A perfectly entertaining little French comedy that doesn't quite lodge in your brain in the way you hope it would.
The Dinner Game(Le Dîner de cons)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 1998
Rated PG · 1h 20m
Director Francis Veber
Starring Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Francis Huster, Daniel Prévost
Genre Comedy
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For Pierre and his friends, Wednesday is “Idiots' Day.” The idea is simple: each person has to bring along an idiot. The one who brings the most spectacular idiot wins the prize. Tonight, Pierre has found a gem, the ultimate idiot, “A world champion idiot!” What Pierre doesn’t know is that Pignon is a past master in the art of bringing on catastrophes...
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
There are times when the comedy works, but the number of genuinely amusing sequences are outnumbered by those that, in trying to generate laughter, simply seem silly.
Chicago Tribune by John Petrakis
The Dinner Game works thanks to some exceptionally strong acting, impeccable timing and rapid-fire delivery of many funny lines.
Chicago Reader by Lisa Alspector
Shtick isn't all this movie has to offer.
Abetted by an excellent cast, vet writer Weber weaves a simple premise into comedy gold.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
This stage-bound farce could easily be an American sitcom: It's all slamming doors, eavesdropping and stupid miscommunications, garnished with a heavy-handed helping of comedy of humiliation.
Just a plain old fun movie.
Adapted from a long-running stage play, The Dinner Game has been refined to peak comic efficiency, with every misunderstanding and hare-brained scheme neatly cascading into bigger and bigger catastrophes.
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