Alicia I love this movie so much

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

SmileysWorld I wasn't really wowed by this film.It doesn't really have a captivating story,great scenery or great special effects (the latter is never really necessary anyway).What you have is a group of guys,each of them representing someone most of us know or have heard of.We are introduced to them,and over the course of the film,we get to know them,and by film's end,we had an overall pleasant time.The film has a place on the AFI's 100 Years,100 Laughs list,which brought me to watch it.I don't question it's placement there because we all have different senses of humor,but I can't say that it really generated a lot of laughs for me personally.Overall,it was enjoyable enough and I may visit it again one day.

p-stepien The everyday life of six friends concentrically focuses around a diner - in some manner symbolising a sense of nonfluctuating stability, whilst everything else around them changes: marriage, children, work and ideals. Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is on the verge of getting hitched, laden with certain doubts about his choice. Shrevie (Daniel Stern), the only married man among the bunch, is a musical geek happily wed to Beth (Ellen Barkin). Boogie (Mickey Rourke) represents the opposite, a free spirit with a weakness for gambling and women, studying law only to impress the ladies. Similarly Timothy Fenwick Jr. (Kevin Bacon) lives recklessly and aimlessly - despite belonging to a wealthy and influential family he spends his time disconnected from them and slacking it off in his Porsche. Billy (Tim Daly) seems to be the groups father figure, rational and always controlled. That is until he platonic friend declares she is pregnant with his child after a single night of madness. The sixth of the pack is Modell (Paul Reiser), whose seemingly only role is to make up the numbers.Through this loquacious picture haplessly concentrating key events around a diner slash meeting place of choice for six best friends we venture into the feeling of a time and place, one so internally American than it fails to strike a cord with overseas audience. Mischievous and at times subversively funny the end result is however tailor-made for local audiences, who can fully appreciate the backyard amiability of the witty gang. Not to say this is a bad thing - some things aren't meant to have global appeal and within its target it is undoubtedly an intriguing gem, one still influential for buddy or verbose flicks and also a point of reference for such movies as "Before Sunrise" or "Smoke".Talkative and largely improvised features tirades by great actors, whose magnetic presence captivates, especially when talking about Bacon or Rourke. Despite however my best intentions I found myself unable to relate to the characters and their all-American traits.

Gavin Cresswell (gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297) Sometimes adult films can be very entertaining with stronger premises, neat acting, and laugh-out-loud comedy which is why we get Barry Levinson's Diner.It revolves around Christmas time in 1959 where 5 boys spend their time at the diner. When the gang realizes that they have to spend a few days without the comfort of their favorite restaurant, they try to settle their lives by showing their responsibilities while sharing their details.Thinking about this movie makes me want to watch it again to keep on making me laugh my butt off. I mean, it is that good there's absolutely nothing negative to say about it.The premise about spending their lives explaining their details without the diner was very interesting. The acting was pure masterpiece. Every actor you see, Steve Guttenberg from the Police Academy series, Daniel Stern from Home Alones 1 and 2, Mickey Rourke from Iron Man 2, Kevin Bacon from Apollo 13, Balto, Mystic River, you name it.The comedy was pure genius. The jokes that I like the best were Fenwick pretending to be dead from his car accident and the part where Fenwick gets drunk while goofing off near a church.The soundtrack was great and the 1959 period setting was very creative. Diner is one of the greatest films ever made from the early 80s that defines the 50s and it is in my list.5 out of 5

Lechuguilla The underlying theme here is transition. Six young American guys bond with each other for security as they move out of adolescence and into adulthood. Given that the story takes place in 1959, the transition applies equally to American culture, which transitions out of the dull 50s and into the chaotic 60s. These guys will never be young again, and neither will America; hence, the appeal to nostalgia.An ensemble cast allows for the film to be a series of vignettes involving one or more of the characters. As such, the plot seems jerky, almost random at times. Characters seem shallow, egocentric, and predictably preoccupied with romance and sex. I couldn't get interested in any of them. The story is set in dreary Baltimore at Christmas. So the overall plot has the feel of a very specific place and time.The script is very talky. Not much happens. Characters stand around, drive around, meet at the diner for burgers ... and talk. Some of the banter is clever; most is just tedious. I thought the casting was a bit weak, in that the differentiation among the six guys is not as pronounced as that of "American Graffiti" (1973). Acting is average. Some of the chitchat is improvisational.I was disappointed with the background music. Again, it is somewhat weak. There are a few good 1950s songs, the ones by Bobby Darin and Fats Domino. But most of the selections are not especially nostalgic. On the other hand, the color visuals do create the look of that era quite well.It's almost as if this film borrowed its underlying concept from "American Graffiti", which I like considerably better, partly because of its more archetypal characters. Then too, the two films address a slightly different American constituency. "Diner" is set on the East Coast, "American Graffiti" on the West Coast. Maybe I just identify more with the West.