PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

gavin6942 Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.This is very much an indie film -- lots of dialogue (and I do mean lots), overly intellectual discourse, and very limited settings (more or less a single table). I am almost surprised this came out in 1981, because it is very much along the lines of the sort of dialogue-heavy indie film we saw in the 1990s.Most interestingly is Wallace Shawn. Maybe it is simply my age, but I was not aware of his existence before "The Princess Bride". And yet, here is he, a full-fledged writer and star of a film. An indie film, but a film just the same... and one honored by the Criterion Collection.

Robert Brogan My Dinner with Andre is one of those films you may well hear about, because it is really pretty different. This is the kind of film where you have to have (or have had) a lot of existential curiosity to be able to enjoy it. The less you think you know about this world, the more interesting you will find Andre's tales to be. Beyond that, you may still find it interesting if you can relate to the quest for meaning and happiness and you think of yourself as a student of human interactions. On the other hand, if you have low tolerance for weirdness and fancy, then you are likely to find yourself to be irritated by it all. There is a question of how high to rate it as a film since it seems to be just a recorded conversation. I rate it down just a bit on that account (seems unfair to other films), though I find there are some subtleties to be picked up on, and I found Wallace Shawn to give a pretty good performance with his sincere and mildly intense reactions to Andre (and at one point finds something to be INCONCEIVABLE!). Recommended to artist- and entrepreneurial types that find themselves often wondering over the edge of the World of Appearances.

JT-Kirk Philosophy, existentialism, transcendentalism all collide over quail dinner. Some may see this movie as a time-suck, when in fact it's not, it's compelling and lets the viewer feel as if he's dining at the next table, listening in on something beyond the normal dinner conversation. There's no question as to how anybody else on the screen or talked about feels, it's simply two men having conversation, and that conversation ends up being exceptionally colorful and deep and full of crap at times, but never boring.For the first quarter, it feels as if Andre's existentialist dilemmas are so farcical and ridiculous that they must be pretense, yet once the infinitely-traveled (both the world and the being) Andre calls his own behavior out as abhorrent, things flip on their ear and get your attention.Wally and Andre agree and disagree on the nature of (then-modern) life within the same breaths, rarely exposing anything other than a friendly listening ear, hardly daring to show conflict as that would be outrageous in a conversation such as this between these two people.Some of what Andre says about the fundamentals of society have been proved prescient when a trip on the bus has the majority of riders interacting only with their phones, never truly communicating or living with those people around them. In that way, it's impossible 33 years later not to view truths in the wild stories being told by a man who may not be as nuts as he seems at times, but definitely has let his enlightenment cloud his ability to actually live his life. Yet time after time, we are faced with the very real possibility that Andre's crisis comes from losing his mother, an event which comes up over and over in tales - or maybe he's right on track, and using that event only as a stinging example of the blind men describing the elephant.Wally meanwhile plays the polite ear for a time, then a sounding board, finally even making counterpoints to a much more "here and now" life, but he never fully gives himself over to fighting his friend's ideas, and he rarely shows a hint that he might be bored or glazing over. The fact that Wally, our "protagonist" - if that's what you can call his role - refuses to disengage with Andre the way so many of their friends have shows a kindness and an ability to truly take in the ideas behind a man seemingly broken and on the fringes of society.I remember overhearing talk like this when I was a kid, some of those conversations were the best ideas and some were the absolute worst dreck. How they were used ended up being where their true value mattered, and this film touches on that, but doesn't force it down the viewer's throat. By the end of the few hours, the viewer is a little exhausted, the voice-over narration bookends feel clumsy, but - despite a lack of answers or anything of that nature - something happened and because of that, the viewer felt. That's where entertainment and art must collide to be successful. Part of me would love to find out how Andre's wife and children, how Wally's girlfriend, how their theater community friends, even how the waitstaff dealt with the repercussions of that conversation, there are a lifetime of ideas that have come and gone since this film was made, a near-total abandonment of the type of "self-examination at all costs" behavior Andre lives by in the film, so in that way the film leaves us with the possibility of going anywhere we want, viewing sequels in our own minds. That's a strong tale told then, a movie that's just two New Yorkers having dinner being so much more without pushing at all.Some audiences, perhaps most, won't be able to take this film in. It is longwinded and "nothing happens", it doesn't even entirely look good at times, but where it succeeds is in engaging far beyond the audience's expectations without anything other than some dinner, conversations, and coffee.

amplexuslotus I think this is one of the finest films ever made. There is a lot to listen to and pay attention to- the viewer becomes an active participant in the story. It's a beautiful thing.Many viewers, even those who love this film, found the character of Andre (Andre Gregory) pretentious. However, I found him to be honest,engaging, introspective, empathetic and although Andre has the majority of the dialogue, he is very open and receptive to Wally's (Wallace Shawn's)thoughts, opinions, ideas; even Wally's criticisms of him. Wally in fact has already told us that he enjoys learning about people; likes asking people questions. So Andre obliges; giving Wally exactly what he enjoys-a perfect character study. Andre provides his friend with excellent material for his next play.Many reviewers don't seem to recall that Andre is extremely honest; he admits that the "creep" who irritates him does so because he sees himself reflected in that creep. He admits to being a "monster" for having had to subject himself and (perhaps more importantly) his family to his "selfish" journey to discover himself. Andre never mentions if his wife or children are upset with his choices. On the contrary, his wife comes off sounding extremely supportive. Most of the dialogue is Andre telling Wally, telling us, about his many strange and sometimes beautiful experiences. Wally is even supportive of his friend when Andre confesses that he began to feel his old friends annoying him, what was needling him was that he was seeing negative aspects of himself in these annoying people. He, Andre was the annoying creep,the selfish monster-Wally sympathetically asks him why he should feel this way? Throughout most of the film, I got the impression that Wally thought most of Andres experiences were fascinating. A few were even experiences Wally would like the chance to have himself if only he had more money, more time; if only he weren't afraid.But then towards the end, after Andre brings up a group he was involved with in Scotland and their belief in aliens, this sets Wally off. This story is too much for Wally-but that's surface. There's a deeper reason for Wally's negative reaction. So he tells Andre what he thinks and feels about Andre's stories. Andre is completely open and sincerely curious about Wally's impressions even if this means he is will be ridiculed. Throughout the movie he accepts Wally's thoughts and opinions - several are critical of Andre. Andre frequently agrees with Wally. When he doesn't it's a gentle nudge to Wally to try and perceive life or a person from a different pov. When Wally declares he's going to honestly tell Andre what he thinks there's an ambiguity in his thoughts and opinions. He says, "I don't even know what you're saying; I mean I 'know' what you're saying but I don't know." But Andre frequently admits his experiences often left him empty; or in the case of the Japanese Buddhist monk who Andre falsely believed could "teach me something" but couldn't. Andre was still left questioning his place in the world and trying to come to grips with his existential crisis.Andre admits his journeys around the world may have been completely useless. The outcome, or a more solid result might have been achieved by living in the moment inside a little NYC apartment with his wife by his side. Andre admits that the external stimuli he sought to find life's answers was often a catalyst which brought him beautiful meaningful experiences but not every time. He confesses and agrees with Wally that there is more than one way to make the journey.Many of the observations made by both Andre and Wally on modern life, theatre, living in NYC, science-vs- spirituality, socializing, making goals, working, technology are even more applicable today then they may have been when this was filmed.There are also several instances when Wally, the character, which many reviewers found more relatable and better grounded than Andre where you can catch him (Wally) contradicting himself. For instance, he criticizes Andre for seeking signs and omens in every day life coincidences. Yet Wally himself remarks, while trying to convince Andre, that one should be able to enjoy the simple things in life, that when he has his morning coffee, if there's an insect in his coffee that morning he will be negatively affected the entire day. So Wally does sometimes use every day life stuff as 'a sign' to extrapolate more meaning. The idea as to whether life's details are completely meaningless or if there is a message of true importance to be gleaned from them is shaky ground for Wally. This may be what upsets him so much. Wally, desires order and stability in the universe. However, much of what Andre describes is frightening specifically because it's the unknown. A few of Andre's stories illustrate we're living in a cold chaotic universe. Andre is confessing that even though he took this journey of self-exploration, many of the answers he sought remain unknowable.This is just a small observation but one reviewer mentions that the director, Louis Malle, never shows us what Wally and Andre are having for dinner-this is not true. There is a very clear shot of not only their dinners but of Andre eating (this same reviewer remarked that we only see Wally eating). Both Wally and Andre in fact order the very same entree-coincidence?The film's apparent simplicity slowly exposes profoundly nuanced characters and life's complexities. It serves to show the viewer that all around us, in the mundane, interesting amazing profound things may be taking place. If only we could snap out of our amnesia, pay attention and live in the moment.