The Dinner (2017)

Directed by: Oren Moverman | 120 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Richard Gere, Rebecca Hall, Charlie Plummer, Michael Chernus, Taylor Rae Almonte, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Miles J. Harvey, Laura Hajek, George Shepherd, Adepero Oduye, Joel Bissonnette, Patrick Kevin Clark, Chloë Sevigny, Emma R. Mud, Judah Sandridge, Jesse Dean Peterson, Benjamin Snyder, Onika Day, Dominic Colón

‘The Dinner’ is the American remake of the bestseller by Dutch writer Herman Koch, who uncomfortably interweaves the novel’s rock-solid premise with American history and violence. The film is strong in psychological warfare, but deviates from Koch’s tone by suffusing the whole with an unnecessary moralistic sauce.

Paul Lohman (Steve Coogan) is the narrator of story. He is a former teacher who lives in the suburbs with his wife Claire (Laura Linney) and teenage son Michael (Charlie Plummer). Paul and Claire have a dinner date for an exclusive dinner with Paul’s older brother Stan and his second wife Katelyn. It’s no ordinary dinner at an expensive restaurant: the couples have serious business to discuss about their sons’ behavior.

Stan (Richard Gere) is an ambitious politician who, based on his membership of the United States Congress, is running for Governor in the next election. Those elections are a few months into the future and the campaign is in full swing. While he is sitting at the table with his wife, brother and sister-in-law, he is interrupted again and again to discuss an important vote in Congress.

Paul is annoyed by this lack of attention and feels clearly disadvantaged by his successful brother. He no longer teaches history because of his mental condition, which requires him to take medication. Meanwhile, Stan’s advisor Nina (Adpero Oduye) doesn’t understand why a dinner with family is suddenly so important that Stan doesn’t want to be disturbed. Gradually, it slowly becomes clear what exactly is going on and the unraveling of this mystery is served piece by piece with each subsequent course of dinner. For those who want to go “blank” in the story, the reason for the meeting remains hidden here. Let’s just say that Michael and his nephew Rick (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) – Stan’s son – have done something with devastating consequences.

Director Oren Moverman allows the apparently civilized environment with the lyrical description of the dishes to clash beautifully with the rapidly rising tensions under the skin. The camera work is sometimes unusual and thus underlines the skewed way in which the characters view their moral dilemmas and the choices they make.

Moverman, however, misses the point with his excessive use of flashbacks, which sometimes last so long that it annoyingly interrupts the tension of the story. The most notable example is a segment on the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863) from the American Civil War in . Paul and Stan visit the battlefield in a flashback, when – in the flashback – a summary of the battle is given, told by actor Stephen Lang (from the movie ‘Gettysburg’, among others). While interesting in its own right, it has an alienating effect and completely takes the viewer out of the conversations during the dinner itself. The flashbacks give the necessary context to the story, but by breaking the rhythm of the conversations and the interaction of the characters, part of the effect of the dialogues is lost. The fairly open ending won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it does provide food for thought – and speculation.

All in all, ‘The Dinner’ is an unbalanced film. It’s not the actors’ fault: they are all excellent: Coogan in particular stands out positively: he is mainly known as a comedian, but here shows a strong serious side – and with a fine American accent. Gere and Linney – who have played together before – show why they are good character actors. Rebecca Hall stars as Rick’s stepmother Katelyn, who has her own views on her marriage to Stan – and his political career.

The writer himself walked away angrily from the premiere: he hated this version of ‘The Dinner.’ By the way, this is already the third film version of his novel: in 2013, the Dutch version was released, with Jacob Derwig (which Coogan somewhat resembles), Daan Schuurmans, Kim van Kooten and Thekla Reuten; an Italian version a year later.