
Early twenty-something Baltimoreans Eddie, Shrevie, Boogie, Billy, Fenwick and Modell have been friends since they were kids, and the center of their lives has been and still is the Fells Point Diner. In the last week of 1959, Baltimore Colts fanatic Eddie is scheduled to marry Elyse on New Year's Eve, but might call it off if she doesn't pass his Colts quiz on the 29th. Inexperienced Eddie turns to the only other married one of their bunch, electronics salesman and music afi... (Full plot summary below)
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Early twenty-something Baltimoreans Eddie, Shrevie, Boogie, Billy, Fenwick and Modell have been friends since they were kids, and the center of their lives has been and still is the Fells Point Diner. In the last week of 1959, Baltimore Colts fanatic Eddie is scheduled to marry Elyse on New Year's Eve, but might call it off if she doesn't pass his Colts quiz on the 29th. Inexperienced Eddie turns to the only other married one of their bunch, electronics salesman and music aficionado Shrevie, for advice, but Shrevie might not be the best marriage advisor since he doesn't yet realize he probably married his wife Beth for the wrong reasons. Beth has lost her sense of identity, is unhappy in her marriage, and contemplates having an affair with someone who provides what she believes is a sympathetic shoulder. Hairdresser and law school student Boogie is the player of the bunch and has major financial problems because of his quest for the fast buck. Generally strait-laced Billy, Eddie's best man who has been away getting his MBA, has come back to Baltimore a few days early to clarify his relationship with his girlfriend Barbara. Smart-aleck Fen is a college dropout who lives off his trust fund and doesn't much like his family--just what their money can buy him. And insecure Modell is afraid to ask for anything directly. As 1960 approaches, they collectively deal with how to truly be adults.
Leave your thoughts about Diner.
| Time OutGeoff AndrewNot a lot to it, but the sense of period is acute, the script witty without falling into the crude pitfalls that beset other adolescent comedies, and the performances are spot-on. |
| The New YorkerPauline KaelLevinson's dialogue feels fresh and improvised, yet it hits its mark every time, and the performances he gets are complex and original (particularly from Mickey Rourke, who plays a lothario with a late-blooming conscience) - enough so that Levinson's occasional forced "cinematic" effects cause barely a ripple in the smooth, naturalistic surface. |
| eFilmCritic.comScott WeinbergA testament to the fine art of screenwriting. |
| Spirituality and PracticeFrederic and Mary Ann BrussatDiner features a group of twentysomething friends whose camaraderie, hijinks and troubles ought to resonate with many viewers. |
| VarietyVariety StaffFor all his painstaking accuracy, Levinson has also concocted a dark and depressing period story devoid of a single person without a major problem or character flaw. |
| TimeRichard CorlissThe film is wonderfully cast and played, right down to the bit player (Ralph Tabakin) who shops suspiciously for a TV set: "I saw Bananzo and it was not for me." |
| All Movie GuideDan JardineA clever, biting script buoys a cast of soon-to-be famous actors in this endearing male-bonding ritual writ large. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDiner is often a very funny movie, although I laughed most freely not at the sexual pranks but at the movie's accurate ear, as it reproduced dialogue with great comic accuracy. |
| The New York TimesJanet MaslinDiner isn't lavish or long, but it's the sort of small, honest, entertaining movie that should never go out of style, even in an age of sequels and extravaganzas. |
| NewsweekDavid AnsenDiner is often a very funny movie, although I laughed most freely not at the sexual pranks but at the movie's accurate ear, as it reproduced dialogue with great comic accuracy. |