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The Dinner

Play trailer 2:19 Poster for The Dinner R 2017 2h 0m Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
46% Tomatometer 141 Reviews 16% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
As two couples dine at an upscale restaurant, their polite discourse disguises the fact that they are struggling with weighty family issues.
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The Dinner

The Dinner

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Critics Consensus

The Dinner's strong ensemble isn't enough to overcome a screenplay that merely skims the surface of its source material's wit and insight.

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Critics Reviews

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Tara Brady Irish Times 12/11/2017
3/5
Steve Coogan has seldom been better or sourer as the irascible Paul. Go to Full Review
Wendy Ide Observer (UK) 12/10/2017
2/5
An absolutely first-rate cast is cut adrift in a sea of laboured, overwritten dialogue in this disappointing drama. Go to Full Review
Ed Potton The Times (UK) 12/08/2017
2/5
You can see where this is heading, but it just doesn't work, and most of that, sadly, is down to Coogan. Go to Full Review
Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson 04/07/2024
2/5
Compressing layers of familial discontent and rancor thinly-masked by the repulsive worst of white privilege, the tightly-wound urgency and shattering purpose of this titular meeting reveals itself over the film’s two hours. Go to Full Review
Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com 09/06/2020
3.5/4.0
Gifted with a terrific ensemble cast all at the top of their game here. Go to Full Review
Steven Prokopy Third Coast Review 05/06/2020
The resulting film and the characters are all patchwork versions of real life and people. Nothing about this film feels genuine. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Charles P Sep 15 Could've been ok, if anybody had cared to tack on an ending. See more Peter S Jul 25 I’d rate this negative 5 stars. There is no story arc. There are no likeable characters. There is no flow of narrative. See more 1 1 11/23/2024 The movie gives a deep insight into narcissistic abuse and control. When he (Stan Lohman/R. Gere) says ‘everything is politics, even family’ he means it. In the end the politician holds his whole family morally and mentally hostage and gets away unblemished and with absolute power over his entire family. We do not know if the kid (Bo) is still alive, but I doubt it. He was always a pawn, a front to make the politician look good. The brother will go to jail and funny enough married a replica of his ‘mother’, a woman who loves her son more than him, even will sacrifice her husband to save her son. This movie left me wondering how many viewers see through the manipulation of people with narcissistic maybe even psychopathic tendencies. Stan Lohman knew exactly where he wanted his family members to end up after the dinner… doing the dirty work themselves, not being able to blame him and in his total control. He will go on and be governor because he never really thought of calling it off.. all just strategic manouvers to get his wife to commit to him entirely and to get his secretary morally entangled to. Had he said from the beginning ‘we will wait 3 days’ the secretary would have stepped away but now…. after the subtle manipulation its doubtful. She had only a few hours to go to the authorities before making herself complicit, she calls him ‘boss’ (or was it massa). After Bo is presumably made to die, there is no witness left to tell the story, and no way out for the secretary. Bo, the murdered woman at the ATM and the secretary are all african american and i doubt that this is a coincidence. Even when Stan Lohman suspects that Bo has met a bad end, he is more concerned about the voting poles, does not really search for the kid. In his eyes he just scored big time, loyal family allies 'till death do us part’. They will never be able to say…’you agreed to this’ because he did not, at least not in words, they will owe him for as long as they live and he gets away scot free, decorated with a medal, checkmate. His brothers mental illness will even help him get more approval and stabilize his position as governor who ‘fights and cares' for the mentally ill. The psychopathic narcissistic wet dream. See more Steve H 09/19/2024 What’s steaming pile of crap. Steve Coogan’s character may be the worst, most pitiful character in cinema history. See more Yw W 09/07/2024 I ran across this on Hulu. I was excited about the great cast. Steve Coogan’s character is so annoying and he’s supposed to be Richard Gere’s brother. He clearly has an accent. Anyways, I turned it off around 20-30 minutes in. See more Jeffrey P 08/27/2024 Messy plot ruins everything else; the acting, style, and premise were all good and it was carried as well as Abe Lincoln carried the battle of Gettysburg with his pre-battle luncheon speech but it just took too long to get on track... and then the ending burns it all to the ground. See more Read all reviews
The Dinner

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Movie Info

Synopsis As two couples dine at an upscale restaurant, their polite discourse disguises the fact that they are struggling with weighty family issues.
Director
Oren Moverman
Producer
Caldecot Chubb, Lawrence Inglee, Julia Lebedev, Eddie Vaisman
Screenwriter
Oren Moverman
Distributor
The Orchard
Production Co
Code Red, Blackbird, ChubbCo Film Co.
Rating
R (Language Throughout|Disturbing Violent Content)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 5, 2017, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.3M
Runtime
2h 0m
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