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Summary: Fantasticly Funny and Wonderfully Produced
Review: Melvin Goes to Dinner had me laughing so hard. The way the director cuts between dinner and scenes of each person's life is interesting in that you have to fit the pieces in the right order and figure out what's going on. This isn't too hard to do but it is fun and leaves a bit to the imagination. I saw it at an independent theater for $3 in Cambridge, and it was worth so much more than that. Put one in everyone's stocking. They won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Independent film that wittingly flirts with the audience...
Review: Melvin Goes to Dinner is a small independent film driven by its dialogue and wittingly the film flirts, like a buffalo, with the audience as discussion between four different characters and a waitress turns raunchier with each sentence. There is Melvin, an unhappy city clerk that has dropped out of med-school, who has been invited by Joey, a daydreaming entrepreneur that knows all of Kentucky's county's by heart, to join him and a friend, Alex, for dinner. Alex, a business woman, hangs out with boys and has been a part of five different bachelor parties brings a friend, Sarah, who hangs out with old boyfriends in order to feel good about herself.
The film was initially a play that has been adapted to the screen that focuses on four people at dinner. When the final person arrives the group amuses themselves by joking about their waitress who has forgotten to provide them with menus. While they wait they begin to break the ice with innocent stories about themselves. However, as the waitress has corrected her error and has provided them with plenty of wine the truth begins to seep out. The discussion between the different people travels between ghosts, religion, philosophy, psychology, and infidelity, which finally seems to converge on sex. Their different idiosyncrasies become open topics as a teacher would teach basic addition, which leads the audience to some insightful notions that should be pondered.
The dinner ultimately turns to an end, and pleasantly so, as the film offers a truly genuine cinematic experience with humor, drama, and tragedy. The film is full of flashbacks as the four different narrators take turns telling their stories. This brings the story alive as it drifts back and forth between past and present while leaving a visual imprint of recollected memories. In all honesty, the film encourages the audience to sit down for dinner with a group of friends while letting the conversation adrift.
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Summary: "My Dinner With Andre" for the "Seinfeld" generation...
Review: The structure of "Melvin Goes To Dinner" is fairly simple: Four people meet for dinner and talk. The obvious comparison is to Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory's "My Dinner With Andre," in which two people meet for dinner and talk. But the differences between the two movies reveal a lot about how films and their audiences have changed over the past few decades."My Dinner With Andre" is a movie that comes right out of the 1970's, (though I believe it was actually made in the mid-'80's). It takes itself very seriously and it expects its audience to sit through this conversation without any bells or whistles to keep them entertained. It's a conversation and nothing more. Those who dislike the movie complain that it's dull, pretentious, and pseudo-intellectual. Although I personally love the movie and find it fascinating, I can certainly see where they're coming from. "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is a very modern version of the same idea in that the conversation, which is supposed to be very deep and thought-provoking, doesn't aim nearly as high. Whereas Andre and Wallace Shawn discuss the role of destiny and pre-determination in our lives, Melvin and his friends ask each other if they believe in ghosts. Andre and Wallace discuss great directors, books, and philosophy. Melvin and his friends talk about watching porn. And while "My Dinner with Andre" demands a fair bit of patience, "Melvin Goes to Dinner" tries to break up the monotony of their conversation with various "flashback" sequences and moments of pseudo-drama: Someone getting up to leave rather than reveal a personal secret; A "wacky" drunken waitress; A surprise twist at the end; A framing sequence about Melvin having sex with a married (and totally nutso) woman. "My Dinner with Andre" leaves you with questions to ponder; "Melvin Goes to Dinner" leaves you with a pat sense of resolution. All of which is not to say that "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is a bad movie; it isn't. After the initial 20 or so minutes, it becomes pretty interesting and there are some nice moments in it. Overall, though, it feels a bit contrived. I got tired of the various characters telling each other -and the audience- how interesting their conversation was. The director shouldn't need to tell me that I'm watching an interesting conversation; I should be able to draw that conclusion on my own. All in all, "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is an interesting movie with some nice moments, but it's nothing extraordinary.
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Summary: Great movie!
Review: This is a smart movie. A very well written story. If you don't like it Amazon will be happy to refund your money I am sure. The DVD extras are very good too. Bob Odenkirk is a genius.
Rating:
Summary: What?
Review: Watched this three times, and couldn't figure it out. And each time, my knee started itching about ten minutes in -- c'mon folks! What does that tell you?! Since there's no plot
(by design), we have to focus on characters. The acting was excellent and the women are attractive in a hard, black and chrome office for profit way. The reason I got this was that the picture looked like Ken Ober (?), the guy from MTV's Remote Control. Now THAT was fun! The main guy here was like his (Ken's) edgy little brother. And the four main characters seem to come from entitlement (now you know what happened to those folks who said/thought What-EVER about 10-15 years ago) -- neo-yuppies. Not very likable, but pretty darn interesting and real. Cool characters and twists, and unlike anything I'd seen on screen before. Recommended over hyped blockbusters.
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