Diner
Directed by Barry Levinson
Written by Barry Levinson
1982/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Timothy Fenwick, Jr.: Do you ever get the feeling that there’s something going on that we don’t know about?
Dees anyone come of age in this coming of age story?
The setting is Baltimore in the last days of 1959. A friend group of twenty-something young men congregate in a 24-hour diner in the wee small hours of the morning after a night of carousing. This is apparently a usual event.
Eddie’s (Steve Gutenberg) wedding is scheduled for New Year’s Eve. He will not go through with it unless his intended passes a 140-question football quiz. Shrevie (Daniel Stern) is already married to Beth (Ellen Barkin). This is interfering with his love affair with his record collection. Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) is a burgeoning alcoholic. Boogie is a ladies man who is being pressed by enforcers on his gambling debt. Billy (Tin Daly) is visiting for Christmas. He is the unrequited lover of a TV producer and is the most mature of this bunch.
We follow the escapades of these guys for about two weeks to their natural conclusion. One wonders how many lessons were actually learned.
I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to based on my first viewing on original release. Some very mean pranks are played at the expense of women and the movie left a kind of sour taste in my mouth. But, other than that, the rewatch was kind of fun. The acting is certainly very good and Levinson lovingly recreates a time and place dear to him. The soundtrack is fabulous.
