It's nearly impossible to watch Diner without thinking about George Lucas' American Graffiti; however, I personally prefer the former. It is a sort of coming-of-age film set in the nostalgic 1950's, set up in an episodic narrative, with many overlapping plot points and conflicts. The characters were developed well enough to make this seem like more than just another throwaway comedy. Moreover, it's got some of the most clever, insightful dialogues I've observed in movies lately. It does get a bit goofy at points, but this is hardly a setback. In all actuality, it's probably impossible for me to dislike a film that features a scene discussing the importance of music records.

A cool cast to hang out with.

Wonderfully observed, free-flowing stream of wit, camaraderie, and pointed insight.

Seriously good, like Mean Streets, except less violent.

While I dislike the lack of Diner scenes in the second half of the film, I do dig this a fair bit. The first half is lots of fun, but the second is a bit all over the place. I actually like this film more because of what it could have been, than what it actually is. I'm a big fan of food, I like Diners and I like talking about meaningless stuff. I think a remake that centers more on the Diner moments would appeal to me. Anyone have a spare twenty million and Steve Gutenberg's phone number?

This movie takes place in the 1950's. It was fun to watch but it felt more like a documentary than a comedy. It was interesting to see these people living their lives, but there was no real story there. It was good though, I did enjoy it.

for some reason I thought I would be into this, but then I realized while watching it that I could have easily lived my entire life without seeing this movie and everything would have been fine.

1 star because it's not a bad film. I just wasn't into it. I watched some of it with only 1 eye because I really didn't need to watch it with both.

PS Kevin Bacon was making a weird pee-wee herman voice, ew

Wonderfully observed, free-flowing stream of wit, camaraderie, and pointed insight.

100% Meh.

Great cast and script. Very entertaining.

Why It’s Essential — Though slight in comparison to other classics, DINER effectively evokes a specific cultural moment with strong writing, direction, and performances.

Why You’ll Want to Skip It — If the personal crises of the characters sound more grating than insightful.

It's nearly impossible to watch Diner without thinking about George Lucas' American Graffiti; however, I personally prefer the former. It is a sort of coming-of-age film set in the nostalgic 1950's, set up in an episodic narrative, with many overlapping plot points and conflicts. The characters were developed well enough to make this seem like more than just another throwaway comedy. Moreover, it's got some of the most clever, insightful dialogues I've observed in movies lately. It does get a bit goofy at points, but this is hardly a setback. In all actuality, it's probably impossible for me to dislike a film that features a scene discussing the importance of music records.

Barry Levinson invents the "doing nothing" genre that crystallized in the 1990s. The movie is ostensibly about some high-school chums heading out for a big ball game, but that never happens--and not much else actually does; which is the magic of this film. The characters feel lived in, and the relationships feel real.

The characters' personalities are clear and working from their first scene, a rather startling achievement in development that, like most of Levinson's films, lapses into melodrama all too quickly. Mickey Rourke and Kevin Bacon give the most noteworthy of performances, unfortunately, an informal lead perspective is given to the oh-so-dull Tim Daly and the big "Best Man" speech is put into the mouth of the oh-so-out-of-place Paul Reiser. Daniel Stern has rarely been this muted or natural and Steve Guttenberg has rarely given a good performance (although, miraculously, he does - in this film). Diner starts out with an arcane, nostalgic bang, as almost entirely (what Graham Greene would refer to as) an entertainment and, as it loses steam, begins to feel more and more like a tragedy is building. When nothing comes - and everything is still building to something, we wonder what it is: a freeze framed picture before the credits. Lousy surprise.