Diner

She is… Death

Director: Barry Levinson

Starring: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly

A group of 20-something men encounter strange problems as they stumble into adulthood in 1959 Baltimore. This film has 5 main characters, each with their own little quirks and personalities. This light film is a good watch, but the storyline is loose and is generally about nothing. And that’s the best part.

Diner was Barry Levinson’s directorial debut, later going on to make Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam & Tin Men. It launched the careers of Bacon, Stern & Daly. So, this was not only an important film for the cast, but also for the genre. Comedy would never be the same.

The film is about nothing, which was the major influence for the hit TV series Seinfeld 8 years later. There’s no real story structure or communication. It’s just following these guys who are trying to figure out adulthood. It has many funny sub-plots, including a man who’s willing to call off his wedding if his fiancé doesn’t pass a test he made about football.

It paved the road for modern day sitcoms

That’s what made this film so successful, because people actually like comedies about nothing. Look at every successful sitcom ever made. Seinfeld. Friends. The Office. Should I continue?

At that period of time, there weren’t really any films like that. Levinson literally created a successful film based on men sitting around, drinking coffee and talking. On paper, it sounds really boring and you wouldn’t go watch it. But, it turned out to be a huge success, because it’s so relatable.

This film really encapsulates how men act around each other. They talk about sex, girls and bets, which are all very key parts of the film. They all harass and beat each other up, but that’s what guys do. They’re all friends in the end, and that’s the important part.

If there’s anything this film communicates, it’s male camaraderie.

The comedy in Diner is simple, leaning slightly to the more sexual side for the time period. Now, we see sex jokes in cartoons and basically every movie. For this generation, it wouldn’t be that bad at all. But times were different 30 years ago. One of my favorite scenes is when Boogie is on a date and he sticks his penis through the bottom of the popcorn box in order to get his girl to touch it. It’s a clever idea, and one that portrayed his real character.

All of the 5 characters have different personalities which I think makes the film more relatable. There’s the ladies man, the smart one and, of course, the prankster. Each have their own problems that they have to encounter, and they solve them in different ways.

There weren’t many points where I was bursting out laughing, but it was a very enjoyable and funny film. I was always intrigued and eager to see what would happen next. Definitely a must watch.

As a final note, here’s what my dad has to say about Diner:

This is one of my personal favorites. I saw it when I was about 24 and the themes of young men approaching manhood resonated with me. There are several subplots and each character faces his own life in his own unique way which often, but not always, results in comedic situations. The comedy, however, never seems forced or contrived, and apparently some of the situations are based on true events. This was the first feature film by Barry Levinson who would go on to write and direct many very successful films. We will come to 2 of him films, Avalon and Rainman, but Tin Men is a fine, small film, and Good Morning Vietnam, while not one of my favorites, was a huge success. Levinson was born in Baltimore and so the personal films that he wrote and directed were all based there. All of the actors were mostly unknown at the time but all of them went on to successful careers. As a personal favorite of ours, we have used a myriad of quotes from this film, we even once had a dog named Modell.