The Dinner
The Dinner
| 05 September 2014 (USA)
The Dinner Trailers

Story about two brothers and their wives, and the interactions between them and their two high school age children. When the kids get into serious trouble together, how will the parents relationships change with and among each other? Will the parents protect the kids or force them to face the consequences of their actions?

Reviews
Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Sexylocher Masterful Movie
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Larry Silverstein I found a copy of this DVD at my local library and I'm glad I did, as I thought the movie was an intense and suspenseful drama that I liked quite a bit. It's well directed by Ivano de Matteo, who also co-wrote the script with Valentina Ferlan, and is based on the book by Herman Koch. I see there's going to be an American version of the film coming out next year, with a most talented all-star cast.Here, this Italian drama centers on two well-to-do families, who are torn asunder when it's revealed that the teenage son of one family and the daughter of the other have committed a most heinous crime, Tension and suspense builds as the parents grapple with how to handle it all, and it didn't go the way I expected it to. It will all culminate in a most shocking finale.Overall, the intrigue of this movie, which is well acted, written, and directed, kept me absorbed throughout, and you may very well find it to your liking.
gradyharp Ivano De Matteo wrote (with Valentina Ferlan) and directed this tough little film that takes a bit out of contemporary mores and serves is up as 'dinner'. It is classy in every aspect, the only exception being the crime that turns out to be the denouement of the story. It is a story about two brothers and their wives, and the interactions between them and their two high school age children. And the consequences that occur when the kids get into serious trouble together e manner in which the parents' relationships change with and among each other. The well scripted synopsis states, 'THE DINNER turns an ordinary meal among family into a taut morality play as the limits of polite society are tested and two brothers discover just how little they know about each other. To Massimo (Alessandro Gassman), a gutsy defense attorney, the monthly dinners with his pediatrician brother Paolo (Luigi Lo Cascio) and their wives at a posh local restaurant are a status symbol, even if the time is spent in forced familiarity and inconsequential conversation about the latest films, the day's news or their children's schoolwork. When Paolo's wife Clara (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) sees disturbing security camera footage of a homeless woman being mercilessly beaten, she worries it may be her teenage son Michele (Jacopo Olmo Antipori) and his cousin, Massimo's daughter Benni (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), who are responsible for the gruesome attack. Their fragile balancing act of respectability and class now shattered, the two families navigate the repercussions of this senseless assault, revealing in the process the skewed priorities and moral shortcomings of their privileged, insulated perspectives.This is a film that is beautifully scripted and acted and offers a fine reminder of how fine Italian films can be.
Paul Allaer "I Nostri Ragazzi" (2014 release from Italy; US alternative titles: "Our Boys" and "The Dinner"; 92 min.) brings the story of two brothers in Italy (one a doctor, the other a lawyer) and their respective wives and kids. As the movie opens, we get to know the brothers, Massimo and Paolo. The two couples get together for dinner once a month to catch up. Meanwhile, we also get to know the two high school age cousins, who are hanging out a lot with each other (perhaps a little too much for being of the opposite sex?). Then, one day, a savage attack against an elderly woman takes place and the security cameras capture what looks to be the two cousins. Are the cousins responsible? How will their respective parents deal with this situation? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is a below-the-radar movie that actually does a really good job dissecting the escalating tensions between the two brothers and their respective wives and kids. The movie also compels further thinking on 'doing the right thing' and the potential costs, emotional and otherwise, not only to the potential criminals (i.e. the cousins), but also their parents, I must admit that I am not familiar with any of these Italian actors and actresses, nor am I with the movie's writer-director (Ivano de Matteo).I recently caught this movie during a transatlantic flight on Delta Airlines. I was rather impressed with the selection of movies, including a significant amount of foreign movies. I had not heard of this movie, and doubt very much that this ever reached US theaters. Glad that I had a chance to check it out, and if you are into foreign and indie movies, I'd readily recommend that you check this out. "I Nostri Ragazzi" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
cix_one The movie starts off with a seemingly cookie-cutter story that follows the contours of a narrative we encounter (too often, unfortunately) in the news. This includes a very questionable police shooting, which is probably more relevant for the States than it is for Italy, but the director uses it to bring the idea of the movie in sharp relief. The characters' positions relative to the tragedy that unfolds fall quickly into "traditional" discourse patterns: liberal/conservative, sleazy lawyer/kind doctor. The director manages to make this part of the movie not as trite as it could have been, but nonetheless the character development is very "expected". We (the audience) nod our collective heads knowingly as the action unfolds...Little do we (the audience) know that the first part of the movie is just scaffolding for what happens next. A second tragedy enters the story. This time it's not just a news story that our characters happen to be professionally involved with at arm's length. It's much closer. For the audience, the two tragedies may feel equally distant (and that's the genius of this movie!) but for our characters the second one is very personal. The choices these characters make are unexpected and thought provoking.The movie becomes a dissertation about where we *really* stand when the rubber meets the road. Talk is cheap, putting your money where your mouth is turns out to be a whole lot harder. The movie contrasts an emotional response to the world around us to a cold and calculated one, and the conclusions may be anything but traditional.