Review of The Dinner (2017) by K Nife C — 12 May 2017

What an odd movie. With better editing and ditching the frenetic, obnoxious soundtrack it could have been an effective anti-comedy or an intimate family drama, but the film is ultimately mired in its pacing and tonal imbalance.

Steve Coogan is no stranger to playing the role of a mentally unstable, middle-aged academician, but this movie turns that character up to eleven. He ultimately becomes the through line for us to experience this five course meal served with copious flashbacks.

To begin with, Coogan is immediately unlikable, then you find out in agonizing detail why he is that way and how much worse he can become. Sometimes giggling is unavoidable, seeing him as Alan Partridge, and sometimes he is so deeply unsettling, making this a compelling and multifaceted performance.

He is accompanied in some great moments by Richard Gere, Laura Linney, and Rebecca Hall. Their painfully awkward dinner is constantly interrupted by wait staff, their children, and Gere's political team, and the actual reason as to why they are at dinner slowly, slowly unfolds.

Tension builds and dissipates as out-of-left-field tonal shifts swerve by, confusing one into thinking that all of it might be intentional. However, the only intentionality I can glean is that the film is purposely frustrating.

Sometimes it touches on a psychedelic brand of frustration that I don't think I've ever seen used like this before. I was fascinated and captivated by it's unpredictability, a bit like watching a homeless person being incinerated, but I can't in good conscience recommend this to anyone.

Watch it for Coogan, the brief food porn, and the WTF factor, otherwise check out the other two film adaptations of Herman Koch's novel "Het diner".