Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003): *** out of ****
Directed by Bob Odenkirk. Screenplay by Michael Blieden, based on his play "Phyro-Giants." Starring Michael Blieden, Stephanie Courtney, Matt Price and Annabelle Gurwitch.
by Andy Keast
"Melvin Goes to Dinner" is non-demanding, episodic and occasionally really funny. Writer-actor Michael Blieden plays the title role in a script he adapted from his own stage play, "Phyro-Giants," about a group of young professionals (Michael Blieden, Stephanie Courtney, Matt Price and Annabelle Gurwitch) serendipitously meeting for dinner at a posh restaurant. It reminded me a little bit of "My Dinner With Andre," minus any kind of production value and inhabited by characters from a Neil LaBute movie.
If what I just wrote sounds negative, that's not my intention. Many movies like this usually read better than they play, but "Melvin" uses the same actors from it's original stage run who already know the film, and a lot of their conversations they have are engaging. They proceed to order more and more wine as the night progresses, and at first discuss things like work stress and marriage, and eventually cover infidelity, bestiality, masturbation and porno. Flashbacks involving David Cross as a self-help guru and Jack Black as a self-proclaimed goddess "…who rides a pterodactyl" are cheerfully strange. Other episodes, among them those featuring Melora Walters cheating on her spouse with Melvin and aspects of Courtney's character, feel made up as they go along. They don't break the film's tone, however. One of the joys of the movie is that it doesn't linger on any one scene for too long.
The directing by Bob Odenkirk is surprisingly restrained. It was shot on digital video, but escapes most of the annoyances I have with the medium. That is mostly due to the Blieden's script, which (smartly) doesn't attempt to be anything more than a photographed play. Although different camera exposures allow the flashbacks to seem dreamlike: at times you could be watching a sketch from "Mr. Show." The dinner itself isn't as stagy as I thought it would be, and the dialogue feels unrehearsed and real. "Melvin Goes to Dinner" isn't really about anything, but doesn't need to be.
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