Melvin Goes to Dinner

Just got the DVD after discovering it on Netflix and enjoyed it, although I wish I'd seen it with a live audience for the laughs. It's "My Dinner with Yuppies" - but these guys are likable, smart, funny and occasionally deep. The effect is that you feel like you're the fifth member at the table. Definitely a worthwhile rental.

Bob Odenkirk directed, so there's some of his Mr. Show gang involved like David Cross and Jack Black (who delivers big time as the "Creatress"). There's also the uber-likable Maura Tierney along with Laura Kightlinger, to pepper this low-budget indy with a some bankable star power. But none of the major characters are "stars" although Blieden's is a face you'll swear you've seen somewhere (commercials?), but you can't quite place it.

But like so many independent films, the story behind the movie is just as, if not more interesting. The additional features include scenes from the play "Phyro-Giants" written by Blieden, that spawned this film. The commentary, especially the producers track is an independent producer's 101 where you found out how Blieden edited this whole film on a "single processor Powermac" in Final Cut. Damn, I'm impressed...

No, it's not quite "Swingers" but it's very good, with solid performances that come from a unique ensemble chemistry (these guys did this thing on stage for five months). I hear this has been on the Sundance Channel (don't get it), but I'd recommend the DVD for the extra's.

Somewhere between TV pap and movie crap, independent films like this, made on the cheap but sparing little or nothing in the quality of writing/performance, offer some hope for viewers who want something more. I look forward to Blieden's next film.

Four people, two guys and two gals, at different places in their lives, chance to meet at a restaurant for dinner one day, and end up revealing themselves and discovering each other in ways none of them could have predicted. For the most part, they are bright, young, upwardly mobile professionals, comfortable discussing themselves, and hence even without a psychologist to act as moderator, they interact in a manner reminiscent of group therapy. That is, they take turns admitting their secret thoughts and obsessions, take issue with each other on some points, and try to benefit from each other's experiences and perspectives. One of them even has some background in a field related to psychiatry, but of course with minimal insight.

The point of the film seems to be that, thanks to their group discussion, they all develop a wider perspective on life, but especially Melvin, whose life had been spiraling out of control. In some regards he seems the brighter of the four, yet the least insightful. All of the characters become more aware of themselves through their interactions over dinner, but it is Melvin who benefits the most. How he grows, and what he learns from that encounter, are what makes this film worth viewing. Thanks to his opportunity, Melvin doesn't just go out to dinner, but learns to take control of his life. It is a very subtle story, but worthy of critical attention.

Melvin (Writer Micheal Blieden, adapting his own stage play for the small screen), meets up with friends, old and new, over dinner and has a conversation about ghosts, religion, sex, secrets, and religion (not necessarily in that order). The conversation itself is engaging and flows nicely, but the scenes out of the restaurant,though not without merit (David Cross, Jack Black, and Maura Tierney, have good parts in said parts), tend to mess up the flow of the film somewhat. And based on the film I'd be interested in seeing the play.

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Commentary by Bob Odenkirk, Micheal Blieden, and cast members; Second Commentary by Odenkirk, Blieden, the producers, composer, and Cinematographer; "The Frank International Film Festical" (a funny 15 minute skit); Scenes from the stage play Phyro-Giants!"; Trailers for "the Slaughter Rule", "Swimming", "Mule Skinner Blues", "Searching for Paradise", "the Hired Hand", "the Other Side of the Bed", "In This World", "Dopamine", and a promo for the Sundance film series

DVD-ROM: Screenplay in PDF format

Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's brief running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.

All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.

If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.

Michael Blieden wrote the play on which "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is based and he also authored the screenplay. He's Melvin, an apparent early dropout from psychiatry working for his sister in some municipal planning department. He plans on dinner with his old friend, Joey (Matt Rice) and their pal, Alex (Stephanie Courtney). With flashbacks, we learn that Alex ran into her business school classmate whom she hasn't seen for seven years, Sarah (Annabelle Gurwitch) and invited her to join the trio for dinner.

What follows is a typical casual, restaurant get-together among friends in their thirties who engage in random and rapidly shifting chatter. The usual topics prevail: friendship, work, the ticking of a woman's biological clock, reincarnation, anal sex, cheating on lovers - the list goes on. They have a waitress, unnamed (Kathleen Roll), who's predictably ditzy.

It's all been done before but there is a surprise here near the end, a big one. And the quartet is engaged in some probing but fleeting talk about life issues that matter to most viewers, especially younger ones. The cast is largely inexperienced-only one, Ms. Gurwitch, has any real list of credits.

One really neat episode: recounting his experiences as a staff shrink (and improbably wearing not only surgical garb but a face mask around his throat), Melvin interviews a purportedly schizophrenic patient played, without a credit, by Jack Black. Black's nutcase actually espouses one of the most lucid and convincing views of the nature of life I've ever seen on the screen. He doesn't belong on a psych ward. It really got me thinking.

"Melvin Goes to Dinner" is neither as terrific as some claim nor as bad as others feel. If, like me, you are a restaurant voyeur who compulsively listens in on conversations emanating from other tables, you'll feel at home here and particularly enjoy following the whole interchange without being distracted by talking with your friends or having to deal with wait staff.

7/10