Dinner at Fred's (1999)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Shawn Thompson

Writer (WGA):

Shawn Thompson (written by)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Richard leaves his corporate office for a weekend at the country house of his fiancee, who is a daughter of his boss...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film | Character Name In Title

Cast

Gil Bellows	...	Richard
Parker Posey	...	Celia
Kevin McDonald	...	Fred
John Neville	...	Uncle Henrick
Valerie Mahaffey	...	Susan
Trevor Blumas	...	Young Richard
Joseph Kell	...	Dennis
Patricia Gage	...	Aunt Bonnie
Aidan Devine	...	Officer Mike
Leon Pownall	...	George Billings
Don Francks	...	Gus
Kristin Lehman	...	Sarah Billings
Deborah Lobban	...	Mom
Christopher Lloyd	...	Dad
Anthony Antonacci	...	Young Billy

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality, language and brief drug content.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG-13

Company:

HandMade Films

Quotes:

Richard: What if he's up late catching a movie?
Fred: He doesn't watch TV!
Dennis: Not since he blew a hole in it with his shotgun.
[Richard reacts]
Fred: Don't worry. He was just mad at Phil Donahue about the episode where he wore a dress. Who didn't shoot their TV that day?

Slightly charming but forgettable

"Dinner at Fred's" is not necessarily a bad film. Someone must have been nervous about it in some respect, though, because the first time I saw it was at a film festival in September 1997. I heard more of it in the spring of 1999, when plans to release it were falling into place. Strange. Anyways, it was made before Gil Bellows of apparent "Ally McBeal" fame was famous, and it includes a charming performance from former indie-queen Parker Posey and flat-out weirdness from most of the rest of the cast. The thing is, it comes across as if this film is almost trying to be too oddball, and it seriously chokes the "unlikely" romantic sub-plot developing between the characters of Bellows and Posey. Most of the plot reminded me of similarly themed fish-out-of-water romances including snow, such as "Trapped in Paradise" and the like. The writing is not incredibly inspired either, but the actors do well with what they have in this predictable but mildly cute romantic comedy. See it if you're bored, and don't expect to remember much of it a day later.