Dîner entre amis

I haven't seen a movie this talky since "My Dinner with Andre." There the similarity between the two movies ends, though, because the dialogue in this movie is stilted, banal, predictable, and most of all, deadly dull. I don't think that either McDowell or Quaid were up to these roles; though I don't think the best actors imaginable could have breathed a lot of life into them. But these two come off almost as automatons, shifting emotional gears right on cue, just the way you expect them to. Like it's...it's...you know what it reminded me of? Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson in one of their "serious" moments in "Home Improvement." "OK, first 13 seconds of anger, then 22 seconds of self-defense, then a quick joke, 18 seconds of resolution, another joke, a hug, a kiss, and...CUT! And that's a wrap." I can only be glad that Quaid and McDowell don't talk to an avuncular next-door neighbor over a fence.

Clearly we're supposed to see the friends who are split up as the outwardly "perfect" people, charming, good-looking, bragging about the great sex with their new partners, rich, insisting that they're happy, but clearly we're supposed to identify with McDowell and Quaid, the introspective, homey couple who wonder if the fires have gone cold, but see, it's the very wondering that proves the fires *haven't* gone cold. I think.

And after all of the wrangling and the wrenching revelations and the anguished talk and the furrowed brows and the bitten lower lips, the whole thing is resolved by Quaid climbing on top of McDowell and the lights go out. All they needed was a little old-fashioned, introspective, homey sex. Not the wild, exotic, enjoyable kind, just the dull routine kind. In the picture-perfect bed in the picture-perfect bedroom of their picture-perfect cottage in picture-perfect Martha's Vineyard, with their picture-perfect sons asleep and all's well with the world. What seemed like acute marital appendicitis proved to be just a bit of gas.

Burp.

I happen to be someone who does like to watch the credits roll in when a movie ends. I know it's one of those silliest things a person can do after watching a movie but then when I saw the final credit, it's a made-for-TV movie from HBO. I was pretty impressed.

Gabe and Karen (Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell respectively) are food critics. They had been happily married for 12 years and have two sons as well. When one day their friend Beth (Toni Collette) was being invited over for dinner with her two sons in tow, Beth broke the news that she and her husband Tom are being separated because he was having an affair outside of the family. Given Tom is Gabe's friend and Beth is Karen's friend, married couple Gabe and Karen started to defend over what each of their best friend had did.

The way Tom questioned his wife over whatever happened at Gabe and Karen's house when she was there with the kids was a little, kind of scary. But maybe given he is a lawyer, it's just like that.

The movie even had scenes of flashback, showing the happier times between the four friends themselves. It was definitely really sweet to see those scenes.

Sometimes, the lines are not always being drawn clearly when it come to the marriage of someone you know or maybe your own's when something starts to happen. The grey area is there. Now maybe I am not of marriageable age yet, but then standing up to whatever your friend had did is one thing I am clearly aware about.

My final say? Like what I had mentioned on the title for this review.

Dinner with Friends is somewhat unusual. Perhaps I''m just not as well-versed as I thought, but I haven't seen other movies about two couples that are friends, one splits up and its effect on the other couple.

This movie obviously originates as a stage play as it consists of four people sitting around and talking. As such, you can only make it so interesting, visually.

Because of this, the movie relies pretty much exclusively on the dialog and actors to make things interesting, and they mostly deliver. There were a few moments where the acting seemed very stage-style, for lack of a better term, but still decent overall.

I would caution you that you won't like this movie if you can't connect with the source material. It's a study of marriages and why some work and others don't as well as the effects of a divorce on friends. I would recommend it mostly to people who have had long- term relationships and/or are interested in them.

No character makes sense, everybody is wrong. Gabe and especially the ultra conservative Karen constantly temper in their friend's decisions, which are really none of their business (as if my best friend had a right to tell me who I should be with or what my goals and principles in life should be). Tom on the other hand is a self-righteous bastard who always thinks of himself as the victim. He loves talking about himself and doesn't accept anyone else's opinion. And Beth, well, she's just an unbelievably annoying person. I could see how anyone would want to leave her.

A movie about failed marriages and love should show how nobody is wrong and everybody is right. The thing is, none of the four characters here is believable and the dialog is painful at times. From the first time Tom and Beth meet it's hard to believe that the two of them are even attracted to each other. It's also hard to believe that somebody as far removed from reality as Karen is living on this planet and happily married.

Nope, the writers got it all wrong and not even the cast can save this movie. Sorry.

Gabe (Dennis Quaid) and Karen (Andie MacDowell) are a married couple with kids. They are regaling their friend Beth (Toni Collette) with food stories from their trip to Italy. Beth shocks them by revealing that Tom (Greg Kinnear) had cheated on her and wants a divorce. It forces Gabe and Karen to reconsider their longtime friends.

Norman Jewison has adapted a play. This starts great with interesting actors. I hope for better but that's not in the cards. It's a relationship movie where I'm not sure that I care about the relationships. It is still fascinating at first but over time, I lost interest. It feels too much like a play.