Watch Dinner with Friends For Free

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely Fantastic

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

SPOILERS: As I read the other reviews, I realize that not many other's have the same take-away that I do. I really enjoyed this film. In fact I was once in a waiting room with Andie McDowell and I had to restrain myself from going to tell her how much I liked this film. I'm struck by Gabe, and how much he deeply loves Karen. How he is stunned to hear that Tom considers the rage-sex "great," because he always thought great sex was a product of strong connection and respect and mutual love. I also love where he tells the parable of his son's building the intricate cities from their blocks, and then the bomb the whole thing with out ever reflecting on what they built. I'm struck by Tom, who says that in his marriage he once tested his wife to see how long she would go without touching him. Not a sexual touch, but just a hand on the back, or leg, or arm. And he said it was over a week, and it made him very sad. Beth plays the victim very well, but we find that she is not as innocent as she portrays herself to Karen and Gabe. And Karen is stunned to find that her standards keep her from really knowing her friend. When Gabe says that over time practical matters just start to take precedence over abandon, it is a sad admission that all marriages lose the impulsiveness of the early days. This move reminds me to make sure that I don't get so caught up in the practical that I forget to touch my husband. That it's important to reflect on what we have built, and to appreciate what we have together.

Deservedly award winning -Pulitzer in 2000- (for drama, despite being not more pessimistic than most marriage statistics,) this play in a movie is a superb educative study of relationships. The premise is probably more the comparative study of two marriages than anything else. One marriage (Gabe-Karen, Quaid-MacDowell) is working. The other (Tom-Beth, Kinnear-Colette) is unravelling. Their histories are depicted in parallel lines as the couples are interacting with each other and with their respective spouses. The flashback to the Martha's vineyard scene is illustrative: The separating couple is set up by their friends. With some facility we can assume they are embarking on the marriage route more in order to comply with their friends'expectations and general conformism than genuine attraction. They keep it up for 12 years, then it fails. The successful couple are baffled, angered, supportive, judgemental, all in turns and sporadically simultaneously about the other couple. But while they do this, they show countless times how their own marriage is solid and functioning: similarities, common activities, compromise, mutual help and respect. The script by Margulies is great, the inclusion as drama is unfair, as it could be classified as comedy, romance or even sentimental "study" movie. The direction by Norman Jewison is impeccable. Watch it and rank it up there with the other major contributions HBO has brought to humanity!

I've lived few a number of long term relationships and the marriages of the two couples here rang true to me. Particularly the realization that when a marriage evolves into one dealing with day-to-day responsibilities of bringing up children and the daily business of our lives, the marriage seems to suffer.... but, the difference between the two couples is that one decides to stay together and cope with the realities of life, while the other couple looks elsewhere to recapture the adventurous feelings of new love with a new partner. The question becomes: Do you stay for the long haul and have the day-to-day routine become part of a richer tapestry, or do you leave to find fresher new stimulus each time the honeymoon phase is over?

This movie never went anywhere. There was little point to this movie. The dialog was painfully boring. Andie McDowell was the only good thing in the movie. Her character seemed more natural and less forced. Dennis Quaid's character had annoying mannerisms and an irritating way of talking. Greg Kinner's character was all over the place. There was little or no cohesiveness to the character. Toni Colette who I LOVE was basically a non-entity in the movie. Her best dialog and acting came within the first 15 minutes of the movie. It sucked me in and made me want to see what happened...but NOTHING really ever happened. The movie also jumped back and forth between current time and 1988. This was supposed to show the beginning and end of the relationship. But there was very little explanation, and didn't even help move the movie forward. I wouldn't suggest wasting your time on this movie.