Episode 176: My Dinner With Andre (1981)

Max, Mike; Movies

[Deep, impressive movie trailer voice]: Now. In “That Sure Was 1981.” Two men. One restaurant. One dinner. Two hours of pulse-pounding, mind-shattering . . . conversation! They’re breaking all the rules . . . of cinema! When everyone else said “things have to happen in a movie,” these two men dared to say no! Wallace Shawn IS Wallace Shawn! Andre Gregory IS Andre Gregory! In “My Dinner With Andre: Please Pass the MURDER!” [note: secondary title may only exist strictly in this writer’s imagination]. Yes, this is the movie so many have referenced, mocked, parodied and so much more. There’s no way this movie should work; it’s literally just two guys sitting in a restaurant discussing a long series of largely disconnected subjects from Scottish alternative learning institutions to Japanese monks to the nature of human intimacy to electric blankets. This shouldn’t work. And yet it consistently shows up on many “Best Independent Films of All Time Lists.” Roger Ebert loved this movie; he said it was the best film of 1981. Does it hold up? Do we end up loving it as much as the Blessed Ebert did? Give a listen and find out! Oh, and speaking of ol’ Roger . . .

Poll question: how much, if at all, do the reviews of “the critics” influence your desire to see any particular movie? And in what circumstances?

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