2017’s “The Dinner”, written and directed by Oren Moverman.
Starring Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Richard Gere, Rebecca
Hall, Chloe Sevigny, Michael Chernus.
“Dinner” is a drama about 2 couples meeting together for
dinner. At a luxurious restaurant, their fuzzy level of dysfunction is
magnified in the artificially mannered setting. Coogan plays a high school
teacher/writer, who is at the level of functioning in his relationship with his
partner (Linney) that they argue through rooms. Gere plays his brother, a
governor elect with a politicized wife (Hall). Both the couples have children,
and the cousins’ actions will heavily factor into the conversation as the night
goes on. As the courses are announced on screen (“Digestifs”, etc), we also
flashback to what the cousins did that has caused such uproar, and gain insight
into who these characters are. Based off the 2009 Dutch novel by Herman Koch,
this is the 3rd film adaption (the other 2 being Dutch and Italian).
You would think that the 3rd time’s a charm when
it comes to adapting the satirical source material, but the movie here suffers
from a general lack of focus. Moverman’s hazy and colourful stylistic choices
for flashbacks don’t help. Neither does possibly the first cinematic PTSD
montage from a non soldier while visiting a war memorial. The clumsy lack of
rhyme or reason narration also suffer. The movie speaks of mental illness, and
shows the perspective of a character struggling through it and the family
member’s attempts to help, but all the characters could use some therapy here.
Coogan is solid, with him verging between calm detachment and a nervous
breakdown. Linney is complex, as his overly helpful partner who believes she
can pay off and erase the past so that it doesn’t haunt them later. Hall is
wonderful as well, as the conscienceless wife of a governor who wears
sunglasses at night and likes being the woman behind the powerful man. Gere
ironically plays the one who has the most scruples, a politician who knows a
bitter pill may pay off for better optics, at the cost of the current campaign.
Really, the actors involved deserve better, being awash in cognitive dissonance.
“Dinner”’s lack of focus creates a generally too long vibe, but also finally
pops up an interesting final act that revs up, before falling flat at the end again.
It makes me pine for other incendiary comedy of manners going to hell, such as 2011’s
“Carnage”. It’s fitting that a character here refers to themselves as
Gettysburg, as “Dinner” feels like it goes on too long, before a conclusion that
satisfies few people.
2/5
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