I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Overrated and overhyped

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

... almost as long as the main characters were frozen. When this movie was released in 1991, I was fifteen. It caught my attention, but not my friends', and consequently, other movies were chosen for matinees. Late for Dinner slipped by, but never fell off my radar. I rarely rented VHS movies. Since the advent of DVD, I've become a voracious collector. I've had the DVD in my sights since 2011, but kept waiting for the price to drop to finally check out this film. When the Blu-ray was announced this year, I said screw it, it won't get any better than this, and bought it instantly. I finally watched Late for Dinner tonight after keeping it in the back of my mind for a quarter century.My story doesn't have a happy ending.I can understand why it didn't make a splash, and perhaps why it's W.D. Richter's second and (to date) final film.It just doesn't work. At all.The direction is amateurish, and it has some of the clumsiest acting I've seen in a major studio release. I attribute this criticism to the two male leads. Berg's performance is unconvincing, although I blame the script and Richter's choices first over the actor. Brian Wimmer, however, is woefully miscast. A different actor might have raised this material. The final scenes between Willie and Joy are the best example: The dude just murders it. It is utterly incompatible with his style. I actually think this scene could have saved the movie for me, if delivered with nuance and gravitas, but there is none. Clearly the man is a paid actor because he's talented, but sometimes casting the right person can make or break a production.Had I seen Late for Dinner in 1991, would I have had a more favorable reaction? To be fair, I think so. The SNL sketch deep freeze plot might have seemed more cutting edge to me as a tenth grader. Still, the cryogenic company and its personnel are completely done away with as soon as Frank and Willie drive away from the complex. The sci-fi element is required for the story, but it's totally a square peg. The movie is unbalanced, no matter what decade I saw it in.Anyway... that's my two cents. Glad I finally saw it.

As I watched this movie again, seems like each time I see something I missed in it before, so I'm glad I did tape it as I did many others I have reviewed here. I was impressed with something I missed before, and this was after they got back home and Willie was trying to explain where they had been to his "grown up" daughter. (As you know by now Willie and Frank had been frozen for 29 years in Pomona CA). He said to her, "Do you remember the times we would catch all those trout and when we couldn't eat them all, we would freeze them, and when we got them out to eat them a long time later, they were just as handsome as they were when we first caught them? Well, that's what happened to Frank and me for 29 years". It was a very touching scene!!

In 1962 Willie Husband (Brian Wimmer) and brother in law Frank Lovegren (Peter Berg) are cryogenically frozen because they believe the police are after them. They're accidentally thawed out in 1991. They quickly learn what's happened but Willie goes to find his wife...but will his wife still be alive or accept him? There's no doubt about it--this is a whopper of a story but if you can accept it you might be caught up in it. I saw it in a small theatre back in 1991 and its easy-going, laid-back and romantic approach charmed me. It still holds up all these years later! The movie is very quiet and (obviously) quirky but I loved it. The actors are all good. They play it in a matter of fact way that works beautifully with the story. There's also a good selection of old romantic songs playing once in a while in the background...but they never overdo it. They play just enough to get you in the mood. This came (and went) quickly back in 1991 but it deserves to be discovered. A sweet, quirky romantic comedy drama. I give it a 9.

This was kind of a 'sleeper' in that I have never heard much about this film - it's not well-known, but it's very good: almost like an old-fashioned classic era story in that is guaranteed to bring a tear or two to your eyes at the end. I say "almost" because, unlike classic films, there is some profanity in here and a few unnecessary political cheap shots typical of Hollywood.Otherwise, it's a nice drama (not a "comedy" as it's often labeled) featuring two men (brothers-in-law), one older one looking after his younger, mentally-slow relative. Brian Wimmer plays "Willie," the caring older in-law and Peter Berg is the younger "Frank." There is some action in the beginning, the film then turns a bit sci-fi as the brothers are accidentally frozen in time, and then the last third is a romance. Along the way, there is comedy from time to time.In other words, you get a little bit of everything in here, but in the end it is a drama that entertains throughout the hour-and-a-half. I'm still waiting for this to be issued on DVD.