Dennis Quaid Movie:

Editorial Review:
Directed by Norman Jewison and adapted by Donald Margulies from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, this acclaimed HBO production offers a welcome antidote to the superficiality of mainstream Hollywood. With the same attention to emotional detail that he brought to Moonstruck, Jewison establishes a delicate balance of anguish and bittersweet humor, reaching peak intensity as two couples confront the aftershocks of infidelity. Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell play the steady pair, committed to surviving every marital peak and valley. Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette are splitting up, divided by his infidelity and forced to reevaluate connections to their long-term friends. While Jewison and cinematographer Roger Deakins expertly translate the stagy material, the revealing, nonjudgmental quality of Margulies's dialogue inspires excellence from this quartet of underrated actors. Funny, painful, and full of truth, Dinner with Friends presents marriage as an organic work in progress, never to be taken for granted, and never guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon

Dinner with Friends [Region 2] Reviews:
dinner with friends DVD
2007-10-03 - A great cast, a great set of dialogs, human nature and frailties, misconceptions, what more can I say, a captivating movie worth watching over and over

For Couples and Their Friends (3.5 stars)
2007-08-26 - Intellectual and poignant, this is a film that deals with one of the most delicate relationships of all- "couple-friends." Most of us have, or have had, "those friends"- they are the "other couple," they got together around the same time as you, you see them almost every weekend, they watch your pets and collect your mail when you go out of town. You have similar situations(house, children, or something that equates that). You keep each other going when the other pair hits a rough patch. But how well do you really know what is going on in someone else's relationship? How much does someone else's situation affect your own? This film poses and tackles those very questions. Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell find out that their best friends Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette are getting divorced. What seemed to be a relationship very much like their own is suddenly dissolving. This dissolution calls into question their own relationship's stability, as well as their relationship with Kinnear & Collette. How well did Quaid/MacDowell really know Kinnear/Collette if they, the couple's BEST friends, did not see the true nature of their problems? What does it say about their own relationship that the couple who seemed to be in such a similar situation as theirs are deciding their problems are too deep to continue the marriage? There is a great scene toward the end of the film where Kinnear and Quaid go out for a drink months after the divorce and Kinnear tells Quaid "Oh, c'mon, Gabe, I know how it is- I've heard YOU complain" and Quaid tells him "that's what married friends do- we complain, we talk about wives- and then we go home." This fundamental difference between the two friends, and by extension the two couuples, is something that comes up repeatedly. Which couple was right? Is there a right and wrong choice? How does someone else's life choices affect you? Should it affect you? Your best friends break up, and you are left somewhere in the middle. Do you take sides? What happens to the friendship when the circumstances are no longer the thing you have most in common? Can you even stay friends? This is a great film- one that was entirely underrated. The performances are excellent- Kinnear, Quaid, and Collette especially. Seeing this performed on the stage would've been amazing!

This movie delivers
2007-05-10 - The cast is strong - the script is smart, funny and something that we all can relate to in one way or another. I was so glad that I fell upon it at Blockbuster - didn't expect it to be so good, and now it is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

best friends and bad marriages
2007-01-25 - Two couples, best friends, explore the problems and possibilities of marriage and go their separate ways. Which couple chose the better path?

Absorbing Talkfest About Marriages in Disrepair Yields Surprisingly Strong Performances
2006-07-24 - This is the type of four-person drama that hardly makes it to the big screen anymore, and indeed this 2001 movie originally aired as an HBO film. Adapted by Donald Margulies from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the film documents the unraveling relationships among two married couples who have been best friends for twelve years - Gabe and Karen, a perceived model of professional success (as renowned food writers) and domestic stability; and the other, Tom and Beth, in a state of irreparable collapse. Veteran filmmaker Norman Jewison (whose last successful film was probably 1987's "Moonstruck", his Italian-American valentine to improbable romance) has a proven track record for allowing actors to inhabit characters realistically in difficult situations. This movie proves he is still in peak form in this regard.

The story begins with Beth breaking the news to Gabe and Karen that Tom has left her. Gabe and Karen immediately take sides and start to question the stability of their own relationship. In the meantime, Tom is basking in the happiness of his new relationship with a younger woman, even as his best friends have become judgmental about what they see as a vainglorious, selfish act from a husband and father of two. Beth also goes on to find a new lover but also faces similar disapproval for moving on too fast. Although the film goes into an extended flashback sequence to have us understand the genesis of their long-standing friendship, the movie pushes forward the individual revelations of each principal in superbly executed scenes driven by Marguiles' perceptive, sometimes clever dialogue. There are unexpected comedy elements as well, for example, when a post-meltdown Beth blows her nose in the expensive placemat Karen bought for her in Italy.

The actors shine most unexpectedly. I always thought of Andie MacDowell as a rather flat but obviously lucky presence on the screen. Here she finally seems closer in proximity to a real, flawed human being as Karen. Her character is the picture of image-conscious perfection unable to tolerate, much less accept, disruptions to her controlling existence. MacDowell is still not a great actress, but at least she bravely reveals the unattractive underside of a character genuinely at a loss to deal with her best friends' break-up. As usual, Toni Collette nails her part perfectly as Beth, showing dimensions of the wronged wife that are both surprising and viscerally honest. The real surprises in the cast, however, are the men. As Tom, Greg Kinnear adds substantive depth to his standard happy-go-lucky guy and does not come across as his usual likable scamp at the least. The standout may be Dennis Quaid as Gabe, an assured performance from an actor who has not shown this much introspection onscreen before. In fact, he brings an almost fey quality to the early scenes and then gains more heft as the uncomfortable situation comes closer to home.

The most affecting scenes are the ones involving two of the characters at a time in revealing exchanges - Karen and Beth discussing Beth's new lover over lunch, Tom facing Gabe's resentment and jealousy at the bar, Gabe and Karen revealing their tactics to avoid intimacy as they prepare for bed. Given that Quaid and MacDowell play diehard foodies, there are plenty of shots of luxuriant food that any lover of the Food Network will savor. The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, who uses effective burnished amber tones for the flashback sequence. This is not for everyone, but the maturity of the drama and the top-notch performances make this one most worthwhile.