Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003) User Reviews

The rest of your party is already seated

[SMM-3 · 7/10 · 26 August 2005]

Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's brief running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.

All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.

If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.

Conversation: the movie, you'll feel like you're actually conversing

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 6 June 2005]

Melvin (Writer Micheal Blieden, adapting his own stage play for the small screen), meets up with friends, old and new, over dinner and has a conversation about ghosts, religion, sex, secrets, and religion (not necessarily in that order). The conversation itself is engaging and flows nicely, but the scenes out of the restaurant,though not without merit (David Cross, Jack Black, and Maura Tierney, have good parts in said parts), tend to mess up the flow of the film somewhat. And based on the film I'd be interested in seeing the play.

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Commentary by Bob Odenkirk, Micheal Blieden, and cast members; Second Commentary by Odenkirk, Blieden, the producers, composer, and Cinematographer; "The Frank International Film Festical" (a funny 15 minute skit); Scenes from the stage play Phyro-Giants!"; Trailers for "the Slaughter Rule", "Swimming", "Mule Skinner Blues", "Searching for Paradise", "the Hired Hand", "the Other Side of the Bed", "In This World", "Dopamine", and a promo for the Sundance film series

DVD-ROM: Screenplay in PDF format

Well, "My Dinner With Andre" It's Not

[lawprof · 7/10 · 11 April 2004]

Michael Blieden wrote the play on which "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is based and he also authored the screenplay. He's Melvin, an apparent early dropout from psychiatry working for his sister in some municipal planning department. He plans on dinner with his old friend, Joey (Matt Rice) and their pal, Alex (Stephanie Courtney). With flashbacks, we learn that Alex ran into her business school classmate whom she hasn't seen for seven years, Sarah (Annabelle Gurwitch) and invited her to join the trio for dinner.

What follows is a typical casual, restaurant get-together among friends in their thirties who engage in random and rapidly shifting chatter. The usual topics prevail: friendship, work, the ticking of a woman's biological clock, reincarnation, anal sex, cheating on lovers - the list goes on. They have a waitress, unnamed (Kathleen Roll), who's predictably ditzy.

It's all been done before but there is a surprise here near the end, a big one. And the quartet is engaged in some probing but fleeting talk about life issues that matter to most viewers, especially younger ones. The cast is largely inexperienced-only one, Ms. Gurwitch, has any real list of credits.

One really neat episode: recounting his experiences as a staff shrink (and improbably wearing not only surgical garb but a face mask around his throat), Melvin interviews a purportedly schizophrenic patient played, without a credit, by Jack Black. Black's nutcase actually espouses one of the most lucid and convincing views of the nature of life I've ever seen on the screen. He doesn't belong on a psych ward. It really got me thinking.

"Melvin Goes to Dinner" is neither as terrific as some claim nor as bad as others feel. If, like me, you are a restaurant voyeur who compulsively listens in on conversations emanating from other tables, you'll feel at home here and particularly enjoy following the whole interchange without being distracted by talking with your friends or having to deal with wait staff.

7/10

Keep it coming, Michael Blieden!

[cwkoller · 20 May 2004]

Just got the DVD after discovering it on Netflix and enjoyed it, although I wish I'd seen it with a live audience for the laughs. It's "My Dinner with Yuppies" - but these guys are likable, smart, funny and occasionally deep. The effect is that you feel like you're the fifth member at the table. Definitely a worthwhile rental.

Bob Odenkirk directed, so there's some of his Mr. Show gang involved like David Cross and Jack Black (who delivers big time as the "Creatress"). There's also the uber-likable Maura Tierney along with Laura Kightlinger, to pepper this low-budget indy with a some bankable star power. But none of the major characters are "stars" although Blieden's is a face you'll swear you've seen somewhere (commercials?), but you can't quite place it.

But like so many independent films, the story behind the movie is just as, if not more interesting. The additional features include scenes from the play "Phyro-Giants" written by Blieden, that spawned this film. The commentary, especially the producers track is an independent producer's 101 where you found out how Blieden edited this whole film on a "single processor Powermac" in Final Cut. Damn, I'm impressed...

No, it's not quite "Swingers" but it's very good, with solid performances that come from a unique ensemble chemistry (these guys did this thing on stage for five months). I hear this has been on the Sundance Channel (don't get it), but I'd recommend the DVD for the extra's.

Somewhere between TV pap and movie crap, independent films like this, made on the cheap but sparing little or nothing in the quality of writing/performance, offer some hope for viewers who want something more. I look forward to Blieden's next film.

Dinner with friends

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 28 February 2005]

Michael Blieden wrote the play in which the film is based. "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is a fast paced adaptation directed by Bob Odenkirk. It was a refreshing movie in which the writer, Mr. Blieden, has opened up the play in a satisfying way.

The premise of the film is a dinner among friends. During the dinner we get to know the dynamics among the diners. These yuppies are not the shallow individuals we might have taken them for. During the course of the dinner while the tongues get loose with the drinking, we realize what's really going on. The conversation is easy, and friendly, which is what happens when people that haven't seen one another for some period of time, will pick up where they left off the last time they met.

The young cast is likable. The author, Michael Blieden plays the leading role of Melvin. Matt Rice is Joey. Annabelle Gurwitch is Sarah, the woman who is connected to one of the friends in a way the others have no idea. The revelation makes sense. Stephanie Courtney, as Alex, is good. Jack Black appears in a cameo.

Bring another bottle of Pinot Noir, please!

Must be an amazing play...

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 27 November 2005]

I had mixed feelings about this one. I went into it knowing that it was largely based on conversation with very little vestiges of plot, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all sort of falls into place to mean something at the end. All in all, the conversational elements are richly written and very appealing. However, that's the end... it takes a while for it to be truly enriching.

Sometimes the conversation is such that you feel like you're in it, and that's probably as close to good as the cinematography and editing gets, considering in general it really isn't that well done. I can forgive the hand-held look and a lot of how the image turned out from its independent production value, but try as I might I couldn't help but feel a lot of the work was just shoddy camera operation.

Sometimes the conversation isn't very appealing and I can't help but think, "I'm obviously not in this conversation because I wouldn't go there." So there's that element too, a sort of discursive alienation one feels when the conversation feels less than involving.

Mostly, however, the dialog is great and the characters are amazing. There are some really great performances all around and it's definitely worth a viewing or two, or more, but even as I say that I can't help but think that the play version of this story must be absolutely amazing because of mostly the format of the two media.

--PolarisDiB

An indie classic of its time

[emma_taylor-73802 · 8/10 · 18 January 2020]

It took me a little time to get used to this movie but when I was in thralls I enjoyed the likeable characters, the believable dialogue and the realism of how you open up over a bottle of wine. A must for any indie movie lovers who enjoy a simple story.

OK film

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 6/10 · 14 September 2008]

On the down side is the fact that the 2003 film Melvin Goes To Dinner, directed by first timer Bob Odenkirk, is a watered down yuppy version of the great 1981 Louis Malle film My Dinner With Andre. On the up side is that if you are going to imitate something, at least choose something great, for the imitation, while not great, is likely to be good, which My Dinner With Melvin is. It was written by actor/playwright Michael Blieden, adapted from his play Phyro-Giants, and had a no name cast, as opposed to 2001's similarly themed HBO film Dinner With Friends, which starred Dennis Quaid, Toni Collette, Andie McDowell, and Greg Kinnear…. the film really does chicken out of putting its characters in emotional deep water. Yes, admissions of fetishes and infidelities can titillate, but given that this was filmed only a year and a half after 9/11 you'd think there might be a touch of political dischord thrown in. They argue a bit over religion, but no character seems willing to really stand up for anything. They are all, in that sense, preening wimps.

Still, I only wish there were deeper characters. Whereas Shawn and Gregory discourse on life and determinism, the four yuppies talk of things like ghosts with all the depth that a post-Angels In America America can muster, and then are amazed at each others' supposed depth, and how stimulating their conversation is. And when I reference Angels In America it's not a mere throwaway diss. There's a reason for the connection. Call it Post-Intellectualism. Call it, 'Show, don't tell.' Call it a nice try that settles for copouts. There are too many synchronicities and pallid contrivances that line up to get these four people together in the first place, and then reveal so much about themselves. Yet, it succeeds just enough that I can recommend this noble attempt, especially since the film's start and end are strong- and I mean literally the first and last few seconds of each. You may not wish you were able to join in the conversation, as you did with My Dinner With Andre, but it's still a few notches above anything you'll overhear in a real restaurant. For that, I recommend this DVD.

great film

[birdherder · 9/10 · 13 July 2003]

I just saw this film at the Alamo Drafthouse and loved it. It seemed very real...I've had dinners with friends like that [although my life is terribly tame comparatively]. sure some of the stories seemed outlandish but within the context of the story believable. It was so well acted. Each of the characters were interesting and likeable. I didn't want the film to end.

The screenwriter Michael Bleiden did a Q&A after the show and it was amazing to learn that a lot of the stories were true [everything that happened in Houston, for example].

This film might not get distribution in wide release but it is coming to DVD in December. There were cameras at the show to capture the crowd and the Q&A sessions.

well, uh, interesting, I guess?

[cherold · 5/10 · 9 July 2004]

Movies made up entirely of conversation are tricky. The amazing thing about My Dinner with Andre was, you had two people sitting in a restaurant talking for an hour and a half and it was riveting. Since I only watched about a half hour I can't say if this whole movie is conversations, but what I saw is a string of conversations mixed in with flashbacks that may also be conversations. So it's basically a lot of talking.

It's sort of interesting conversation, although nothing really new. And this may explain something pointed out by another reviewer here, that this movie gets much lower ratings from those over 45. I think their point was, middle-aged and old people just don't get it, but perhaps the problem is they got it long ago. Perhaps we've all had these conversations many times in our lives and just don't find any of this new or original or profound. I'm 45, I've had too many of these conversations. It gets old. So if you're young, watch the movie, enjoy it, and then watch it again when you're 45 and see what you think.

surprisingly good

[rcpeyton · 9/10 · 17 February 2004]

It takes a little time to get into it, but once the story is established, it's surprisingly fun to watch four near-strangers talking about all sorts of things. It's a bit vicarious. Was it Hitchcock who said that movies are like life without all the boring parts? This film disproves that. I definately recommend it.

Vile

[mmiles71 · 1/10 · 29 October 2005]

Witless, trendy twaddle and psycho-babble of the most annoying variety. This may well be the worst film ever made. It is difficult to believe that anyone has ever made it through this movie in one sitting. It is hard to decide which element of this film is the worst: the acting, which is stiff, yet glistening with the desperation of young, hungry actors trying to find meaning in this piece of dreck; the writing, in which the aching banality is broken up only by the sense of irritation that is the inevitable outcome of listening to the ill-considered opinions of dullards; or the cinematography, which is flat, insipid and unattractive.

There are a few people involved with this film, such as David Cross and Maura Tierney, who have shown real talent in the past. One imagines they intensely regret their association with this piece of tripe.

If you can make it to Jack Black's scene, then you just might love this movie.

[rooprect · 6 June 2019]

If you read a few of the reviews that gave this movie 1/10 then you'll know how I felt for the first 10-15 mins. "Melvin Goes to Dinner" can be difficult at first, mainly because we are given no formal introduction to the characters, so if you aren't instinctively drawn to eavesdropping on tables full of seemingly self-important hipsters, you may find yourself flipping the channel. But stick with it, at least up to the Jack Black (uncredited) scene. After that, things loosen up and you may find yourself really liking these people whom you had initially hated.

What, you say? Jack Black doesn't do it for you? Even though it's one of the most bizarrely ridiculous roles he's ever played, like a deleted scene from Spinal Tap or something? Fine, well maybe you'll have fun star-spotting for appearances by Fred Armisen (Portlandia, SNL) or Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, SNL) and maybe a few others I didn't catch. They're fast.

Once you've settled in and invested some time getting to know these 4 characters and their distinct personalities, things start to get fun. Stories begin to mesh, consistent themes begin to emerge, and you're guaranteed at least 1 or 2 total "woah no way!" surprises that are worth the price of admission. By the end of the flick, what I had initially expected would be a dry, rambling, exhibition of nothing ended up being a cleverly written, well acted and ultimately rewarding experience. No, there aren't any shootouts, zombies or car chases (well... maybe 1 pseudo car chase), but in the tradition of the great plays "Who's Afraid of Virginial Woolf", "Long Day's Journey into Night" or any other classic play that focuses on a bunch of people talking for an evening, "Melvin Goes to Dinner" is a great experience.

It should be noted that the 4 main cast members are the same original cast from "Phyro-Giants" the play upon which this film is based. So they have great chemistry, and their lines flow effortlessly as if... well, as if they'd memorized every line, expression and gesture after a 100 performances or so.

The camera work is raw and unpretentious as it should be, consisting of hand held shots and frequent closeups just as you'd experience if you were sitting at the table with these people. Everything feels casual even though it was meticulously edited (by the star/writer Melvin himself on an archaic Mac computer). There are a few flashback scenes which use an interesting snapshot type presentation (which, when you think about it, is how we imagine stories that are being told to us without any reference).

If you get the DVD, be sure to watch the extras where they include some footage from the original play. The audience's reactions and laughter really add to the fun. If they ever revive the stage production of this, I'll definitely be in the front row.

Oh what can happen at dinner

[alanjj · 9/10 · 24 October 2004]

This was a great TiVo pickup. I liked the title, got it off IFC. Although Melvin is the title role, I loved Matt Price as Joey. And it does seem to center more around Joey (at least until the "revelation"), and the revelation was a real surprise, one that makes you go back to the beginning and watch all over again.

It all about what can happen at a loosely arranged dinner between 2 friends, that expands into a dinner among friends and strangers, where people drink too much wine and start revealing things about themselves, and then it's about coincidences and fate and life-after-death, and everything else that can go on at a casual dinner.

But it's not just talk, and the flashbacks and flashforwards make the movie move. And the waitress, Kathleen Roll, with a voice like Lily Tomlin, steals her scenes.

A surprising experience

[ceeingred13 · 9/10 · 23 February 2012]

I had as odd of a time watching this movie as I've ever had. It started out problematic: too dry, too slowly paced with unlikable characters and then somewhere between sitting at the table and getting the check it shifted and I found myself enjoying it tremendously. The fact that the dialogue has such a true to life feel to it makes it feel somewhat dry and boring at first, but when you settle in and listen to what they are saying, the script becomes remarkable. The characters felt very much like people. It's like a more subtle, polished " Breakfast Club " for adults and lead to a truly lovely ending. I look forward to revisiting it someday.

Abysmal.

[melloyellobiafra · 1/10 · 24 March 2006]

I have never walked out of a movie in my life. Had I seen this in the theater I would have.

The characters in this movie are very true to life, unfortunately they are all pseudo-intellectual hipsters who think every mundane thing in their lives is absolutely fascinating. Perhaps for his next movie Bob Odenkirk can make a feature about a group of alarm clocks. The buzzing of the alarm clocks would be no less annoying than the characters in "Melvin Goes to Dinner" and the film would be just as entertaining.

"Melvin Goes to Dinner" may be the worst movie ever made avoid it at all costs.

Great character study with humor and heart

[se7en187 · 10/10 · 18 June 2003]

I recently saw Melvin Goes to Dinner at the 2003 Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan. Directed by Bob Odenkirk, it was a brilliantly written movie about a group of people who have a conversation in a restaurant, sharing their life stories. Each character has a secret they're hiding, and you connect with each character.

Though it sounds like a drama, it contains some hilarious parts throughout the movie, including hilarious cameos from David Cross and Jack Black.

I was lucky enough to talk with the writer, editor, and star, Michael Blieden. He was a very interesting person with a lot of great stories to tell about making the movie. Though he did a great job acting and directing, I must comment on his editing. The editing was fantastic, so much is happening throughout the movie in so many different areas.

I loved this movie, it was extremely entertaining with some great twists. Be sure to watch it more than once, you'll catch so much more.

10/10

Well done, yet unlikable.

[grotchly · 5/10 · 17 January 2004]

Hmmm. It's hard to make up my mind on this movie. Four people meet up for dinner and the conversation winds on and on through the movie. Flashback scenes help recount each character's stories during the film. The conversations touch on sex, infidelity, religion and other topics just like a real-life conversation.

The film seems like it would be hard to pull off. Trying to capture a seemingly spontaneous conversation on film and editing it is no small task. The movie is successful in that respect. It puts you right there in the discussion. The acting was very good. BUT I still didn't like the movie. The reason is I couldn't stand the characters (as well-developed as they were). These are people and trite conversations I would try to run away from at a party or anywhere else.

I think I would only recommend this movie if you were a film student studying editing and filming conversations.

5/10

Dinner, drinks, and what was that you just said?

[PandorasFilth · 6 September 2003]

I caught Melvin Goes To Dinner in one of only 45 seats in the Private Screening Room at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA. I knew going into the theater, that I was in for brilliance, as I have been with anything I've seen that was associated with Bob Odenkirk. Regretfully, I had never heard the name Michael Blieden before this film. I look forward to seeing more of his work, whether it be as an actor or writer in the future.

This is a poignant, no holds barred, almost voyeuristic look into the lives of a group of people eating dinner together. As the dinner progresses, so do the intricacies of each these individual's' life unfold, as each bears their souls through the dinnertime conversation.

While definitely humorous, the film is not light-hearted. Appearances by Jack Black, David Cross, and Bob Odenkirk are well-placed within the various stories that unfold. Every minute of the film kept my attention and kept me hungering for more. This is definitely a film that will keep giving if seen more than once.

An absolutely brilliant film that I thoroughly enjoyed and can't wait until it comes out on video or DVD so that I can add it to my much coveted collection of films. I highly recommend catching this film.

superior to my dinner with andre

[PIST-OFF · 9/10 · 13 November 2005]

i wished this movie would have been longer, a lot longer. it was more interesting and less pretentious than my dinner with andre, mixed a wide and pedestrian set of dialogues with some interesting plot and character points and came up with something rather fun to watch. the actors and actresses (mostly unknown to me) do fine jobs inhabiting their characters (if they are even characters) and dine at of all places a bar. as the night wears on they get drunker and talk about religion, sex, and relationships which are some of the major guideposts of human social life and interaction. the movie easily could have doubled it's length and the subject matter could have been further explored in deeper and deeper ways and still have remained fresh and entertaining while avoiding the artsy abstractions and pretensions of andre. kudos to the writer and director of this film, the later of which i would learn to my surprise is bob odenkirk of mr. show fame. my only beef with the film is the abruptness of it and it's unwillingness to weave deeper levels of understanding about it's subject matter in the way a milan kundera novel does. pity.

9 out 10

Exhilarating, unexpectedly profound and really well made.

[deweymt · 8/10 · 11 April 2003]

I have to admit that I didn't have high expectations for what I had been led to believe was "My Dinner With Angsty Twenty-Somethings" but, by the end, the movie had completely delivered on so many levels. The writing is fast and funny and the structure of the film and the performances (exceptional in almost every case including great cameos by alt. comedy legends) help drive what might have been glib smalltalk into the realm of real drama. In fact, the film becomes almost a deconstruction of a "My Dinner With..." movie. In "Melvin", the pseudo-philosophical wankering associated with that genre is continually yanked into reality by deftly interweaving vivid backstories from each character. Bob Odenkirk's direction and Blieden's editing(!) give the movie both a compelling zig-zagging energy and real style. I think this movie, given the right distribution, could be a big, big hit. It should certainly make stars of Blieden, Price, Gurwitch and Courtney. Seek it out.

Bob O? WTF?!??!

[terrybrass · 2/10 · 6 March 2009]

i don't get this s**t. You have cameos from all these funny, interesting actors, and you cast the leads as there community theater rejects? what gives? what are you trying to covey? The content become contrived and predictable after a while. The dialog COULD have been striking, but s**t, you got Jack Black playing a mental defect, and Laura Kitelinger on screen for like a second and a half, and you cast the movie with these forced dialog suckers? I don't get it, Bob, i don't' get it. This film had a lot of potently but failed. I DE-Recommend this film. Don't bother, It's not worth it. It's too simple, but could have been good.

A Life Changing Night

[Frisibee · 10/10 · 18 October 2003]

This movie is absolutely fantastic. I identified with every charater in at least one way. I had the opportunity to meet the Mike (writer, editor, star) and Matt (star)when the movie was shown at my school. it was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Someway this movie will effect you, and most likely without you knowing it. I highly recommed that if you get the chance to see it GO! you won't regret it, and will be sad if you miss out.

Very amateur film

[dhaufrect-1 · 2/10 · 24 May 2004]

"Melvin Goes to Dinner" is an amateur film of adolescent love. It is done in a rapid fire sequence of TV quality cinema. The acting is real only in the fact that it gives the appearance of a running camera. some of the comedy is cute. However, there are very few moments that can save this movie and make it worth ones time. Believability is lacking. Stunning cinematography is lacking. A real coherent story is lacking. There must be a reason to have made this film, but it is close to the bottom of the barrel. It is not as weak as "Killer Tomatoes", but it is in a close race. If one has nothing better to do, worse DVD's could be rented. However, a purchase of this film is a serious error.

With plenty of food for thought.

[Cipher-J · 16 March 2004]

Four people, two guys and two gals, at different places in their lives, chance to meet at a restaurant for dinner one day, and end up revealing themselves and discovering each other in ways none of them could have predicted. For the most part, they are bright, young, upwardly mobile professionals, comfortable discussing themselves, and hence even without a psychologist to act as moderator, they interact in a manner reminiscent of group therapy. That is, they take turns admitting their secret thoughts and obsessions, take issue with each other on some points, and try to benefit from each other's experiences and perspectives. One of them even has some background in a field related to psychiatry, but of course with minimal insight.

The point of the film seems to be that, thanks to their group discussion, they all develop a wider perspective on life, but especially Melvin, whose life had been spiraling out of control. In some regards he seems the brighter of the four, yet the least insightful. All of the characters become more aware of themselves through their interactions over dinner, but it is Melvin who benefits the most. How he grows, and what he learns from that encounter, are what makes this film worth viewing. Thanks to his opportunity, Melvin doesn't just go out to dinner, but learns to take control of his life. It is a very subtle story, but worthy of critical attention.