The Dinner (2017)

Two sets of wealthy parents meet for dinner to decide what to do about a crime their sons have committed.

Director:

Oren Moverman

Writers:

Herman Koch (based on the novel by), Oren Moverman (screenplay by)

Stars:

Michael Chernus, Taylor Rae Almonte, Steve Coogan

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Chernus	...	Dylan Heinz
Taylor Rae Almonte	...	Kamryn Velez
Steve Coogan	...	Paul Lohman
Charlie Plummer	...	Michael Lohman
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick	...	Rick Lohman
Miles J. Harvey	...	Beau Lohman
Laura Hajek	...	Anna
Laura Linney	...	Claire Lohman
Richard Gere	...	Stan Lohman
Rebecca Hall	...	Katelyn Lohman
George Shepherd	...	Stephen Whitney (as George Shephard)
Adepero Oduye	...	Nina
Joel Bissonnette	...	Antonio
Patrick Kevin Clark	...	Conor
Chloë Sevigny	...	Barbara Lohman

Storyline

A former history teacher and his wife Claire meet at a fancy restaurant with his elder brother, a prominent politician and his wife Babette. The plan is to discuss over dinner how to handle a crime committed by their teenage sons. The violent act of the two boys had been filmed by a security camera and shown on TV, but, so far, they have not been identified. The parents have to decide on what to do.

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Plot Keywords:

wealth | father son relationship | mother son relationship | husband wife relationship | restaurant | 

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Taglines:

How far would you go...to protect your children?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content, and language throughout.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

La cena

Filming Locations:

Dobbs Ferry, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$655,493, 5 May 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,322,839, 9 June 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

ChubbCo Film, Blackbird, Code Red

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "Cheese Presentation" scene was filmed at the tail end of the last in a string of overnight sessions. At the NA Premier in TriBeCa, Michael Chernus shared that Director Oren Moverman pulled him aside at 3am and said "go to the kitchen and see... I heard they have some amazing cheeses back there. I need you to find out what they have, Google each one, come back, and do a monologue while looking straight down the barrel of the camera." Chernus did just that and came back 10 mins later to shoot what turned out to be a memorable (and educational) bit of comedic relief.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: The Dinner (2017)

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Soundtracks

Broken Piano in Hedge
Written and Performed by TJ Mothy
(c) TJ Mothy

User Reviews

A waste of time and effort and talent! - Awful film of an excellent book

This is a film adaptation of a really quite excellent book - sorry to say that the film did not meet expectations at all. It was disjointed, had no conclusion and was mostly just plain muddled.

The only positives are that it was well acted and shot nicely.

I'm unsure what the screenwriter was doing really though - to mash an excellent book up that way and regurgitate it into this mess seems a travesty.

A waste of time and effort and talent!