User Reviews

It's Christmas Night 1959 Baltimore. A group of friends reunite for Eddie Simmons (Steve Guttenberg)'s marriage. Shrevie (Daniel Stern) and Beth Schreiber (Ellen Barkin) are unhappily married. Boogie (Mickey Rourke) is the slick womanizer. Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) is the prankster. Modell (Paul Reiser) and Billy (Tim Daly) round out the group. Their hangout is the Hilltop Diner.

It's a very impressive cast. Everybody is terrific acting-wise. However I couldn't really get into the meandering nature of the movie. I found it hard to concentrate on any of the characters. It doesn't have the light fun of 'American Graffiti'. I would have liked a movie of them just talking in the diner about their lives.

Recent films set in the 1950s, such as 'Pleasantville', 'Far from Heaven' and 'Mona Lisa Smile' have tended to portray the decade as being a repressed, overly conservative period. A generation ago, however, the tendency was to take a more sympathetic, nostalgic look at the fifties in films such as 'Grease' or television programmes such as 'Happy Days'. The post-Vietnam generation seemed to look back at the period immediately before that war as a lost age of innocence.

'Diner' follows a group of young men from Baltimore, former school friends now in their early twenties, over a week of their lives, that between Christmas Eve and New Year, 1959. Some of them are still living and working in the town, others are now at college, but are using the Christmas vacation as a chance to get back together with old friends. The title is taken from the diner that is their favourite meeting-place. There is no real coherent plot; the film is very episodic in structure and concentrates on character rather than on action.

As is perhaps inevitable with young men of this age, many of their preoccupations are with girls and relationships. One of them, Shrevie, is married, but seems to be discontented with married life. Another, Eddie, is engaged. A third, Billy, discovers during the course of the film that he has got his girlfriend pregnant, but when he offers to do the decent thing by her, he is disconcerted to realize that she would much rather he did the indecent one. A fourth, Boogie, seems to lead a carefree life, flitting from one romance to another. The characters are not, however, preoccupied with love and sex to the exclusion of all else. We also learn about their other private obsessions with such matters as music, sport and the cinema. Shrevie quarrels with his wife because she does not share his passion for popular music and fails to understand his complex system for cataloguing his extensive record collection. (I wonder if this scene was the origin of a similarly obsessive character in 'High Fidelity'). Eddie's passion for sport is even more all-consuming than Shrevie's for music; he subjects his fiancée Elyse to a football quiz and threatens to break off the engagement if she cannot score a sufficiently high score. A minor character knows off by heart the entire dialogue from the film 'Sweet Smell of Success'.

Many of the young actors who starred in the film have gone on to become famous names in the movie world. From my point of view the best was probably Kevin Bacon as Timothy, the rebel without a cause who has dropped out of his wealthy family and lives an aimless life. (The first time we see him he is smashing windows just for the hell of it). I was, however, also impressed by Daniel Stern as Shrevie and Mickey Rourke as Boogie.

I have never been to Baltimore, but it was clear from watching the film that the director was trying to capture the spirit of a particular place and time. It therefore came as no surprise to discover that Barry Levinson, who both wrote and directed the film, is himself a Baltimore native, although slightly younger than the characters depicted in the film. (He would have been seventeen in 1959). Despite this concentration on the particular, however, 'Diner' has a universal appeal. The film with which it has most in common is 'American Graffiti'. Although that film was actually set in the early sixties rather than the fifties, it nevertheless deals quite openly with the idea of the pre-Vietnam era as a golden age. 'Diner' does not deal with this theme so overtly, but there is still nevertheless a distinct sense of an era coming to an end. It is significantly set in the final week of a decade, and in the wedding scene we see a large banner saying 'Eddie and Elyse- in the sixties and forever', a reminder that change is on the way, both for these young men and for America as a whole.

The most important change that the characters in 'Diner' have to come to terms with is neither social nor political, but rather the challenge of growing up. The traditional 'Coming of Age' film has tended to concentrate on adolescence and the teenage years. For many young men, however, their early twenties, when they are completing or have already completed their education, are setting out on their careers and are starting to think about more serious relationships with women, can be a time of even greater changes than their days in secondary school. All the major characters- except perhaps the serious-minded Billy who is keen to accept new responsibilities- want to hang on to elements of their boyhood even while moving into adulthood.

For Boogie, and, to an even greater degree, Timothy, this means keeping the freedom to be irresponsible. For Shrevie and Eddie, this means trying to keep hold of their youthful passions even after marriage. The discord between Shrevie and his wife (slightly older than him and considerably more mature in outlook) is caused as much by his fear that marriage will mean having to give up his association with his old friends as by her inability to differentiate between jazz and rock-and-roll. Barry Levinson's claim that Elyse's football test was based on a true incident may seem improbable, but there is some psychological truth in this part of the film. It has, after all, been said that every man's ideal woman is himself incarnated in the body of a beautiful girl, and Elyse's willingness to take this test shows that she is prepared to make sacrifices and enter into Eddie's male-oriented world.

'Diner' is a film worth seeing more than once. On my first viewing I found it dull, an inferior copy of 'American Graffiti'. The second time round, I started to appreciate it as a fine film in its own right. Barry Levinson has gone on to make a number of other good films ('The Natural', 'Good Morning Vietnam', 'Rain Man' and 'Sleepers'), but 'Diner', his first film, is perhaps his most personal and heartfelt. 8/10

When Mickey Rourke has to tell you that you're behaving like a jerk and to knock it off, you know you have problems. That would be at the opening when Boogie (Rourke) tells Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) to stop knocking out the windows in the men's bathroom with his bare hands, with Fenwick not angry, but instead drunk and giggling the entire time.

These two are part of a group of young men in their early twenties who have known each other all of their lives and are at a crossroads where they'll likely part, not due to any fundamental disagreement or falling out, but just because that's what adults do because of career choices, marriage, and diverging interests. Deep down they know this and they are fighting it in various ways, but in the meantime they gather in the titular diner to eat greasy food and talk into the night about nothing.

Everybody knows why Barry Levinson sets everything he writes and directs, even his series Homicide about a bunch of homicide detectives, in Baltimore. He was born there. He loves the place. But he was 17 in 1959 when this film is set, not 23, so the time period is a bit of a puzzle. Maybe to put this in the time that he was 23 - 1965 - would require too much of the revolution in culture that was going on at the time, and that's not what he wanted the film to be about.

The central focus of the film is Eddie's (Steve Guttenberg's) upcoming wedding. Eddie wants this thing yet he fears it for any number of reasons - the loss of independence, the loss of his virginity which he has never managed to lose up to this time, the eventual loss of this core group of friends. Eddie's fiance, Elyse, is never shown. You see the back of her at the wedding, you hear her voice during "the test", but that's all. I guess that makes her an indescribable presence that is going to change everything. And about that "test" that determines if she and Eddie will marry - over football knowledge? What woman would agree to such nonsense? I would see it as an absolute sign that my husband to be is trying his best to find any reason - even a ridiculous one - to get out of the wedding. But I digress.

I'd recommend this one for all of the little scenes, the big picture, the roster of stars who were just starting out, and the nostalgia for the late 50s which is perfect with a great soundtrack.

I wasn't really wowed by this film.It doesn't really have a captivating story,great scenery or great special effects (the latter is never really necessary anyway).What you have is a group of guys,each of them representing someone most of us know or have heard of.We are introduced to them,and over the course of the film,we get to know them,and by film's end,we had an overall pleasant time.The film has a place on the AFI's 100 Years,100 Laughs list,which brought me to watch it.I don't question it's placement there because we all have different senses of humor,but I can't say that it really generated a lot of laughs for me personally.Overall,it was enjoyable enough and I may visit it again one day.

Diner, Barry Levinson's writing and directing debut belongs to so-called "small" or "minor" movies and it indeed does not have spectacular locations, breathtaking action sequences or even dramatic story. As Kevin Bacon comments in the Behind the Scenes Documentary, "There's not that much of a story, really. What do we do? We drive around..." What the movie has is "a very honest portrayal of a group...of guys that people relate to on a very personal level." The different generations of viewers react to film with devotion and recognition, and Diner has become one of the beloved long time cult favorites. Based on its writer/director's memories of growing up in Baltimore, the film takes place during the week between Christmas and New Year in 1959, and tells of the friendship of five guys in their early twenties. During the course of the film, we will get to know the young men, their fears of growing up, facing responsibilities, and making decisions, their fascination and insecurities with the girls.

From his Oscar-nominated script, BL makes the study of young men who hesitate to grow up but rather hang out in their beloved Diner. Daniel Stern's 'Shrevie' is an owner of LP collection that he seems to value more than his young and pretty wife (Ellen Barkin in her film debut). Mickey Rourke, played his best role (at least, IMO) as Boogy, the cynical womanizer with the most charming smile. Steve Guttenberg's Eddie puts his fiancée through the enormously difficult football quiz and the passing score is the must for the marriage because he is scared to get married. Kevin Bacon plays Fenwick, a permanently drunk and lost kid, the character much darker than the rest of the guys. Timothy Daly is Bill who seems to be the most successful of the bunch, and know what he wants but can't make the girl he loves to love him. By making Diner, Levinson actually put his native city, sleepy and provincial 1959 Baltimore, on the cinema map, and that's just one of movie's pleasures. And there are plenty. Diner is filled with authentic and believable scenes, situations, and conversations that everyone can relate to. The Diner's menu has a lot to offer to the grateful viewers and fans of the insightful, ironic, entertaining, small but bright and shiny gem. Barry Levinson does not flatter six protagonists but he understands them and loves them because he sees in them the indelible part of his own life, his experiences, and his own childhood friends. As another great film about childhood friendship says, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

Barry Levinson went on to create many good and very good films after Diner. These are just a few: The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam; Bugsy; Avalon; Sleepers, An Everlasting Piece, Disclosure, Wag the Dog, and his Oscar winner "Rain Man" but Diner will always have a very special place for me. This is the film I keep coming back to again and again, and as the time passes it only gets better.

I can't believe how many posters missed the point of the film.

The basic premise of the film is how men don't understand women and are even afraid of them.

Guys DO talk about women like meat when they are with other men. Did you expect them to gush about a female's personality to his fellows in the late '50s???????

See how guys even refer to Carol Heathrow as "death". Women are not to be understood and to be feared.

And the reason we never see Eddie's bride....think about it,,,if you SAW her, you'd make a judgement about that actress. "Wow, how could a guy pass her up just because she doesn't know more about football?" That's the reason we never see her. We must only know that Eddie loves her but is scared to marry her for various reasons. The moment we saw her face, there would be too many value judgements about whether Eddie is nuts to make her take the test. For thodse who complained about her face not being shown, ask yourself if it would have tainted your opinion of Eddie's requirement for marriage.

Sure, the movie doesn't SEEM like it has a plot. But it's just a slice of life in 1959, the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve....and we share that week.

As far as capturing a bygone era, DINER is a superb piece of cinematic worldbuilding: the cars, clothes, music, and popular culture shown all scream of the 1950s without glamming up the period too much, as everything looks lived-in and ordinary. The acting is superb across the board with Mickey Rourke as the standout.

The story itself is nothing too special. It clearly wants to be like AMERICAN GRAFFITI, capturing a sense of lost innocence and Baby Boomer nostalgia, but I did not care for the characters at all. When it comes to characters in a story, they have to be at least one of two things: sympathetic or interesting. The folks peopling DINER are neither. Most of the stories don't add up to much either: I was most interested in Rourke's conflict with the mob and the dilemma of the young pregnant woman who wants to keep her job rather than become a housewife, but none of this goes anywhere.

Much has been made of the misogyny in the film, but I have to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt-- it's probably intentional since all these guys are self-absorbed, immature, and (with the exception of the Timothy Daly character) unable to see the women in their lives as anything other than add-ons to their own lives. None of this is portrayed as natural or good, though it is true that the women in the film don't receive much development... though again, neither do the male characters, hence my disinterest in the film as anything other than a technically competent exercise in nostalgia.

PS To be honest, the only scene where I laughed was during the hilarious butchering of "Blue Moon" at the wedding. That's it.

Note: This review has been severely chopped to comply with IMDb's word limit. Full review can be found at wiredonmovies.com

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"There's not that much of a story, really. What do we do? We drive around. Maybe he's going to get married, maybe not. It's really more about the fact that it's a very honest portrayal of a group...of guys that people relate to on a very personal level."

• Kevin Bacon on the "Diner" DVD interview reel

In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs," a handful of characters debate the true meaning of Madonna's hit song "Like a Virgin." Long before "Reservoir Dogs" (a decade, to be exact), there was Barry Levinson's directorial debut, "Diner," a coming-of-age tale concerning five Baltimore residents in their 20s who try to get past crucial points in their lives. In a similar scene to that in Tarantino's masterpiece, four friends -- played by Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, and Paul Reiser -- argue over which singer produces better make-out music: Mathis or Sinatra? "Presley," says Rourke's character, ending the conversation with blunt confidence. And that's that.

The movie has plentiful rich dialogue, some of it seemingly pointless, most of it subtly touching and meaningful. The film has a lot to say about the difference between friendship and true love. "I love you," one of the characters tells the woman he wants to marry. Fixated on an object behind him, her eyes cold and a grim reflection of deep contemplation, she replies, "You're confusing a friendship with a woman, and love. It's not the same." In a very different sort of way, it tackles the same material as "When Harry Met Sally," but it doesn't stop there.

The film is masterful in its ability to present us with a group of people we sincerely care for, and who all seem very real -- more so than the characters you'll find in most movies. The dialogue was primarily improvised, especially by Paul Reiser, whose debates with fellow pals are the highlights of the film. Even after the truly poignant ending there is a discussion about evolution that plays over the credits. "Did you hear about this evolution stuff?" Reiser asks. He starts to mock the theories which would later become widely considered as truth by scientists, despite lack of actual evidence supporting the theory. Amusing, how the movie has so much to say about so many different things.

"Diner" is a film that connects with us because we can all sympathize with its characters and their inner motivations. Eddie (Guttenberg) is afraid of getting married; Schrezie (Stern) is married and wishes he wasn't; Boogie (Rourke) would like to finally find a girl he could respect; Bill (Timothy Daly) wants to get married to the girl he loves but she doesn't want to. The whole movie appears to be focused on girls, and indeed most of it is, yet there's a lot of other stuff that's even deeper. Fenwick (Bacon) is what Bacon himself described as a "permanently drunk," sick kid who doesn't know what he wants out of life, thrown out of his family and wandering the streets looking for a meaning to his life. He's the character who is so lost he doesn't even seem to care very much about girls.

Prior to "Diner," Levinson was a nobody -- and perhaps that is why his first project is that most in tune with its characters and their natures. The movie was very risky when the studio released it in 1982 -- there was talk of shelving the finished product for fear of losing money. Reluctant, MGM finally released the movie into theaters, but with poor advertising -- it tanked. Yet it received some of the greatest reviews of the year. In an effort to convince MGM, Levinson showed a screening of the movie to critic Pauline Kael, who gave it an exceptional review, as did the majority of critics at that time. On the surface, "Diner" seems rather boring -- it's just a movie about nothing, really, except growing up. Yet it captured the hearts of many, becoming a cult sleeper that still entices new fans to this very day.

It's a film of many integrating mixed genres, each one carefully balanced and perfectly maintained throughout. "Diner" has some of the best dialogue of all time, not to mention a handful of Oscar-worthy performances. This is not Levinson's best but it's one of his most deeply touching projects. It has a lot to say about many things and it actually gets around to addressing them -- which is rare to find in any movie. This is a true gem.

Barry Levinson's pictures always succeed in painting a nostalgic feelgood picture of a certain era. Really lovely to watch, but the downside of director Barry Levinson's pictures is the fact that they are always a bit safe. No big dramas, no experiments. Despite this characteristic "Diner" is still a very endearing and touching story.

As far as "Diner" is concerned I think that this is probably Levinson's best work, because of the excellent true to life depiction of young adult's life in the fifties. It feels as if I was right there.

The story is about a group of friends who are on the verge of losing their freedom of their youth because marriage and boring jobs are waiting for them. "Diner" is the excellent warm hearted portrait of one last brawl together with their childhood friends, before everyboby realizes they have to enter the world of the grown ups, with all the accompanying, depressing responsibilities that come along with it.

It actually is not about food - it is about how men grow up .. or do they? There is a case to be made about boys never really (or rarely) grow up to be men. And with a cast that is quite astonishing ... with themes that at least still to this day seem ageless ... while technology and other things do advance, there is a universal truth about issues most of us face while growing up.

Tough to say if in decades from now this looks like something that people can not connect anymore. Or not to the degree we think they are able to ... Back to the cast and not just Steve Guttenberg surprising me or a young Kevin Bacon (with a hint to the Friday franchise and Ketchup?), but even more so with a young rebel by the name of Mickey Rourke. I almost did not recognize him. But there are also some very fine female performers in this, the movie overall does focus on the male outlook though. Then again issues with OCD or something similar are not gender related of course ... even if it again mostly is put on the male cast here.

A good movie for anyone who likes movies about ... something or nothing in particular other than life and choices and relationships ... with some amazing performances to say the least.

"Diner" is a fun-filled, perfectly inspired comedy/drama, which is talented director Barry Levinson's first effort. Needless to say, there's no strong plot structure, but when you have solid, memorable characters like these, that's not necessary. Almost every one of these characters are memorable in their own ways. Nobody "steals the show."

The cast is highly spirited, as I sensed great joy in their performances. The chemistry between the characters is very genuine, and not surprisingly Barry Levinson made sure the actors got well-acquainted with each other before shooting.

I can tell Levinson based many of these scenarios on real-life situations. Scenes like these cannot be developed in the mind of some phony Hollywood hack screenwriter. The nostalgia practically bleeds out the screen, in his solid attention to detail. And that's one of the reasons why this film works. I can actually imagine Levinson sitting back and watching the film with a big smile, chuckling intermittently as he reminisces back to moments from his adolescence. When a director is joyful about his work, that joy transfers to his audience. One of the scenes in which that joy is most evident is when Daniel Stern's character throws a fit about his girlfriend, Ellen Barkin, wrongly categorizing his records and never asking him "what's on the flip side?" Levinson obviously has a passion for the music of his time, and rightfully so, because a lot of great music comes from the 50's. And lucky for me, the film's soundtrack is filled with many of those great tunes.

There are many memorable moments and lines of dialogue. The football quiz is definitely something to be remembered. But my favorite is the famous "roast beef sandwich" argument. Paul Reiser asks Steve Guttenberg if that's a roast beef sandwich he's eating, and Guttenberg can sense he wants a bite from the sandwich, so he yells out, "Just say it! 'I want the roast beef sandwich!'" It's a brilliant, "Seinfeld"-type scene which revolves around a banal subject, but you can't help but be delightfully amused, because let's fact it--the things we relate most to are the simple things in life. Movies about politics can be interesting, but what if you're not a politician or someone who doesn't give a damn about politics? Eating is someone everyone can relate to. Friendship is something everything can relate to. And male bonding is something all men can relate to.

If "Waiting to Exhale" best demonstrates the strength of female bonding, I feel this film best demonstrates the strength of male bonding. I used to feel that women had a stronger bond, since they're more affectionate and in touch with their feelings. But when jealousy enters the equation, even the most long-term friendship between two women can be butchered. I've actually talked to several women who feel more comfortable with male friends, and don't very much trust other women. However, guys stick together. We may badmouth each other left and right and bust each other's chops, but the bond remains the same. Some females may interpret this is as a misogynistic film, because other than Ellen Barkin's character, there are no major or supporting female characters. And Steve Guttenberg's would-be wife is never revealed--at least her face is never shown. But this is simply to stress the theme of male bonding; not to show that women aren't important.

"Diner" is a film for those who enjoy funny, moving, character-driven nostalgia films with fine actors. Hell, even Mickey Rourke, who I'm not a big fan of, gives a fine three-dimensional performance. But everyone in the cast is worth praising in equal doses: Daniel Stern, Paul Reiser (despite his brief screen time), Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

Diner is funny, misogynistic and cool.

We all grow up at some point between our late teens and mid 20s. The characters in Diner aren't there yet; but they are careening towards it very fast. They take breaks to swerve off the road and stop at the local diner hoping to hold on to a life of irresponsibility, immaturity and silliness.

What I love best about this film is not the main characters (who are all incredibly funny) but the bit characters. From the guy spouting off the dialogue from "Sweet Smell of Success" to Earl who eats everything from the entire left side of menu to Bagel who's looking out for Boogie to Eddie's Mom who threatens to kill Eddie with a cooking knife in one of the films funniest moment to the thick accented owner of the Fells Point Diner; you can see that the glue that holds the main characters together is everyone and everything from their Baltimore neighborhood.

This movie has great dialogue (its certainly more quote-worthy than "Sweet Smell of Successs") and it emulates a lot of what men do at this point in life --- obsessing about sports, music, and girls and defending your immaturity as "its a smile"

Writer-director Barry Levinson has made some truly amazing films. While "Diner" was one of his breakout films and helped make him famous, I found myself hating the movie...and I know it puts me in the vast minority. I think it was made worse by having just watched his film "Avalon"...one of the sweetest and most wonderful films I've seen recently.

"Diner" is a film set in Baltimore like so many other Levinson films. It consists of many small stories of various guy patrons of a local diner and features a truly amazing cast who do a fine job acting. However, here is my problem with the film...nearly ALL of the guys in the film are jerks. Some are just thoughtless...some are complete jerks with no redeeming qualities. And, after an hour or so, I found my attention waning simply because either I didn't care about them OR I really hated them as they were low-lifes. All in all, an unpleasant group of guys who made me wonder why I was even watching the film after a while. Well made, but for me, a complete waste of time.

The underlying theme here is transition. Six young American guys bond with each other for security as they move out of adolescence and into adulthood. Given that the story takes place in 1959, the transition applies equally to American culture, which transitions out of the dull 50s and into the chaotic 60s. These guys will never be young again, and neither will America; hence, the appeal to nostalgia.

An ensemble cast allows for the film to be a series of vignettes involving one or more of the characters. As such, the plot seems jerky, almost random at times. Characters seem shallow, egocentric, and predictably preoccupied with romance and sex. I couldn't get interested in any of them. The story is set in dreary Baltimore at Christmas. So the overall plot has the feel of a very specific place and time.

The script is very talky. Not much happens. Characters stand around, drive around, meet at the diner for burgers ... and talk. Some of the banter is clever; most is just tedious. I thought the casting was a bit weak, in that the differentiation among the six guys is not as pronounced as that of "American Graffiti" (1973). Acting is average. Some of the chitchat is improvisational.

I was disappointed with the background music. Again, it is somewhat weak. There are a few good 1950s songs, the ones by Bobby Darin and Fats Domino. But most of the selections are not especially nostalgic. On the other hand, the color visuals do create the look of that era quite well.

It's almost as if this film borrowed its underlying concept from "American Graffiti", which I like considerably better, partly because of its more archetypal characters. Then too, the two films address a slightly different American constituency. "Diner" is set on the East Coast, "American Graffiti" on the West Coast. Maybe I just identify more with the West.

Overrated little sleeper that is compelling if not totally endearing. There is a good script with wonderful, mostly great performances and it does have a sense of the time, but some of this goes just a beat too far.

The touted dialog and character interactions sometimes go on for just a little too long and loses some of the impact, like the "roast beef sandwich scene" or the "football quiz". There are good swatches at real immature, closeted, misogynistic traits but the timing is awkward and much of it is played out long after it makes the point.

The "record sorting" scene is done with more restraint and has more impact and is more memorable because it plays more like a 45 and not an LP. The flip side is that when this memory lane movie is good it is very good. But it is a mixed bag, just like the albums of its day. One Hit with a lot of filler.

The pacing is smooth but intentional placing of the songs sometimes seems out of place, put the film does put you in a time and place that is fondly remembered as the end of the age of innocence. After all this is 1959 and we know what the 60's have coming. That decade will make one see the previous decade and its problems as whiny blissful ignorance.

I was the guy obsessed with films. One of my buddies was the perpetually frustrated schmuck, one had a unique talent to never let money slip from his pocket, one was the charmer who had no clue he was with the wrong bunch. And God, I wish I could recall any of of these peculiar conversations during my bachelor years and see if they compete with these fascinatingly pointless exchanges that give its unique flavor to "Diner", Barry Levinson's debut.

What I do remember is that sometimes I thought these interactions could make great material for a series à la Friends or a comic-book, because if there's an area where being a man has an edge, it's friendship: when you hang out with your buddies, there's just something that catalicyses not the good or the bad but the real side of you and make you behave according to it, shamelessly and relieved from the weights of social burdens such as family pressures, jobs and girls naturally. And "Diner" is the eponymous place where five Baltimore guys in 1959 gather to recreate this bubble of complicity, based on Levinson's own memories.

But the film is less a recollection à la "American Graffiti" than an admission of men's inner vulnerability within their social life and their need to be together to be themselves, the film hits that sensitive chord especially when it comes to the subject of women. I'm old enough to have spent my teenage years without the Internet, let alone social networks, and girls and women were so estranged to le (even theoretically) that I couldn't even call when one was making the moves. "Diner"s merit is first, to never make laughs happen at the expenses of girls and secondly, create many eccentric situations that yet we can all relate to regardless of our generatios..

Take for instance the sandwich scene, second most memorable after "Five Easy Pieces". Modell (Paul Reiser) is the group's wiseguy and carelessly mentions the roast-beef sandwich Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is eating, Eddie's aware of his little game and goes straightforward: if he wants a bite, all he has to do is ask. Schrevie, the only married one, played by Daniel Stern is giggling as he can see where this is heading at, he ends up eating the sandwich. Then you've got the most adorable display of anger from a pre-Mahoney Guttenberg. Now, what does that scene say? Simply that adulthood comes way too early for some men who develop a sort of social resistance to it.

The rest of the band behaves more maturely though with the exception of Bacon as Fenwick who hides his insecurities in alcoholism and is the least predictable of all. Bacon manages to bring a complexity to a seemingly one-note character, filling his life with momentums to make up with his life disillusions. Tim Daly is a the least colorful one, entangled in a complicated romance, and Mickey Rourke is the bad boy with a heart of gold, a womanizer, arsonists with a Brando-like voice (attitude) and some solid principles. That the man who has a way with women is the least ethical says a lot about insecurities being the norm among clean-cut men who can only get the thrills by proxy.

And apart from crazy wagers, the group also indulges in the kind of conversations where you'd ask who's better Sinatra or Mathis? These discussions go beyond decent hours because only when we get the feeling that time stops that we can be ourselves. Still, the wisest choice was to have one prominent female character with Ellen Barkin's Beth, Shrevie's wife, also unsure about her own feelings and revealing the flip side of being true to your friends: it is not being 100% honest with your wife.

I'm a divorced guy and I can recall moments similar to that fantastic record scene where Schrevie puts a tantrum because Beth couldn't put his record at the right place. That I identified with him doesn't mean that I agreed, simply that his attitude was so extreme it could only be the top of the iceberg. Needless to say that it was with friends that I shared my frustrations about my ex-wife, as Shrevie did... and you know what? If you push a conversation far enough, maybe even the happiest man in his life will tell you that he's not sure he married the right girl. That future Eddie wants his wife to know about football speaks thousand words, he just wants a woman that would understand his passion, a slice of his persona, like I want my woman to love "The Godfather". Women might be relegated as secondary characters but the film doesn't mock them but rather pity men who can't find a compromise between their dreams and reality.

Now, there are a few moments that wouldn't pass the radar today but no way "Diner" couldn't have been overlooked. I was wondering why it was included in the AFI Top Laughs and then I realized it's not about the laughs, but the way it makes you laugh, with discussions about nothing but a nothing that says all, the soul of the film was there, all there in that 'sandwich' scene the producers wanted to get rid of. Levinson understood that a screenplay doesn't need to rely on plot-serving lines or snappy dialogues à la Neil Simon but its nonchalant detachment, the fact that they're talking about nothing special makes the experience even more special... and one can see where Seinfeld or Tarantino got their inspiration.

And that's a reason to hang out in that "Diner", also for its incredible cast with many stars of the 90s in their early to mid twenties, and finally because of that truth about we, guys, can sometimes be silly and women are wise enough to forgive us. Still, I'm glad my new woman loved "The Godfather", and when she first talked to my best friend, he asked her if she passed the test.

Diner (1982) Director: Barry Levinson Watched: 11/14/18 Rating: 6/10

{Clue: Film's setting OR First film in Levinson's "____ Trilogy"}

Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical film, inspired by the defunct Hilltop Diner, filmed in real life Hollywood Diner, and named Fells Point Diner for the big screen.

Another New England state 80s coming-of-age film centered around an eating place and loosely centered around a Catholic wedding is "Mystic Pizza" and I loved that one much more- maybe because that is the female version?

Luckily, some great musical tracks and hilarious scenes-

The penis in popcorn ploy, the requisite football test for marriage, an unnecessarily protracted roast beef sandwich conversation, memorization of the flip side of records,

Indeed, more mature and meaningful than most adolescent comedies, but that bar is pretty low!

Might contain a few clever quotes, witty one-liners, funny moments, but without fully developed characters that we can truly care about, it feels like almost two hours of nothing.

Ostensibly, this is the film that inspired future generations of "nothing" films that made gold, including director Apatow, writer Hornby, the series Seinfeld, even Pulp Fiction-

Rated higher than deserved for its usefulness in waxing fifties era nostalgia for that enviable group of close testosterone friendships that hold such promise-

Even though it featured some admirable performances and started the careers of some comedy greats, was ultimately left feeling unfulfilled.

Acrostic is a form of poetry where the first letters in each line, paragraph, or word are doubly used to spell a name, phrase, or word. The word "acrostic" comes from the Greek words "akros" (outermost) and "stichos" (line of verse). Read the appropriate letters in the poem vertically to reveal the extra message, called the "acrostich"! #Acrostic #PoemReview#Christmas #ComingofAge #CreativeCredits #Diner #DirectorialDebut #Ensemble #FiftiesEra #Food #Gambling #GroupofFriends #NewEngland #Overrated #RomanticComedy #Wedding

This movie provides a glimpse into the difference between true friendship and mutual association. in this movie all the principle know each other, talk with each other, even spend a lot of time with each other, but they are not friends. That is, although there is an appearance of camaraderie, they really don't care about each other. Although the movie lacks a conventional plot, it still tells a story about people who play off each other with dramatic results. Unlike, let's say, the principle group of friends in Deer Hunter, in which the group is held tightly together by bonds of religion ethnicity and cultural heritage, the glue holding together the group in diner is much weaker and less definable, and may not even exist. All they do is talk, laugh, and complain, and it does not take much to split the group apart. Perhaps the point of the movie is to dramatize the tenuousness of relationships and not to bank on seeking support from those you hang out with because they may not be there for you. Now, the cast is universally excellent with Mickey Rourke delivering the strongest performance. His character is the one that comes closest to being a real friend, yet even he is involved with stuff that sets him apart form the others. Ellen Barkin also gives a strong performance as the woman who is a symbol of everything the guys talk about regarding women. This is a good movie that provides dramatic treatment of group dynamics in a fluid social context.

A group of young men in Baltimore eat at the "Diner" in this 1982 film with a cast of actors who went on to varying levels of success: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Paul Reiser, Michael Tucker, and Ellen Barkin.

Directed by Barry Levinson, "Diner" is an episodic look at childhood buddies, now twenty somethings in 1959 Baltimore who gather at the Fells Point Diner as they deal with the problems and opportunities of adulthood. Eddie (Guttenberg) is engaged to be married, but if his girlfriend Elyse can't pass a Colts quiz, the wedding's off. One of the guys, Shrevie (Stern)is already married to Beth (Barkin), but doesn't seem particularly happy. A music fanatic, he harangues at her for messing up his records. Beth, meanwhile, misses the good old days of attention from men and, unhappy, she thinks about having an affair.

Boogie (Rourke) is a hairdresser attending law school who plays the field, gambles, and is often in trouble because he can't pay his debts to the kind of people you don't disappoint. Billy (Daly) has been getting his MBA in college and returns to Baltimore to see his girlfriend Barb. Fen (Bacon) resents his family but lives off of his trust fund. Modell (Reiser) is generally insecure.

Funny, poignant, well acted, with a great sound track, Diner takes us through women problems, marital problems, virginity, pregnancy, money problems, family problems, sports, music, and the film "Sweet Smell of Success," and their childish bets.

For them, the Diner is a refuge, a place to be a kid again, all the while knowing that soon enough, they're all going to have to become responsible adults whether they like it or not. Life demands it.

All the actors give special performances with their characters well fleshed out: Rourke, with his soft voice and handsome face (why would anyone so adorable do what he did to his face?) belying all the difficulty he makes for himself; Daly as an uptight young man who wants to do the right thing; Reiser, with his easy line delivery; Bacon, the obnoxious rich kid; Guttenberg, the sports fanatic; Stern, the music nut. Michael Tucker is "Bagel," another diner customer, who helps Boogie out of a real mess.

A poignant ending, with a delightful bit of standup by Reiser, serves as a reminder that you can't stay a kid forever. But they'll always have the diner.

Levinson's, and IMO, many of the actors' best work. Polished dialog that never gets old with repeated viewing. The characters in this film remain permanently blazed in my memory, and the lines are worthy of memorization, as one of the minor characters in the film spouts lines from "Sweet Smell of Success." Brilliant cast at their peak. No matter what each of these actors did later, they, and I, will always have Diner.

The music, cars, clothes of the 50s never seemed more poignantly bittersweet and dreamlike to me, although I did not live through that period. Everyone should see this film. An all time classic, in my book.

All this and zero degrees of Kevin Bacon to boot!

The timeline concept of the movie is quite segregated, there are various types of events taking place simultaneously yet usually independent from one another. Sometimes one character at the diner than at the home then somewhere else but you can't calculate the time between these events. Such movie making technique was once common, in fact it could be seen in some movies like "The Hollywood Knights", "Fast times at Ridgemont High", "American Graffiti", "Dazed and Confused". In short, if like these movies you will probably like "Diner" too. Have fun...

Who realized that back in 1982, a film like "Diner" would possess such an extraordinary wealth of talent, both on and off the screen. What was emphasized by this film's director, (Barry Levenson) was the impetuousness with which this movie's actors and actresses had to orchestrate. So often, during the film's production, Barry did not even say "ACTION" to commence a scene. So many times, would Levenson omit the word "CUT" for a scene to conclude. All of these non conventional actions by director, Barry Levenson,were for purposes of manufacturing a tertiary spontaneity from the actors in the movie. Such an auspicious lack of inhibition sparked a natural emotional realism that made the film "Diner" truly unique! Many scenes brought on a free spirited innocence that prevailed back in Baltimore in 1959 (The city and the year that this film was suppose to take place). "The Popcorn Scene" with Mickey Rourke was hysterically funny, as it is indicative of the sordid wiles men will engage in to get the attention of a beautiful woman, especially if it for purposes of impressing his close knit buddies!! "The Piano Scene" was one of the best scenes in any movie I have seen whatsoever!! Tim Daly's piano playing was a mandatory form of entertainment to break up the sedentary monotony of an ossified nightclub! The type of character Steve Guttenberg played was one which was very identifiable to me. I saw myself in Steve Guttenburg's character so many times in the movie, but, particularly in the "Piano Scene". I could envision myself dancing recklessly in dare devil fashion while wearing Shetland wool! This was so Steve Guttenberg's character, and, it was so much like something I might do as well!! This film focused on the bittersweet scenario, pertaining to the peculiar viewpoint by some barely adult men, who had a penchant for believing that an individual's sense of humor should be his single most coveted attribute in the world. Such a mindset purveys the ground-rules of survival being a case of how a human being's sense of humor should be endless, because his egregious flaws as an individual are endless as well!! "Diner" accentuated the necessary dichotomy between social cohesiveness and individuality! Ultimately, the film would bridge the gap with precocious candor. This itemization of quirky concepts accomplished a successfully ambiguous cultural dissemination of adolescent ideas with all the main characters of this movie. The incongruity contained in the conversations with everybody became a capriciously acute element to this film which successfully evoked a superbly unprecedented directorial finesse!! "Diner" did not win the academy award for best movie in 1982. When a movie wins an Oscar for best picture during any given year, it is usually a very good film. When a film manifests a fondness for individual expression by establishing a reality on how people truly are by what they find amusing, with that, emanates the real definition of a comedy. If a movie can accomplish such a feat, then this is an undeniably great film. Without question, the film "Diner' is a movie that may be put into this category!! A bevy of talented people partook in this movie. This box office bonanza of stars comprises of; Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Daniel Stern, Kevin Bacon, and Paul Reiser. (Reiser's curiosity with the term, nuance, in this movie, later surfaced itself to reality by way of a production company which was entitled "Nuance Productions" that Paul Reiser was part owner of). Given the fact that so many actors, actresses, directors and producers have 30,000 square foot domiciles in Beverly Hills and on Park Avenue, it becomes rather obvious that money is not always a top priority with them. Ultimately, they realize that the purpose for making a movie is to raise the bar on entertainment standards. This encapsulation concerning man's sanguine flippancy about perpetual failure, which this film, "Diner" illustrated, was totally astounding! More specifically put, an integral facet of movie entertainment is predicated on accurately pinpointing what human nature is truly like. Often times, I have thought that if you only want to see two movies in your entire life, those two films should be "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Diner". Both movies capture a grass roots recognition of what people's attitudes and instinctive reactions really are. I would give the nod to "Diner" over "Glengarry Glen Ross" because "Diner" illustrates a realism which is portrayed with a far more positive disposition! Such a reality gives "Diner" an enthusiastic identifiability. Attaining a stranglehold on the positive elements of human intuition in a movie like "Diner" is a goal that is so crucial to a film! So much so, that if a director does this, but, he does not win an Oscar for his film, his response should be "SO WHAT!!" The movie "Diner" is a one of a kind gem! "Diner" has achieved the ultimate accolade of being a movie which ignites a humanistic gratification to a near perfect state! This film has artistically conquered an elementary objective for making a movie! Such an accomplishment is what film making is all about, to which, I have only one thing to say, "An Oscar!! What's that?"

Not sure what to make of this movie. It's sweet, it feels real, it's nostalgic but not merely nostalgic, it's a Guy Movie where the guys are complex and not always presented in the best light. On the other hand, one central female character never shows her face on screen, so little importance is placed on her. Meanwhile, of all the young actors who went on to big success, Mickey Rourke is the one who makes you wonder whatever happened. He's excellent here, he seems poised to take on the world, but instead he turned into, well, into Mickey Rourke. I guess I'd give it a seven on a scale of ten; in my memories, at least, Avalon is a better movie.

Every guy I know loved this film. I get it, but I still don't really get it, if you know my meaning here. All the guys are jerks and we spend 2 hours with them and learn a lot about their obsessions with minutia, but who cares? The few female characters that do appear in the film are completely artificial. This movie should run as halftime entertainment during football games, and leave the rest of us alone.