Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003)

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

i wished this movie would have been longer, a lot longer. it was more interesting and less pretentious than my dinner with andre, mixed a wide and pedestrian set of dialogues with some interesting plot and character points and came up with something rather fun to watch. the actors and actresses (mostly unknown to me) do fine jobs inhabiting their characters (if they are even characters) and dine at of all places a bar. as the night wears on they get drunker and talk about religion, sex, and relationships which are some of the major guideposts of human social life and interaction. the movie easily could have doubled it's length and the subject matter could have been further explored in deeper and deeper ways and still have remained fresh and entertaining while avoiding the artsy abstractions and pretensions of andre. kudos to the writer and director of this film, the later of which i would learn to my surprise is bob odenkirk of mr. show fame. my only beef with the film is the abruptness of it and it's unwillingness to weave deeper levels of understanding about it's subject matter in the way a milan kundera novel does. pity.9 out 10

I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would. I found the dialogue compelling in parts, contrived in others.The payoff wasn't strong enough, but I was drawn in. I would have liked to see Melvins relationship fleshed out a little more. I didn't buy the affair between Joey and Sarah. They really had no chemistry at all. Although the four main actors weren't that strong, there were some exceptional performances in smaller roles, most notable Jack Black, as the mental patient, and Kathleen Roll as the delightfully inept waitress.The film would be better served if these two were used more.

Movies made up entirely of conversation are tricky. The amazing thing about My Dinner with Andre was, you had two people sitting in a restaurant talking for an hour and a half and it was riveting. Since I only watched about a half hour I can't say if this whole movie is conversations, but what I saw is a string of conversations mixed in with flashbacks that may also be conversations. So it's basically a lot of talking.It's sort of interesting conversation, although nothing really new. And this may explain something pointed out by another reviewer here, that this movie gets much lower ratings from those over 45. I think their point was, middle-aged and old people just don't get it, but perhaps the problem is they got it long ago. Perhaps we've all had these conversations many times in our lives and just don't find any of this new or original or profound. I'm 45, I've had too many of these conversations. It gets old. So if you're young, watch the movie, enjoy it, and then watch it again when you're 45 and see what you think.

Hmmm. It's hard to make up my mind on this movie. Four people meet up for dinner and the conversation winds on and on through the movie. Flashback scenes help recount each character's stories during the film. The conversations touch on sex, infidelity, religion and other topics just like a real-life conversation.The film seems like it would be hard to pull off. Trying to capture a seemingly spontaneous conversation on film and editing it is no small task. The movie is successful in that respect. It puts you right there in the discussion. The acting was very good. BUT I still didn't like the movie. The reason is I couldn't stand the characters (as well-developed as they were). These are people and trite conversations I would try to run away from at a party or anywhere else. I think I would only recommend this movie if you were a film student studying editing and filming conversations.5/10