Waste of time

Admirable film.

A Masterpiece!

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Donald Margulies' play, "Dinner with Friends," was adapted and filmed for HBO in 2001. The story of two middle aged couples played by well-known actors (Dennis Quaid and Greg Kinnear) and actresses (Andie MacDowell and Toni Collette). I didn't see the stage play before. The film doesn't make me want to see it much more. The two couples experience a change when one couple splits up after twelve years of marriage and two kids later. The actors and actresses do a fine job and even the scenes in Martha's Vineyard helped enhance the romance. The subject of marriage and divorce is the main subject of the film and relationships with others. Donald Margulies does a fine job in actual writing as being realistic and believable The film is an overall satisfactory drama where couples and friends bicker. One couple (Quaid/MacDowell) appear all but perfect while (Kinnear/Collette) are falling apart. How do you pick up the pieces in the aftermath? How do you go on?

I happen to be someone who does like to watch the credits roll in when a movie ends. I know it's one of those silliest things a person can do after watching a movie but then when I saw the final credit, it's a made-for-TV movie from HBO. I was pretty impressed.Gabe and Karen (Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell respectively) are food critics. They had been happily married for 12 years and have two sons as well. When one day their friend Beth (Toni Collette) was being invited over for dinner with her two sons in tow, Beth broke the news that she and her husband Tom are being separated because he was having an affair outside of the family. Given Tom is Gabe's friend and Beth is Karen's friend, married couple Gabe and Karen started to defend over what each of their best friend had did.The way Tom questioned his wife over whatever happened at Gabe and Karen's house when she was there with the kids was a little, kind of scary. But maybe given he is a lawyer, it's just like that.The movie even had scenes of flashback, showing the happier times between the four friends themselves. It was definitely really sweet to see those scenes.Sometimes, the lines are not always being drawn clearly when it come to the marriage of someone you know or maybe your own's when something starts to happen. The grey area is there. Now maybe I am not of marriageable age yet, but then standing up to whatever your friend had did is one thing I am clearly aware about.My final say? Like what I had mentioned on the title for this review.

Some movies can be adapted from stage-plays successfully, but this one is a good example that even if a play wins a Pulitzer, some stories need a stage.I was pleased when I found this Kinnear/Quaid movie on the Sundance channel, but that didn't last long. Their acting is solid, but their characters are far too effeminate and unbelievable. This must have worked better on a stage, but it doesn't work in this movie. I don't need them to be tough macho guys, but during key conversations, these two straight men discuss life, marriage, and cheating in a manner that is wimpy and boring. The dialog, gestures, and comments like "If you were really my friend you would just listen", could all have been performed more believably by two women, two gay men, or one of each. When they discuss sex & needing even simple physical affection, Quaid pulls a pillow to his lap. Later, when Kinnear tells Quaid about great sex, Quaid's character asks whether they ever talk. These aren't believable men with wives and established families.The sloppy production quality was distracting too: non-wet coat after coming in from a downpour, children who sleep through screaming arguments, bad hair-aging on Kinnear, and ... was that water in the beer bottles? Halfway through, the turmoil is side-tracked by a long 15-minute flashback which includes a bandaging device as a flimsy transition for two incompatible people to warm to each other.Due to the weak men, two women who are often cold, snotty, and unlikeable, and several talking scenes that merely provide information without advancing the character arcs or plot ... I doubt that many people agree with the high rating it receives on IMDb.

The MacDowell/Quaid marriage seems like it is already on the rocks from the beginning. Quaid seems to make an attempt but MacDowell never does give her husband any softness except during the final scene when she asks him to talk to her.Collet and Kinnear are doomed from the beginning.The film doesn't seem like the give and take of marriage but a good example of two people, especially MacDowell, who are judgemental. I hoped the plot would pick up and lead somewhere as suggested, but it failed. MacDowell has always been "cold" in her films. The other three would have a chance to give better performances with a better screenplay. Having Jewison attached made me want to see it more. I was disappointed.