Levinson's dialogue feels fresh and improvised, yet it hits its mark every time, and the performances he gets are complex and original.
Diner
Suddenly, life was more than French fries, gravy, and girls.
1982 · 1h 50m · R
Comedy, Drama
Directed by
Barry Levinson
Overview
Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating details of their lives are shared. But the golden moments pass, and the men shoulder their responsibilities, leaving the Diner behind.
Director and cast
- Barry Levinson Director
- Steve Guttenberg as Edward 'Eddie' Simmons
- Daniel Stern as Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber
- Mickey Rourke as Robert 'Boogie' Sheftell
- Kevin Bacon as Timothy Fenwick Jr.
- Tim Daly as William 'Billy' Howard
- Ellen Barkin as Beth Schreiber
- Paul Reiser as Modell
- Kathryn Dowling as Barbara
- Michael Tucker as Bagel
- Jessica James as Mrs. Simmons
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The film is wonderfully cast and played.
For all his painstaking accuracy, Levinson has also concocted a dark and depressing period story devoid of a single person without a major problem or character flaw.
Not a lot to it, but the sense of period is acute, the script witty without falling into the crude pitfalls that beset other adolescent comedies, and the performances are spot-on.
Diner is often a very funny movie, although I laughed most freely not at the sexual pranks but at the movie's accurate ear, as it reproduced dialogue with great comic accuracy.
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