Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke

In late 1950's Baltimore, six guys in their early twenties are stumbling into adulthood, balancing responsibility with carefree time together at their local diner.

Flixster Users

75% liked it

7,262 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

26 critics

R, 145 min.

Directed by: Barry Levinson

Release Date: April 2, 1982

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: April 4, 2000

Get It:

Stats: 406 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (406)


  • April 20, 2009
    I get it. It's that post-college angst mixed with the fear of the "real world"...growing up, marriage, all those bananas.

    Once again, the late 1950's are portrayed to be LAME AS A FUCK UGLY DONKEY. I know it was a different world back then, but really...a FUCKING DINER is all ...( read more)these guys hold on to? Fuck me.

    That just depresses the fuck out of me. BAH. SHIT!

    I don't even know. It was a decent movie....but MAH.
  • May 16, 2008
    i can't understand why this is so underrarted, a real gem
  • February 4, 2008
    Eddie: When you're making out, which do you prefer, Sinatra or Mathis?
    Boogie: I like Presley.

    A coming of age comedy about a group of guys on the verge of truly becoming adults. Its set in 1950s Baltimore, and revolves around this group mainly hanging out in a diner.

    The grou...( read more)p includes Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, and Paul Reiser. It is the natural chemistry that all these guys have together, providing for a lot of improv, that makes this an enjoyable movie to watch.

    Director Barry Levinson doesn't try to break much new ground here. A similar formula has been done in a number of films, namely American Graffiti, let alone the show Happy Days. The mix of an episodic structure about a few days in the life of these characters, accompanied by some timely hit songs is almost its own genre, but its an entertaining one.

    There is not so much a plot as there is a series of events that develop over time. Guttenberg is about to get married, granted his wife can pass his football test. Stern and his wife, played nicely by Ellen Barkin, are trying to work out the marriage thing, which is new to them. Bacon is mostly drunk throughout. Reiser doesn't really do anything, but has a few good lines and a nice bit at the end. And Rourke is a gambling man.

    This is a fun movie about male camaraderie, and that's all its supposed to be.

    Modell: You know what word I'm not comfortable with? Nuance. It's not a real word. Like gesture. Gesture's a real word. With gesture you know where you stand. But nuance? I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.
  • April 16, 2007
    A film that oozes cool. The sharp witty dialogue is simply fantastic. The young cast also put real heart into amazing performances, in which each character must come to terms with having to grow up in their own way. A deffinate small classic, and great for anyone who loves Swing...( read more)ers or the dialogue found in Tarantino films.
  • November 19, 2006
    Such an incredible movie. It's funny, smart and clever.
  • November 6, 2009
    Well written in terms of dialogue but messy in terms of narrative structure. But who knows, perhaps Levinson made it like this to represent the tattered lives of the principle characters.

    Despite the messy, at times off putting stucture, this film is a deep,well written film e...( read more)xploring the lives of some coming-to-age youths in late 1959. Each character is portrayed well but Mickey Rourke gives what is probably the best performance, as the best formed character of the film.

    Written well with what I assume is an acurate portrayal of 1950's America, Barry Levinson carves a realistic story with all too human characters which are very easy to relate too (myself finding one) that will live on forever, even if the context of the time they are living in is soon forgotten. The dialogue is snappy and funny yet tagic too but not with deaths and crime; with emotions. Coming to terms with oneself, break ups, loving relationships, crumbling relationships, lasting friendships and rocky friendships. All made real and all made effective by Levinson's almost flawless script.

    This is obviously a film that some people love and some people just don't, based on the reception of the people on here. However, it is one everyone should give a go and decide for themselves. I for one really connected with it.
  • September 18, 2009
    The thing about this film that I liked the most was that, for the first time in a long time, I felt that these were characters that I could actually hang out with. The dialogue is great and most of the performances were spot on (except for Tim Daly, who really didn't impress me a...( read more)nd Rourke's voice in this film compared to now is hilarious and is (in itself) a non-smoking commercial). I think the only times when I tuned out and where I thought the film dragged was only because of my cynical nature and the fact that I have become jaded against coming of age stories over the years. This is by far one of the most realistic and charming and also features Steve Guttenberg's best performance on film.
  • July 28, 2009
    Good acting and a drunk Kevin Bacon in his underwear lying in the manger.
  • June 26, 2009
    One of my favorite movies of 2008 was The Wrestler, and key to that film was the lead performance by Mickey Rourke. As much as I loved Sean Penn in Milk, I?m confident in saying that Rourke was robbed. However, one element of that whole story I wasn?t really in on was that of R...( read more)ourke as an actor in need of a comeback. As the buzz around him as an actor mounted I checked his IMDB page and realized that the one and only other Mickey Rourke performance I?d actually seen was in Sin City, I was completely ignorant of the work he did in his prime. I hadn?t meant to avoid all of Rourke?s work, but I wasn?t around to see his 80s work and a lot of these movies just don?t jump out as movies to be revisited. So I?ve decided to do a little Rourke retrospective starting with one of his first major roles in one of the most critically acclaimed films.

    I only barely recognized Rourke here, interestingly I wouldn?t have recognized him at all simply from seeing The Wrestler, it was only because I saw him at award shows that I could just make out which of the guys here was Rourke, so in that sense I have a newfound respect for his work as Randy the Ram. The work he delivers here was not what I was expecting, he seems less like a character actor and more like a movie star. Almost like a young Sean Penn, ironically. He had a great screen presence, but this isn?t quite Oscar caliber work, he pretty much blends into the

    As for the movie itself, it didn?t really do a lot for me. It?s almost like an unofficial sequel to American Graffiti, its set in the fifties but the characters are twenty-somethings instead of teenagers. Like that film, there isn?t really much of a narrative here, it?s a mostly episodic affair which focuses on an ensemble interacting with each other over the course of a couple nights. It also reminded me a little of The Big Chill, also a movie that didn?t do a lot for me. This sort of structure could potentially work for me, but I wasn?t all that predisposed to relate to these guys. With another set of characters and another setting I would have liked this approach, but this particular film was just didn?t do it for me.
  • June 25, 2009
    I'm just glad Steve Guttenberg didn't peak with Short Circuit.

Critic Reviews


September 13, 2005
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

Even with all its accolades, it's still an underappreciated gem

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Diner is often a very funny movie, although I laughed most freely not at the sexual pranks but at the movie's accurate ear, as it reproduced dialogue with great comic accuracy. full review

View more Diner reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Diner" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • St. Elmo's Fire
    St. Elmo's Fire (75%)
  • Avalon
    Avalon (0%)
  • Peggy Sue Got Married
    Peggy Sue Got Married (100%)
  • Year of the Dragon
    Year of the Dragon (33%)

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Diner : Watch Free on TV


Diner Trivia


  • In Pulp Fiction, what famous actor played Buddy Holly in the 50's Diner?  Answer »
  • Name the 2005 compelling thriller about a diner owner who kills 2 robbers in self-defence and the town portrays him as a hero  Answer »
  • In the Movie, Grease, what color was Frenchie's hair at the diner during Beauty School Dropout?  Answer »
  • In the movie "Enough" there was a young good looking guy sitting at the diner where "Slim" worked who had a rose to give to her, who was the guy at the diner?  Answer »

Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Diner. Want to create one?

Video Clips


No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?