Review of My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Grant P — 12 Jul 2009

In theory, this should not work. No one wants to watch two men eating dinner for 90 minutes, unless one of them is Mr. T and the other is Darth Vader. Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory are neither of the aforementioned figures and yet this thing somehow manages to be entertaining, challenging and open-ended, even if it literally is two guys talking around a dinner table for an hour and a half.

More known for his "Princess Bride" and "Clueless" stints, Shawn comes into dinner with his friend, whom he had not seen in years, with hesitations: rumor had it Gregory went insane while traveling and chasing experimental learning procedures.

And that is the meat of the first hour as Gregory relates stories of being buried alive, having a monk live with his family, communicating with insects and more while Shawn politely sits there and listens (appeases?).

Then something happens and Shawn launches an argument for the common man being able to "live" by going to the grocery store or watching a movie as opposed to living in a forest with a foreign theatre troop as Gregory has.

Now is when the film really digs in and makes anyone with an opinion start formulating a take on the argument before the movie reaches its plausible conclusion. The truth is, this is as big or as little a film as you want to make it.

While I don't agree with the theory that Gregory is God, I could see where someone may get that interpretation just as I hope they get the possibility of me stating that the entire thing may have been a dream (one without Mr.

T or Darth Vader).