Admittedly, it’s hard to watch the first twenty minutes of Dinner in America. The slurs are gratuitous, the suburban families are superficially satiric, and it seemed at first glance the leads were, too. But when the punk singer and his awkward fan meet, and they start driving around the Midwest, there’s a charming chemistry formed between these two weirdos, portrayed with a dynamic back-and-forth between Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs. This chemistry makes their ridiculous character flaws work, too– as Simon’s random destructive quirks end up being the perfect response for Patty’s life and Patty’s deranged fan letters turn out to be the kind of lyrical genius Simon’s been looking for. There’s no denying that the film is brash and rough at the edges like its leads, and even with this, some viewers might still turn up their noses at the two. But the over-the-top humor, the memorable dialogue, and the surprising sweetness of Dinner in America makes for a scrappy, edgy romcom that might actually be punk.

Okay, yes, this film has employed a lot of slurs, both from the leads and the antagonist suburban families. Yes, it’s bad to say these words. Don’t do it. But it’s clear that the film makes the distinction between saying the word and actually holding the mindset of looking down at the marginalized groups as subhuman, since the only time the leads ever say them is to self-consciously question whether the people looking down on them are right (Patty) and to sling them back to people looking down at them (Simon).