GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

classicsoncall One has to wonder if an actress like Marie Dressler would have made it in today's Hollywood. She was great during her era, but boy, what she offers up in the acting department is totally offset by her looks. Actually, I'll correct myself for the moment by pointing to Anne Ramsey, that infamous 'Momma' that was thrown from the train in the 1987 Danny DeVito flick. But Ramsey's heyday was in the Eighties, and I can't think of anyone who might fill the current bill as a similar type actress.This film had a glittering cast, what with the likes of the Barrymores, Dressler, Beery and Harlow leading the charge. I can't necessarily say that Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow were inappropriately cast here as husband and wife because it worked for the story, but I had to suspend disbelief the whole time watching them. Knowing that they hated each other in real life was something that worked for their characters in the picture, though Harlow's Kitty Packard turned me off early on when she displayed such boorish behavior toward her maid Tina (Hilda Vaughn). I had to question why Tina would have stuck around with all the times she was called nitwit, dummy and stupid by her employer. And not just Kitty, but the lout Dan Packard (Beery) as well.Set during the Depression, the story focuses on what once wealthy, upscale glitterati find they have to deal with as their fortunes run dry. Preparing for her well heeled 'Dinner at Eight' party, Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) is totally over the top in her remonstrations over late cancellations and assorted menu options. The story offers up classic maguffins in the characters of Lord and Lady Ferncliffe who are mentioned repeatedly but wind up as no-shows for the big party.Though nominally billed as a comedy, the humor is mostly understated and primarily dialog driven; it helps if one has a droll sense of humor. I didn't consider any of the characters to be particularly likable, I guess because each one was looking out for Number #1, which in each case was themselves. But it's not a bad little film over all, one of the better ones actually when you go all the way back to the early Thirties.

elvircorhodzic DINNER AT EIGHT is a serious comedy drama. Hard for me to choose another description. The film shows a set of relationships in people's lives. Given the circumstances of such relationships can be real. Usually the tragicomic.The essence is incorporated in two segments. The existential and emotional. They are very close no matter how separated them. From a different perspective, this thesis would be proved correct. This movie is worth a look. Relationships are intertwined in a tragicomic story. Comedy and tragedy alternate in such continuity that the viewer realizes that nothing other than mild collapse will not happen. The collapse did not begin or end, it is the continuation of what is already known. With her existentially and emotionally evolved and continues.The acting is pretty good. Marie Dressler (Carlotta Vance)was very good. It is a kind of link in the story. Lionel and John Barrymore (Oliver Jordan & Larry Renoult) can not be bad. They just good actors. Berry and Harlow (Dan and Kitty Packard) are incredibly entertaining. Dan acting stupidly next to Kitty. Kitty is the contemplation digger and probably naked under her dress. Billie Burke (Millicent Jordan) is in a good part of the film quite tiring.In this film, the concept is clearly outclassed. Comedy and tragedy go in pairs. In this film, people should recognize. Humor, which predominates, is enveloped in one deceptive veil of inevitable tragedy that surrounds life. Honestly, I'm not thrilled as much as I thought I would be.

cheesecrop Many years ago (I'd say around 1998-1999) I brought home a copy of "Dinner At Eight" on videotape, prepared to watch a gem. I'm sorry to say, I was nearly bored to tears. Over ten years later, I saw the film a second time on TV. Being older, I figured I might hold a differing viewpoint.It was still deadly dull."Dinner At Eight" is nominally about a social climber (Billie Burke) who's plotting a society party. The people who are invited all have various motives for attending (or not attending) this dinner. These motives are shared over the course of the film, which ends as dinner is about to begin.I kept waiting for dinner to begin, if only cause I felt that the dinner would've been necessary compensation for the two hours of dull build up to this soirée. For my money, the scenes with John Barrymore hold up best. Wallace Beery and Jean Harlow have some amusing bits early on, but near the end, I found myself tiring of the bickering. Billie Burke is just fine, but I wish she would've had more screen time. She, along with Harlow & Beery, and a few of Barrymore's lines, provide what humor is in this film.Other's may find it wonderful, but I found it to be a letdown, especially given the hype it's received over the years.

jeffhaller125 I remember hating this movie as a kid. Of course. This is an adult movie about adults. The dialog is brilliant but it is misleading to refer to it as a comedy. There are some of the most honest moments I ever experienced in a Hollywood movie. That isn't to say that there are many movies as entertaining as this one. But the John Barrymore scenes have a darkness that one is not likely to see topped. Dressler whose work is not seen much today was a towering presence. Billie Burke walks away with the movie with that gracious phony smile trying to cover up the most self centered of women. Lionel didn't have that whiny way of his that is usually annoying; his character is undoubtedly the one we love and pity the most. Harlow and Beery? They live up to everything anyone ever said about them and there is an undeniable love between their characters. I watched this tonight with two people who had never seen it and had been led to believe it was a screwball comedy; they were on the edge of their seats awaiting every line. When you are ready for this one, you will see the absolute genius.