Synopsis (courtesy of IMDb):
Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more talkative of the pair. He relates to Shawn his tales of dropping out, traveling around the world, and experiencing the variety of ways people live, such as a monk who could balance his entire weight on his fingertips. Shawn listens avidly, but questions the value of Gregory’s seeming abandonment of the pragmatic aspects of life.
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I first heard of this film, which takes place entirely at a dinner table, while watching a parody of it on the brilliant NBC sitcom Community, a scripted TV show that honors cinema unlike any other I’ve seen. The film’s Criterion trailer and a clip from that episode of Community follow the jump.
Director: Louis Malle
Screenwriters: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn
Cast: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Runtime: 110 min.
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Community is brilliant, and My Dinner with Andre is, too. Continuity and interest are harder to maintain in an intimate setup like this, but it keeps up both.
Another TV show that honors movies (from working in constant references to doing something akin to My Dinner with Abed and having entire episodes built around them – eg Twin Peaks or Hitchock’s oeuvre) is Psych. It’s not nearly as good as Community, but the cast chemistry and pure absurdity are enjoyable.
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Thanks for the tip! I haven’t watched Psych, but I know it has its loyal viewers.
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Which to disclaimer, isn’t me. That’d be my brother, but he did suck me in with the movie stuff, and I’ve seen the full first two seasons.
Meanwhile, do please post your thoughts on My Dinner with Andre. I’d love to hear them.
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