Diner (1982)

Not much happens in the course of director Barry Levinson's film "Diner". A bunch of college-aged guys in late 1950's Baltimore gather over the Christmas holidays and eat french fries with gravy at their favorite local diner and talk about "stuff" . . . oh yeah, they also confront the painful necessity of making the transition from carefree adolescence to the responsibilities of adulthood.

The reason for the gathering: Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is getting married. TV salesman Shrevie (Daniel Stern) is already married and prefers to cling to his single friends lifestyle instead of trying to understand his wife, Beth (Ellen Barkin). Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) is the smart and cynical black sheep son of a rich family, who seems to have a drinking problem. Boogie (Mickey Rourke) is a hairstylist/law student and a smooth-talking ladies man, but his mounting gambling debts are getting him into trouble. Billy (Timothy Daley) has escaped to college and gotten involved in a messy romance with a longtime platonic girlfriend. Then there's Modell (Paul Reiser), the soft-spoken philosopher/comedian of the group, who ponders the meaning of the word "nuance" and, in the film's funniest scene, torments Eddie over a roast beef sandwich. Eddie himself is a lazy, immature-yet-amiable lout who is making his bride-to-be pass a football quiz before tying the knot. The interaction between these friends sets in motion a story that is as deep as the meaning of life, and as shallow as the question of who's the better singer - Sinatra or Mathis? "Diner" is simply one of the best movies ever made about male-bonding. Working from a highly autobiographical script, director Barry Levinson has created a masterful comedy and an insightful character study. What he does so well is capture the way guys act when women aren't around - they smoke and drink and stay up all night and laugh and talk about cars and music and sports, and of course they rack their brains trying to figure out the opposite sex. Any woman wanting to understand the male psyche would do well to study this film.

More importantly he also perfectly captures the feeling of inevitable change hanging over these characters. There's this wistful desire to hang on to past relationships, to revel in familiar people and places before moving forward, before dealing with the anxiety of the approaching unknown. It's this quality that makes "Diner" such a special film. It can be enjoyed on a surface level for it's humor and nostalgia, or you can dig deeper and appreciate the profound observations it makes on the human condition. Either way it is an amazing film.

Fmovies: Easily one of the greatest movies ever made, especially for it's time! The perfect genuine buddy hangout film about relationships, random bets, spitballing, and horsing around. Also the scene about the records is one of my favorite things ever, I love the line "This is important to me!" I relate to that with many things like my love for movies and the scene where a guy orders most of the menu is gold!

I saw this once before today and still loved it! I have quoted Diner many times since. Such a great cast directed by Barry Levinson who did another masterpiece - Rain Man in the nineties! Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Steve Guttenberg, and Daniel Stern are my favorites in this and the soundtrack is perfection!

Basically the interaction of five guys and one girl during the Christmas season of 1959-1960 in Balitimore, Maryland, "Diner" is somewhat autobiographical of director/writer Barry Levinson, identified as the character Billy (Tim Daly) in the film. Be sure and listen to the dialog spoken over the ending credits. It cleverly encapsulates the entire film. The movie is noteworthy for making stars of six new faces to the cinema public, Steven Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly, and Ellen Barkin. Had it been created before "American Graffiti," it would have been the definitive coming of age flick. Coming nine years later, it pales in the shadow of that seminal work. Still, "Diner" is a worthwhile piece of cinema and is much more cerebral than "American Graffiti."

There are a few time-line problems. I too was finishing high school and preparing for college during the same time interval. Only I was located in rural America and the protagonists of "Diner" lived in an urban setting. Radio was AM and dominated by the "top forty" play list. Seldom were older rock 'n' roll songs played. Naturally there were no oldies stations yet. Teens basked in the audio heaven of the popular tunes of the day. The "Diner" soundtrack appropriately contains such hits of 1959-60 as "Beyond the Sea," "Theme From a Summer Place," and "Goodbye Baby," but also contains songs that were rarely if ever played on AM radio or on diner juke boxes in 1959-60, such as "It's All In The Game," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Fascination." This all makes for one of the best 50's soundtracks ever, but distracts from the credibility of the film setting.

Teens of the period throughout American had a favorite gathering place or rendezvous. For me it was a local diner called "The Hickory House." Sitting in cars, drinking, and shooting the BS was as popular as actually going inside the diner, though that took place too. "Diner" accurately portrays this aspect of teenage gregariousness. The courting rituals and dating challenges are also true to life for the period. A mediocre film, "A Summer Place" was extremely popular with teens of the period, in particular girls, since it was basically a chick flick. By using it as a backdrop to the story, Levinson enhances the scene with the popcorn box and makes it much more meaningful, especially to those who have watched "A Summer Place." Another aspect of reality used by Levinson in a telling way is the concept of male, female relationships at the time. For example, when Timothy Fenwick (Bacon) starts using vulgar language during the car wreck tomfoolery, the other guys point to Beth (Barkin) and indicate by gesture that there is a lady present. Today, female teens readily use vulgar talk as often as males. Changing times.

"Diner" is one of the best of the teen angst films shot during the 70's and 80's and not to be missed. If the viewer lived through the time passage in the movie, it is all that more enjoyable to see.

Diner fmovies. This movie has entered my top 20 list since I seen it for the first time at the start of this month. The only thing I hated about this movie was that the channel I was watching it on had taken out the swear words so I didn't quite get all those jokes.

Apart from that I loved this movie it mostly has males in it but that didn't matter, you could just feel the friendship between these 5 guys. This film was also very funny whether it was the popcorn scene,the football quiz,the jail scene or Methan quoting his favourite film, it's all there.

Out of the five main guys in the film two of them really showed their talent; and they were Mickey Rourke and Daniel Stern. After seeing this film I decided to give it an 8 out of 10 because I think it deserves that rating.

Whoever said that this is a guy flick is terribly mistaken because I am a 15 year old girl and I really enjoyed it.

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.

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!