Rating: 
Summary: "American Graffiti" and "Stand by Me" mixed together
Review: This hilarious piece of nostalgia is a classic to me. A group of buddies tie up ends to their childhood and enter adulthood in the late 50's. Stars Daniel Sterns, Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Ellen Barkin and many more.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a great movie!
Review: This is a good movie about young men growing up in the 50's. It has some of the best writing I have seen in a film and it features many of today's stars when their careeers were just beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Great flick for old Colt fans
Review: This is a tale of great friendships and loyalty to the Baltimore Colts. I myself have never been married because my girlfriends could not pass the Oriole tivia test. We still miss our Colts and our nights growing up with our buddies in Fells Point. Long live french fries with gravy and Natty Boh!!
Rating: 
Summary: Far from excellent
Review: This is one of the top 100 comedies, according to the American Film Institute, but I hardly laughed at all. I enjoy many comedies, but this one had few funny moments. Plus, I could not stand Mickey Rourke; is he always this annoying? And the rest of the actors are far from great ones. Where did the idea of calling this a classic come from? The only reason I'm giving this 2 stars is because the film itself was made fairly well. It did have a 1950's atmosphere, but other than that, I was highly disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Sanctuary or Tomb?
Review: This is the first of films which comprise Barry Levinson's "Baltimore Trilogy," the other two being Tin Men (1987) and Avalon (1990). No two share much in common except Levinson's obvious love of the city and his commitment to "controlled freedom" which allows actors to improvise, collaborate with him on script revisions, and in other ways participate in the completion of a film. The nature and extent of such engagement is unique. The results -- as evident in the trilogy -- are impressive. I guess you could call Diner a "guys film" but the six mutually-dependent (co-dependent?) young men seem so immature, indeed so dysfunctional to me that I find it difficult to believe that any reasonably intelligent, self-assured young woman would want to have anything with them, especially as a group. Beth (Ellen Barkin) is married to one of them, "Shrevie" (Daniel Stern), who would much rather hang out at the diner with his friends than spend time with her. Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is engaged to be married and already has concerns about being "tied down" as he prepares a prenuptial quiz based on Baltimore Colts trivia. His fiancee must get at least a score of 65 to "pass" or the wedding is off. Modell (Paul Reiser) has a sharp sense of humor and apparently nothing else going for him. "Boogie" (Mickey Rourke) is a hair dresser by day and claims to be a law student at night while sinking further into (gambling) debt to his bookie. As for Timothy (Kevin Bacon), he lives on a meager monthly allowance from a family trust fund and is perhaps the most lethargic of them all, no doubt because he is almost always drunk or close to it. They are re-joined by Billy who returns to Baltimore from graduate school in New York to serve as Eddie's best man. Billy has a pregnant girlfriend who seems indifferent to any further contact with him. According to Levinson, he shot the diner scenes last so that, by then, the six lead actors would have gotten to know each other and be more comfortable with each other...if not bond as tightly as the characters they portray in the film. My reactions to it when I first saw it were different from when I saw it again recently. Unlike in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), much of the humor in Diner now seems somewhat stale to me. Also I now have much less patience with the central characters' immaturity and irresponsibility which I thought was rather cool in 1982. Also, I am much more uncomfortable now with how they view women and, worse yet, how they treat them. Finally, I now feel some degree of sorrow for behavior which seems so wasteful. Don't these guys realize that time is NOT unlimited, that getting as much formal education as possible is highly desirable, that decisions have consequences, and the number and quality of opportunities in their lives will rapidly diminish each year? Obviously, the movie hasn't changed. I have. However, then in 1982 and again recently, I really enjoyed the soundtrack (available on a CD), featuring 41 classics which include Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On (Jerry Lee Lewis), Teenager in Love (Dion & The Belmonts), Mr. Blue (The Fleetwoods), Come Go with Me (Del Vikings), Beyond the Sea (Bobby Darin), It's All in the Game (Tommy Edwards), Whole Lotta Lovin (Fats Domino), Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presley), and Goodbye Baby (Jack Scott). Each generates so many personal memories, including specific scenes in this film. The DVD version offers two especially interesting special features: an "Introduction" by Levinson and a "making of" documentary called "Diner: On the Flip Side" with Levinson and members of his talented cast (except Rourke). Those who enjoy this film are urged to check out the aforementioned Tin Men and Avalon as well as American Graffiti (1974), Car Wash (1976), The Hollywood Knights (1980), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Mystic Pizza (1988), and Barbershop (2002).
Rating: 
Summary: THE most BORING movie EVER!!!
Review: This is what happens when you buy movies that Amazon recommends; I consider my EXTREME boredom with this movie my PUNISHMENT for letting them recommend a movie for me to buy. Don't let the fantastic cast lure you; this movie is BORING!
True, it is realistic in the sense that conversations among friends -- more often than not -- don't necessarily go anywhere, and oftentimes the texture of a movie is -- not in the conversations themselves -- but in the relationships that become evident within those conversations, but nevertheless DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on this movie.
Did I mention that it was BORING?
Rating:
Summary: Great Film, Funny
Review: This was a great film. I've always liked Levinson's ability to create believable (if eccentric) characters on the screen. All the actors are great and Mickey Rourke puts in an excellent perfomance as the leading man. My one criticism of this movie is that I don't think the storyline was quite as developed as it should have been. The major dilemmas (marriage, owed money to bookies) were resolved at the end almost anti-climactically without any lead up. But this film is pretty good: entertaining and funny. For those who like this one, I also recommend Levinson's masterpiece, Avalon.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Too many witless "coming of age" movies were produced during the eighties, but this really was something special. A true ensemble performance of great intelligence and marvellous, often melanchony humour. Barely aline is wasted and as with every one of the finest movies, you sense that all the participants know that they taking part in something special. There is also a wonderful sense of period and it is a pity that Barry Levinson's work since (excpet perhaps for TV's Homicide) has rarely hit such heights A classic which, rarely for me, I have watched on a number of occasions.
Rating:
Summary: We'll always have "Diner," and hooray for that!
Review: What is really interesting about Diner is that it came very early in the career of its director and actors, yet although most of them have had monster hits since then, they have never surpassed their achievement in this movie. In none of his other films has Barry Levinson made his slice-of-life Baltimore milieu seem so cohesive, so moving, or so hilarious; in no other films did Mickey Rourke and Steve Guttenberg--who looked like nascent superstars in 1982 but squandered their early promise--come across with such charisma and charm. Even the preponderance of actors from this movie who went on to huge success--Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Paul Reiser--reached a personal best in "Diner." In a way this is the ultimate "guy flick"--concerned very much with the way guys talk, think, and react to each other and to women--yet there's enough humor, tenderness and humanity in Levinson's vision to make this an excellent choice for any audience. It's interesting to note that Stern also starred in "Breaking Away," another classic sleeper comedy about young guys hanging out and trying to forget the future. The two flicks would make a great rental double bill!
Rating:
Summary: THE REAL THING.....
Review: Whether you're from Baltimore or from a suburb outside of New York as I am; whether you grew up in the 50s or the 70s as I did, this film will make you feel right at home. Very few movies can take the most mundane, the most ridiculously trivial moments and conversation from real life and make them interesting never mind howlingly funny. Diner succeeds in this and more. We know these guys: their sophomoric antics, their idiosyncrasies, their loyalties to best friends and their uneasy transition into the adult responsibilities of money, work, and marriage. The scenes at the diner are deceptively complex in that Levinson has several characters speaking at the same time and yet we can follow the dialogue with no difficulty. The conversation, physical reactions and interplay between characters is so natural as to seem completely unrehearsed and unedited. It's almost as if we are at the next table eavesdropping on the fun. The cast in Diner was rightfully recognized as a superb group of players and everyone from Daniel Stern to Kevin Bacon to Ellen Barkin has done prolific work since then. I heartily recommend you watch Diner with your best friends and then go out for a meal afterwards. Whether you choose to order french fries and gravy is up to you.
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