loves her but is scared to marry her for various reasons. The moment we saw her face, there would be too many value judgements about whether Eddie is nuts to make her take the test. For thodse who complained about her face not being shown, ask yourself if it would have tainted your opinion of Eddie's requirement for marriage.

Sure, the movie doesn't SEEM like it has a plot. But it's just a slice of life in 1959, the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve....and we share that week.

When Mickey Rourke has to tell you that you're behaving like a jerk and to knock it off, you know you have problems. That would be at the opening when Boogie (Rourke) tells Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) to stop knocking out the windows in the men's bathroom with his bare hands, with Fenwick not angry, but instead drunk and giggling the entire time.

These two are part of a group of young men in their early twenties who have known each other all of their lives and are at a crossroads where they'll likely part, not due to any fundamental disagreement or falling out, but just because that's what adults do because of career choices, marriage, and diverging interests. Deep down they know this and they are fighting it in various ways, but in the meantime they gather in the titular diner to eat greasy food and talk into the night about nothing.

Everybody knows why Barry Levinson sets everything he writes and directs, even his series Homicide about a bunch of homicide detectives, in Baltimore. He was born there. He loves the place. But he was 17 in 1959 when this film is set, not 23, so the time period is a bit of a puzzle. Maybe to put this in the time that he was 23 - 1965 - would require too much of the revolution in culture that was going on at the time, and that's not what he wanted the film to be about.

The central focus of the film is Eddie's (Steve Guttenberg's) upcoming wedding. Eddie wants this thing yet he fears it for any number of reasons - the loss of independence, the loss of his virginity which he has never managed to lose up to this time, the eventual loss of this core group of friends. Eddie's fiance, Elyse, is never shown. You see the back of her at the wedding, you hear her voice during "the test", but that's all. I guess that makes her an indescribable presence that is going to change everything. And about that "test" that determines if she and Eddie will marry - over football knowledge? What woman would agree to such nonsense? I would see it as an absolute sign that my husband to be is trying his best to find any reason - even a ridiculous one - to get out of the wedding. But I digress.

I'd recommend this one for all of the little scenes, the big picture, the roster of stars who were just starting out, and the nostalgia for the late 50s which is perfect with a great soundtrack.

Diner, Barry Levinson's writing and directing debut belongs to so-called "small" or "minor" movies and it indeed does not have spectacular locations, breathtaking action sequences or even dramatic story. As Kevin Bacon comments in the Behind the Scenes Documentary, "There's not that much of a story, really. What do we do? We drive around..." What the movie has is "a very honest portrayal of a group...of guys that people relate to on a very personal level." The different generations of viewers react to film with devotion and recognition, and Diner has become one of the beloved long time cult favorites. Based on its writer/director's memories of growing up in Baltimore, the film takes place during the week between Christmas and New Year in 1959, and tells of the friendship of five guys in their early twenties. During the course of the film, we will get to know the young men, their fears of growing up, facing responsibilities, and making decisions, their fascination and insecurities with the girls.

From his Oscar-nominated script, BL makes the study of young men who hesitate to grow up but rather hang out in their beloved Diner. Daniel Stern's 'Shrevie' is an owner of LP collection that he seems to value more than his young and pretty wife (Ellen Barkin in her film debut). Mickey Rourke, played his best role (at least, IMO) as Boogy, the cynical womanizer with the most charming smile. Steve Guttenberg's Eddie puts his fiancée through the enormously difficult football quiz and the passing score is the must for the marriage because he is scared to get married. Kevin Bacon plays Fenwick, a permanently drunk and lost kid, the character much darker than the rest of the guys. Timothy Daly is Bill who seems to be the most successful of the bunch, and know what he wants but can't make the girl he loves to love him. By making Diner, Levinson actually put his native city, sleepy and provincial 1959 Baltimore, on the cinema map, and that's just one of movie's pleasures. And there are plenty. Diner is filled with authentic and believable scenes, situations, and conversations that everyone can relate to. The Diner's menu has a lot to offer to the grateful viewers and fans of the insightful, ironic, entertaining, small but bright and shiny gem. Barry Levinson does not flatter six protagonists but he understands them and loves them because he sees in them the indelible part of his own life, his experiences, and his own childhood friends. As another great film about childhood friendship says, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

Barry Levinson went on to create many good and very good films after Diner. These are just a few: The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam; Bugsy; Avalon; Sleepers, An Everlasting Piece, Disclosure, Wag the Dog, and his Oscar winner "Rain Man" but Diner will always have a very special place for me. This is the film I keep coming back to again and again, and as the time passes it only gets better.

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.