Dinner and Driving (1997) Online

I felt this movie had all the makings of a very solid low budget independent film. The writing was fresh, witty, and seemed fairly true to life. The dialogue seemed to fit the characters to a tee and the casting was very fitting.

When I first started watching this film I wasn't so sure I was going to like it at all. I just kept watching and gradually got hooked into it and realized, hey, this is a pretty good picture. There is a lot of realism in this movie and it really says a lot of positive things about honesty in a relationship. The comedic timing is brilliant. It was directed very well and I really liked all of the characters. I want to watch it again. Hope you will sit down and enjoy this film someday too.

This movie isn't earth shattering, or life altering, but it's entertaining. Joey Slotnick plays well as an engaged writer still attracted to his ex-girlfriend. There are some cute little jokes here and there, and some promising moments as far as the director goes. All in all it's a good movie to watch on HBO (where it is shown every now and again) and pulls off being funny and romantic at the same time (something rarely done in "romantic comedies" which normally choose one or the other.) I would recommend checking it out if you have a chance, you won't feel like you wasted and hour and a half.

This was a delightful example of the under $500k Indy Film. Shot in rented houses, and relatives backyards, this film had acting and flow that was superior to many big studio films. Joey Slotnick was good as the pained lead character, but Sam Robards stole the scenes as his lecherous brother. It was a good turn for party of 5 star Paula Devic, and another place to see the a short clip of Indy film standard L. Christian Mixon. All in all it is a good watch, and a fine date flick.

Take a couple of young adults who are destined to fall in love, mix in sundry family and friends, create lots of humorous situations so everyone can talk about their views on love, sex, commitment, etc....and you've got another of a zillion formula romantic comedies. "Dinner and Driving" is a tad fresher, a tad more humorous, and a tad more creative than the average. Worth a watch for the bored channel surfer.

Dinner and Driving is a movie where the criticism starts with a deceptive DVD cover and just never stops. From the narcissistic subject matter to the horrible structure to an ending where all the dialog might as well be in Esperanto for as little sense as it makes, this film is like a batting cage of cinematic horse hockey, serving up one example of bad writing, bad directing, bad acting and bad everything upon which aspiring reviewers can practice their craft.

To start with, the DVD cover shows a guy being embraced by beautiful women on either side, all dark and serious like the film is one of those moody indy flicks about sex, relationships and how people are complete bastards to each other. Then you watch the movie and realize it's a bright, broad and toothless sitcom about relationships and people being complete bastards to each other, but without any sex. The DVD cover wants you make you think Dinner and Driving is like Sex, Lies and Videotape, but it's really closer to an episode of Suddenly Susan where people say the F word a few times.

The story starts out as bad wish fulfillment for all wannabe writers and never gets any better than that. Jason (Joey Slotnick) is an unattractive, unappealing, unsuccessful author. He has a massively receding hairline, a Jewfro, hasn't written anything in a long time and teaches English as a Second Language classes for a living. Despite all that, and his adolescent fear of commitment, the beautiful, smart and sexy Laura (Paula Devicq) has been Jason's girlfriend for three years. Even though Jason is a huge loser and their relationship is only treading water, Laura puts up with it all…until the script needs her to become a nagging bitch to make the pathetic Jason sympathetic.

But wait, one beautiful woman for the Gollum-like Jason isn't enough. His old college girlfriend Grace (Brigitte Bako) comes back into his life and she's all beautiful and quirky and completely adores Jason despite his utter lack of redeeming features. Grace is at Jason's beck and call and more than happy to go to bed with him without making any demands, like he should leave his girlfriend or something. I can just barely put up with those TV shows where the fat guy has a hot wife. A physically, intellectually and emotionally repellent guy like Jason having two very attractive women captivated by him is more than I can tolerate.

As you can probably guess, Jason is caught between Laura and Grace and has to grow up and figure out what and who he really wants and blah, blah, blah. Thrown into the mix are Jason's very Jewish mother and lapdog father, a married couple that are only in the story to kill time and a sweaty-faced Sam Robards as Jason's pig of a brother who, wait for it, leads Jason astray only to instantly change his ways and become an adult in order to ham handedly hammer the message of Jason's immaturity into the audience's skulls. There's also a subplot that goes nowhere about Jason being inspired to write by memories of Grace and some really inexplicable flashbacks involving the dating habits of Jason's brother. I mean these are really inexplicable flashbacks. It's like watching Star Wars and seeing a flashback about what one of the Stormtroopers had for breakfast earlier that day.

In fairness, there are a couple of marginally amusing moments in Dinner and Driving, which is very sparse for a supposed comedy but it is something.

The bottom line on this movie is that 90% of it is there to fill up pages in the script and the other 10% has all the depth of a puddle of drool. Dinner and Driving stinks.

This is a unique film. It is a romantic comedy that is quite entertaining, yet very realistic and not over the top.

The film teaches a wonderful and valid lesson too: Don't let anyone else influence you with their ideas and beliefs about commitment and relationships. Before you know it, you may be left miserably regretting things. Meanwhile the person who gave you the ill-fated advice is in hot pursuit of the type of relationship you once had, but unfortunately ruined. I'm sure many of us have observed this sort of thing, if not experienced it first handedly in real life-someone sabotages their relationship with their significant other, whom they were happy with, because friends or relatives "convinced" them not to be limited sexually, or that they can find someone "better". But ironically things are down right disappointing by comparison, when the new lifestyle begins or the "better" girlfriend/boyfriend replaces the former.

The movie is worth watching in it's entirety to get the full effect of the bittersweet ending. Ideal for couples.

A fun movie if you're in you're late 20's/early-mid 30's and contemplating that next step in your life. Joey Slotnick's getting married (to a lovely Paula Devicq), but is feeling the temptation of a hot ex who's blown into town. Great character studies, with some familiar faces if you watch Fox and WB shows -- Devicq(Party of 5), Greg Grunberg (Felicity), Nadia Dajani (Ned & Stacey). The best part of the movie was Peter Himmelman's soundtrack. He's a tremendous songwriter who doesn't get nearly enough airplay on the radio. I liked this movie, it reminded me of Singles, with more realistic characters(No offense, Mr. Crowe). This is one of those movies that always shows up on Starz or Showtime...so check it out next time you see it listed.