The leads fill out their archetypes comfortably, the timing's well pitched, and the narrative moves busily enough. Cinematically, though, there's little of interest.
Comment
02/11/06
The Dinner Game (1998)
72 %
Reviews Counted: 43 Fresh: 31 Rotten:12 Average Rating: 6.8/10
Runtime: 81 mins
Synopsis: From the creator of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES comes a tasty comedy of (table) manners. Pierre and his snobbish friends enjoy a cruel tradition, hosting dinner parties and seeing who can bring dullest, most idiotic guest. Pierre is confident he has found a real champion in Francois, an accountant... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Francis Huster, Daniel Prevost, Alexandra Vandernoot
Reviews
Top Critic
Veber's film offers all the undemanding, solidly old-fashioned pleasures of a traditionally well-crafted French farce.
03/05/02
Top Critic
Despite the stagey set-up (it was originally conceived as a play and it shows), the film manages to maintain its humor and energy until the final scene in which Veber suddenly casts aside his delightful meanspiritedness and gets soft-hearted and preachy.
01/14/08
Scared of sophisticated French cinema? This coarse comedy will restore your confidence.
01/14/08
Some realist nuances in the characters' behavior become more intriguing than the belabored humor.
01/14/08
A sip of sparkling champagne in a moviegoing summer of mostly cheap red wine for teenage winos.
04/27/07
Its very tautness and on-the-money performances from the odd-coupled Jacques Villeret and Thierry Lhermitte help make this a highly amusing and old-fashioned big-screen entertainment.
01/16/07
If you don't like this type of movie to begin with (I don't), you won't be converted this time around.
05/26/06
Easily the funniest and most charming film that has been or will be released in 1999 ... period.
12/06/05
An idiot is exactly what you'll be if you don't check out The Dinner Game.
12/06/05
Villeret, a fixture in French films for two decades, is short, squat, a little bug-eyed and able to completely twist the not-so-good intentions of his host.
04/09/05
Farce is usually equated with slapstick, but here the comedy is distinctly one of wits, slowly building momentum to a satisfying finish.
12/05/04
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