Thoroughly enjoyable nostalgia film about lost youth that's as refreshing as a cup of coffee from a Greek diner.
Diner (1982)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:25
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.1/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 25 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Barry Levinson's (TIN MEN, AVALON) directorial debut chronicles the relationships between a group of friends living in Baltimore in 1959. The uniting factor for this group is their fear of growing... Barry Levinson's (TIN MEN, AVALON) directorial debut chronicles the relationships between a group of friends living in Baltimore in 1959. The uniting factor for this group is their fear of growing up. They spend hour after hour in the local greasy-spoon diner, joking, boasting, bragging, and ultimately escaping reality. Ladies' man Boogie (Mickey Rourke), a hairdresser by day and law student by night, is also in over his head with the local bookie. Momma's boy Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is about to get married--but only if his fiancée passes a football trivia test. Shrevie (Daniel Stern) is married to Beth (Ellen Barkin) but is more comfortable hanging out with his friends and organizing his record collection. Graduate student Billy (Timothy Daly) is trying to sort out his own love life. And Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) is a poor little rich boy with a warped sense of humor and no direction. Paul Reiser rounds out the group as the nagging but funny Modell. [More]
Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon
Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser, Timothy Daly
Director: Barry Levinson
Director: Barry Levinson
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Reviews for Diner
Made by an insider, Baltimore's son Barry Levinson, who gets the texture and characters right, Diner is one of the most perceptive youth tales about the gulf between the sexes before the subject became a debatable issue.
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.
Diner features a group of twentysomething friends whose camaraderie, hijinks and troubles ought to resonate with many viewers.
Movies like Diner -- fresh, well-acted and energetic American movies by new directors with the courage of their convictions -- are an endangered species.
Latest News for Diner
May 01, 2009:
Barry Levinson Counts to Sixty-Six ![]()
Barry Levinson is planning a cinematic return to his favorite source of inspiration, Baltimore, with "Sixty-Six," "a story about a group of characters coming of age in 1966... More...
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