The Worst Film Ever

Excellent adaptation.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A group of young men in Baltimore eat at the "Diner" in this 1982 film with a cast of actors who went on to varying levels of success: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Paul Reiser, Michael Tucker, and Ellen Barkin. Directed by Barry Levinson, "Diner" is an episodic look at childhood buddies, now twenty somethings in 1959 Baltimore who gather at the Fells Point Diner as they deal with the problems and opportunities of adulthood. Eddie (Guttenberg) is engaged to be married, but if his girlfriend Elyse can't pass a Colts quiz, the wedding's off. One of the guys, Shrevie (Stern)is already married to Beth (Barkin), but doesn't seem particularly happy. A music fanatic, he harangues at her for messing up his records. Beth, meanwhile, misses the good old days of attention from men and, unhappy, she thinks about having an affair.Boogie (Rourke) is a hairdresser attending law school who plays the field, gambles, and is often in trouble because he can't pay his debts to the kind of people you don't disappoint. Billy (Daly) has been getting his MBA in college and returns to Baltimore to see his girlfriend Barb. Fen (Bacon) resents his family but lives off of his trust fund. Modell (Reiser) is generally insecure. Funny, poignant, well acted, with a great sound track, Diner takes us through women problems, marital problems, virginity, pregnancy, money problems, family problems, sports, music, and the film "Sweet Smell of Success," and their childish bets.For them, the Diner is a refuge, a place to be a kid again, all the while knowing that soon enough, they're all going to have to become responsible adults whether they like it or not. Life demands it.All the actors give special performances with their characters well fleshed out: Rourke, with his soft voice and handsome face (why would anyone so adorable do what he did to his face?) belying all the difficulty he makes for himself; Daly as an uptight young man who wants to do the right thing; Reiser, with his easy line delivery; Bacon, the obnoxious rich kid; Guttenberg, the sports fanatic; Stern, the music nut. Michael Tucker is "Bagel," another diner customer, who helps Boogie out of a real mess.A poignant ending, with a delightful bit of standup by Reiser, serves as a reminder that you can't stay a kid forever. But they'll always have the diner.

The underlying theme here is transition. Six young American guys bond with each other for security as they move out of adolescence and into adulthood. Given that the story takes place in 1959, the transition applies equally to American culture, which transitions out of the dull 50s and into the chaotic 60s. These guys will never be young again, and neither will America; hence, the appeal to nostalgia.An ensemble cast allows for the film to be a series of vignettes involving one or more of the characters. As such, the plot seems jerky, almost random at times. Characters seem shallow, egocentric, and predictably preoccupied with romance and sex. I couldn't get interested in any of them. The story is set in dreary Baltimore at Christmas. So the overall plot has the feel of a very specific place and time.The script is very talky. Not much happens. Characters stand around, drive around, meet at the diner for burgers ... and talk. Some of the banter is clever; most is just tedious. I thought the casting was a bit weak, in that the differentiation among the six guys is not as pronounced as that of "American Graffiti" (1973). Acting is average. Some of the chitchat is improvisational.I was disappointed with the background music. Again, it is somewhat weak. There are a few good 1950s songs, the ones by Bobby Darin and Fats Domino. But most of the selections are not especially nostalgic. On the other hand, the color visuals do create the look of that era quite well.It's almost as if this film borrowed its underlying concept from "American Graffiti", which I like considerably better, partly because of its more archetypal characters. Then too, the two films address a slightly different American constituency. "Diner" is set on the East Coast, "American Graffiti" on the West Coast. Maybe I just identify more with the West.

This was the debut film from director Barry Levinson (Good Morning, Vietnam; Rain Man), and it also introduced us to many then mostly unknown actors that each went on to do bigger things. Basically the film is set in Baltimore, 1959, where a group of twenty-something male high school students reunite for the wedding of one of them. The group's regular hangout and meeting spot is in the Fells Point Diner, and they are challenging their relationships as they head for adulthood. Edward 'Eddie' Simmons (Steve Guttenberg) is the one getting married, Laurence 'Shrevie' Schreiber (Daniel Stern) questions why he is married to Beth (Ellen Barkin), Robert 'Boogie' Sheftell (Mickey Rourke) is a gambler with many debts, Timothy Fenwick Jr. (Kevin Bacon) is an irresponsible drunk with attitude problems, and William 'Billy' Howard (Tim Daly, as Timothy) is in love with a woman who is pregnant but doesn't want to marry him. There is no real plot as such, it is just taking a look at each of the five group members one at a time as they struggle with whatever problems they face as they grow up. Also starring Paul Reiser as Modell, Kathryn Dowling as Barbara, Michael Tucker as Bagel and Jessica James as Mrs. Simmons. It was nominated the Academy Award for scripting, but actually the actors were mostly ad-libbing which makes it look all the more naturalistic. My favourite scene is Stern getting moody when his wife doesn't order his record collection properly, I can be like that sometimes with my DVD collection. I think the big reason to see this film is to see where big stars like Guttenberg, Rourke and Stern really had their careers kick off in the way they did, it is a good old fashioned comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Levinson, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. It was number 57 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Very good!

Diner, Barry Levinson's writing and directing debut belongs to so-called "small" or "minor" movies and it indeed does not have spectacular locations, breathtaking action sequences or even dramatic story. As Kevin Bacon comments in the Behind the Scenes Documentary, "There's not that much of a story, really. What do we do? We drive around..." What the movie has is "a very honest portrayal of a group...of guys that people relate to on a very personal level." The different generations of viewers react to film with devotion and recognition, and Diner has become one of the beloved long time cult favorites. Based on its writer/director's memories of growing up in Baltimore, the film takes place during the week between Christmas and New Year in 1959, and tells of the friendship of five guys in their early twenties. During the course of the film, we will get to know the young men, their fears of growing up, facing responsibilities, and making decisions, their fascination and insecurities with the girls.From his Oscar-nominated script, BL makes the study of young men who hesitate to grow up but rather hang out in their beloved Diner. Daniel Stern's 'Shrevie' is an owner of LP collection that he seems to value more than his young and pretty wife (Ellen Barkin in her film debut). Mickey Rourke, played his best role (at least, IMO) as Boogy, the cynical womanizer with the most charming smile. Steve Guttenberg's Eddie puts his fiancée through the enormously difficult football quiz and the passing score is the must for the marriage because he is scared to get married. Kevin Bacon plays Fenwick, a permanently drunk and lost kid, the character much darker than the rest of the guys. Timothy Daly is Bill who seems to be the most successful of the bunch, and know what he wants but can't make the girl he loves to love him. By making Diner, Levinson actually put his native city, sleepy and provincial 1959 Baltimore, on the cinema map, and that's just one of movie's pleasures. And there are plenty. Diner is filled with authentic and believable scenes, situations, and conversations that everyone can relate to. The Diner's menu has a lot to offer to the grateful viewers and fans of the insightful, ironic, entertaining, small but bright and shiny gem. Barry Levinson does not flatter six protagonists but he understands them and loves them because he sees in them the indelible part of his own life, his experiences, and his own childhood friends. As another great film about childhood friendship says, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" Barry Levinson went on to create many good and very good films after Diner. These are just a few: The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam; Bugsy; Avalon; Sleepers, An Everlasting Piece, Disclosure, Wag the Dog, and his Oscar winner "Rain Man" but Diner will always have a very special place for me. This is the film I keep coming back to again and again, and as the time passes it only gets better.