Diner

Release Year: 1982

Director: Barry Levinson

Review:  A bunch of guys hanging out.  That's the way it was for the group of friends in highschool, and now in their 20's its still the same.  No matter where life has taken them, or the problems in their personal lives, these group of friends can find safe haven in the Diner, where they instantly get taken back to a less complicated era and can just have a good time.  The film takes place in Baltimore in 1959, as the group of friends gather for one of the guy's wedding. The group as a whole is the star, played by a great ensemble cast early in their careers consisting of Steven Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly and Paul Reiser.  There isn't so much a narrative as it is a series of situations that take place leading up to one of the friend's weddings.

In the beginning everyone in the clan seems to only be interested in extending their highschool antics.  Wanting to live the care free, wild, days of their youth for as long as possible.  Meeting at the diner and hanging around their old friends allows them to prolong this.  The Diner almost seems like a support group immaturity.  Life has a habit of catching up, however.  They aren't teenagers anymore, and slowly this fact starts to sink in.  They learn that they don't have to give up having fun, and lose comradery simply because they are maturing.

I had a hard time buying into some of the complete pig-headedness of some of the group.  In general the film paints women in a pretty poor light, and while the film is meant to highlight the maturing of the boys, and eventual respect of women, it never quite got there.  What little narrative there was felt shallow, never quite earning the payoff.  The turnaround from immature boys to mature men happens all too quickly for a feeling of authenticity.  What does work is the banter between the group.  It feels like this group of friends have been hanging around the diner of years.  It's very natural feeling and I'm a sucker for good quick dialog.  The problem is, the film isn't funny enough to be taken too lightly, nor poignant enough to be taken seriously.  I was left being mildly amused, but not really getting much out of it.
Rating: 4/5