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Dinner in America (2022)

Dinner in America (2022)

A punk rock romance that, like the genre, is rough around the edges but actually sweet inside

7.5

Movie

United States of America
English
Comedy, Music, Romance
2022
ADAM REHMEIER
Emily Skeggs, Griffin Gluck, Hannah Marks
106 min

TLDR

It might not match every viewer’s freak, and it probably would have worked best if released 20 years ago, but if there’s any time better to make actual anti-establishment cool again, it’s probably right now.

What it's about

After being on the run from the cops, punk rock singer Simon unexpectedly meets awkward misfit Patty, who happens to be a superfan of his band. This leads them to go on a journey to get what they’re owed in America’s decaying Midwestern suburbs.

The take

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, sneaking into places they probably shouldn’t be, and enacting the revenge plans to get back at Patty’s tormentors, there’s a charming chemistry formed between these two weirdos, portrayed with a dynamic back-and-forth between Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs. The random destructive quirks Simon uses end up being the perfect response for Patty’s life and the deranged fan letters turn out to be the kind of lyrical genius Simon’s been looking for. Dinner in America is brash and rough at the edges like its leads, but it makes for a scrappy, edgy romcom that might actually be punk.

What stands out

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).

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