Melvin Goes to Dinner [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Melvin Goes to Dinner [VHS]
Movie Review: The rest of your party is already seated
Summary: 3 Stars
Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's breif running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.
All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.
If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.
Movie Review: Worth a Watch - 3+Stars
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoyed this. It's deceptively engaging. Hard to imagine that listening to four people natter on about various different topics over dinner will amount to much. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it does amount to much. But it's still interesting. There is a real immediacy to your engagement with these people that allows you to really get pulled in at the moments the conversation gets interesting. There are a few surprises. Some of them sort of come out of nowhere, but it creates a feeling that despite the fact these people are just sitting around a table you're never really sure just what might pop up next. I wish the ending had more substance. It's a bit abrupt, and it doesn't in any larger sense answer the questions posed by the film in general. That might be a lot to ask, but this would really have been a winner if the director had managed a greater sense of closure and narrative movement. What's all that mean? Well, so it's not perfect, but it is worth a watch.Movie Review: Give It a Chance
Summary: 4 Stars
I almost didn't give it a chance. Early on Melvin, his buddy, and the two babes, all thirty something's seemed to be those yuppie people from one of the coasts that have it all and bitch too much, spoiled whiners. There were a few confusing timeline cuts, back and forth to show little bits of their lives, but again, I stayed with it. About a half hour into the film, which I understand was a Michael Blieden play, that is adapted to film, I realized that these folks have some problems and are sort of witty in describing the mature dating and marriage scene. Then the revelations get sexier and suprising. Then it gets very suprising, revelations of horny 30's at play making mistakes and being human.
As noted by everyone, Jack Black does a very funny cameo, a spacey riff that I followed to my amazement. Of course you have to be a skitso or a believer to understand. Also, this isn't a sweeping scenery film. It's a play and people sit around the table talking. If the dialogue wasn't witty, festival audiences wouldn't have gone nuts.
Movie Review: Melvin should have another serving of paste
Summary: 1 Stars
Directors, actors, and all others associated with the film industry make a real effort to be cerebral. It's understandable, as it's a worthy goal. 99.5% of them fail - perhaps it's a lack of education, maybe it's poor upbringing that has reinforced self-absorption, and it could be that the superficiality which makes them such a good fit in Hollywood directly leads to this end. The only redeeming quality of the film is that it exposes human foibles (and this is not a new concept - it's typically an element of every movie). It seems that movies these days fall on either end of two extremes: telling stories of people who unrealistically do the right thing, or blathering of shallow morons who are poor subjects of empathy. This falls into the latter category. I want that hour and a half of my life back for a more worthy endeavor such as playing target practice into a trash can with a staple gun.
Movie Review: Independent film that wittingly flirts with the audience...
Summary: 4 Stars
Melvin Goes to Dinner is a small independent film driven by its dialogue and wittingly the film flirts, like a buffalo, with the audience as discussion between four different characters and a waitress turns raunchier with each sentence. There is Melvin, an unhappy city clerk that has dropped out of med-school, who has been invited by Joey, a daydreaming entrepreneur that knows all of Kentucky's county's by heart, to join him and a friend, Alex, for dinner. Alex, a business woman, hangs out with boys and has been a part of five different bachelor parties brings a friend, Sarah, who hangs out with old boyfriends in order to feel good about herself.
The film was initially a play that has been adapted to the screen that focuses on four people at dinner. When the final person arrives the group amuses themselves by joking about their waitress who has forgotten to provide them with menus. While they wait they begin to break the ice with innocent stories about themselves. However, as the waitress has corrected her error and has provided them with plenty of wine the truth begins to seep out. The discussion between the different people travels between ghosts, religion, philosophy, psychology, and infidelity, which finally seems to converge on sex. Their different idiosyncrasies become open topics as a teacher would teach basic addition, which leads the audience to some insightful notions that should be pondered.
The dinner ultimately turns to an end, and pleasantly so, as the film offers a truly genuine cinematic experience with humor, drama, and tragedy. The film is full of flashbacks as the four different narrators take turns telling their stories. This brings the story alive as it drifts back and forth between past and present while leaving a visual imprint of recollected memories. In all honesty, the film encourages the audience to sit down for dinner with a group of friends while letting the conversation adrift.