Melvin Goes to Dinner
Starring:Fred Armisen, Feridoon Asiani, Michael Blieden, Stephanie Courtney, David Cross (II), Jen Dollard, Jenna Fischer, Sterling Fitzgerald, James Gunn (II), Annabelle Gurwitch, Jacqueline Heinze, Laura Kightlinger, Jerry Minor, BJ Porter, Matt Price, Kathleen Roll, Tucker Smallwood, Maura Tierney, Mary Wachtel
Studio: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A brisk, funny talkfest. Accidental meetings result in four people sharing dinner in a bistro, an encounter that becomes a bluntly honest discussion of sex, religion, and sex. Cutaways to other aspects of their lives bring visual variety (and afford opportunities for cameos by Jack Black and David Cross), but the meat of the meal is in how four people talk to, at, and against each other. The quartet is sharp and comic: screenwriter Michael Blieden and Matt Price play friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and Annabelle Gurwitch and Stephanie Courtney are the women they bump into. Their patter contains a couple of neat surprises, and ranges over a long menu of relationship issues. It's directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame), and he has two distinct directorial gifts: getting actors into a strong, naturalistic flow, and knowing where the jokes are. --Robert Horton
Description
Melvin goes to dinner with three almost complete strangers. The frequency funny, bit also heartfelt conversation goes from dating to sex, top religion, to fetishes, to ghosts and everything else in between. The film is written and co-stars Michael Blieden, who adapted his stage play "Phyro-Giants!" The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Odenkirk, co-host of "Mr. Show" and the Emmy-award winning writer for "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "The Ben Stiller Show."
Average customer rating:
- This and that
- The rest of your party is already seated
- Worth a Watch - 3+Stars
- Give It a Chance
- Melvin should have another serving of paste
|
Melvin Goes to Dinner
Starring: Fred Armisen , Feridoon Asiani , Michael Blieden , Stephanie Courtney , and David Cross (II)
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
 Comedy
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Similar Items:
- Scotland, PA
- Dead Women in Lingerie
- Oxygen
- Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide
- Happy Endings
ASIN: B00080ZGX8
Release Date: 2005-04-01 |
Amazon.com
A brisk, funny talkfest. Accidental meetings result in four people sharing dinner in a bistro, an encounter that becomes a bluntly honest discussion of sex, religion, and sex. Cutaways to other aspects of their lives bring visual variety (and afford opportunities for cameos by Jack Black and David Cross), but the meat of the meal is in how four people talk to, at, and against each other. The quartet is sharp and comic: screenwriter Michael Blieden and Matt Price play friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and Annabelle Gurwitch and Stephanie Courtney are the women they bump into. Their patter contains a couple of neat surprises, and ranges over a long menu of relationship issues. It's directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame), and he has two distinct directorial gifts: getting actors into a strong, naturalistic flow, and knowing where the jokes are. --Robert Horton
Description
Melvin goes to dinner with three almost complete strangers. The frequency funny, bit also heartfelt conversation goes from dating to sex, top religion, to fetishes, to ghosts and everything else in between. The film is written and co-stars Michael Blieden, who adapted his stage play "Phyro-Giants!" The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Odenkirk, co-host of "Mr. Show" and the Emmy-award winning writer for "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "The Ben Stiller Show."
Customer Reviews:
This and that.......2005-11-27
I had mixed feelings about this one. I went into it knowing that it was largely based on conversation with very little vestiges of plot, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all sort of falls into place to mean something at the end. All in all, the conversational elements are richly written and very appealing. However, that's the end... it takes a while for it to be truly enriching.
Sometimes the conversation is such that you feel like you're in it, and that's probably as close to good as the cinematography and editing gets, considering in general it really isn't that well done. I can forgive the hand-held look and a lot of how the image turned out from its independent production value, but try as I might I couldn't help but feel a lot of the work was just shoddy camera operation.
Sometimes the conversation isn't very appealing and I can't help but think, "I'm obviously not in this conversation because I wouldn't go there." So there's that element too, a sort of discursive alienation one feels when the conversation feels less than involving.
Mostly, however, the dialog is great and the characters are amazing. There are some really great performances all around and it's definitely worth a viewing or two, or more, but even as I say that I can't help but think that the play version of this story must be absolutely amazing because of mostly the format of the two media.
--PolarisDiB
The rest of your party is already seated.......2005-08-26
Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's breif running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.
All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.
If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.
Worth a Watch - 3+Stars.......2005-06-29
I enjoyed this. It's deceptively engaging. Hard to imagine that listening to four people natter on about various different topics over dinner will amount to much. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it does amount to much. But it's still interesting. There is a real immediacy to your engagement with these people that allows you to really get pulled in at the moments the conversation gets interesting. There are a few surprises. Some of them sort of come out of nowhere, but it creates a feeling that despite the fact these people are just sitting around a table you're never really sure just what might pop up next. I wish the ending had more substance. It's a bit abrupt, and it doesn't in any larger sense answer the questions posed by the film in general. That might be a lot to ask, but this would really have been a winner if the director had managed a greater sense of closure and narrative movement. What's all that mean? Well, so it's not perfect, but it is worth a watch.
Give It a Chance.......2005-05-09
I almost didn't give it a chance. Early on Melvin, his buddy, and the two babes, all thirty something's seemed to be those yuppie people from one of the coasts that have it all and bitch too much, spoiled whiners. There were a few confusing timeline cuts, back and forth to show little bits of their lives, but again, I stayed with it. About a half hour into the film, which I understand was a Michael Blieden play, that is adapted to film, I realized that these folks have some problems and are sort of witty in describing the mature dating and marriage scene. Then the revelations get sexier and suprising. Then it gets very suprising, revelations of horny 30's at play making mistakes and being human.
As noted by everyone, Jack Black does a very funny cameo, a spacey riff that I followed to my amazement. Of course you have to be a skitso or a believer to understand. Also, this isn't a sweeping scenery film. It's a play and people sit around the table talking. If the dialogue wasn't witty, festival audiences wouldn't have gone nuts.
Melvin should have another serving of paste.......2005-02-20
Directors, actors, and all others associated with the film industry make a real effort to be cerebral. It's understandable, as it's a worthy goal. 99.5% of them fail - perhaps it's a lack of education, maybe it's poor upbringing that has reinforced self-absorption, and it could be that the superficiality which makes them such a good fit in Hollywood directly leads to this end. The only redeeming quality of the film is that it exposes human foibles (and this is not a new concept - it's typically an element of every movie). It seems that movies these days fall on either end of two extremes: telling stories of people who unrealistically do the right thing, or blathering of shallow morons who are poor subjects of empathy. This falls into the latter category. I want that hour and a half of my life back for a more worthy endeavor such as playing target practice into a trash can with a staple gun.
Average customer rating:
- This and that
- The rest of your party is already seated
- Worth a Watch - 3+Stars
- Give It a Chance
- Melvin should have another serving of paste
|
Melvin Goes to Dinner
Starring: Fred Armisen , Feridoon Asiani , Michael Blieden , Stephanie Courtney , and David Cross (II)
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Comedy
| By Genre
| Art House & International
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Urban
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Romantic Comedies
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gurwitch, Annabelle
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Heinze, Jacqueline
| ( H )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Tierney, Maura
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
All Sundance Titles
| Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| By Genre
| Foreign & International
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
General
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| By Genre
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $7.49
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Scotland, PA
- Dead Women in Lingerie
- Oxygen
- Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide
- Happy Endings
ASIN: B0000DI87U
Release Date: 2003-12-16 |
Amazon.com
A brisk, funny talkfest. Accidental meetings result in four people sharing dinner in a bistro, an encounter that becomes a bluntly honest discussion of sex, religion, and sex. Cutaways to other aspects of their lives bring visual variety (and afford opportunities for cameos by Jack Black and David Cross), but the meat of the meal is in how four people talk to, at, and against each other. The quartet is sharp and comic: screenwriter Michael Blieden and Matt Price play friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and Annabelle Gurwitch and Stephanie Courtney are the women they bump into. Their patter contains a couple of neat surprises, and ranges over a long menu of relationship issues. It's directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame), and he has two distinct directorial gifts: getting actors into a strong, naturalistic flow, and knowing where the jokes are. --Robert Horton
Description
Melvin goes to dinner with three almost complete strangers. The frequency funny, bit also heartfelt conversation goes from dating to sex, top religion, to fetishes, to ghosts and everything else in between. The film is written and co-stars Michael Blieden, who adapted his stage play "Phyro-Giants!" The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Odenkirk, co-host of "Mr. Show" and the Emmy-award winning writer for "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "The Ben Stiller Show."
Customer Reviews:
This and that.......2005-11-27
I had mixed feelings about this one. I went into it knowing that it was largely based on conversation with very little vestiges of plot, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all sort of falls into place to mean something at the end. All in all, the conversational elements are richly written and very appealing. However, that's the end... it takes a while for it to be truly enriching.
Sometimes the conversation is such that you feel like you're in it, and that's probably as close to good as the cinematography and editing gets, considering in general it really isn't that well done. I can forgive the hand-held look and a lot of how the image turned out from its independent production value, but try as I might I couldn't help but feel a lot of the work was just shoddy camera operation.
Sometimes the conversation isn't very appealing and I can't help but think, "I'm obviously not in this conversation because I wouldn't go there." So there's that element too, a sort of discursive alienation one feels when the conversation feels less than involving.
Mostly, however, the dialog is great and the characters are amazing. There are some really great performances all around and it's definitely worth a viewing or two, or more, but even as I say that I can't help but think that the play version of this story must be absolutely amazing because of mostly the format of the two media.
--PolarisDiB
The rest of your party is already seated.......2005-08-26
Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's breif running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.
All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.
If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.
Worth a Watch - 3+Stars.......2005-06-29
I enjoyed this. It's deceptively engaging. Hard to imagine that listening to four people natter on about various different topics over dinner will amount to much. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it does amount to much. But it's still interesting. There is a real immediacy to your engagement with these people that allows you to really get pulled in at the moments the conversation gets interesting. There are a few surprises. Some of them sort of come out of nowhere, but it creates a feeling that despite the fact these people are just sitting around a table you're never really sure just what might pop up next. I wish the ending had more substance. It's a bit abrupt, and it doesn't in any larger sense answer the questions posed by the film in general. That might be a lot to ask, but this would really have been a winner if the director had managed a greater sense of closure and narrative movement. What's all that mean? Well, so it's not perfect, but it is worth a watch.
Give It a Chance.......2005-05-09
I almost didn't give it a chance. Early on Melvin, his buddy, and the two babes, all thirty something's seemed to be those yuppie people from one of the coasts that have it all and bitch too much, spoiled whiners. There were a few confusing timeline cuts, back and forth to show little bits of their lives, but again, I stayed with it. About a half hour into the film, which I understand was a Michael Blieden play, that is adapted to film, I realized that these folks have some problems and are sort of witty in describing the mature dating and marriage scene. Then the revelations get sexier and suprising. Then it gets very suprising, revelations of horny 30's at play making mistakes and being human.
As noted by everyone, Jack Black does a very funny cameo, a spacey riff that I followed to my amazement. Of course you have to be a skitso or a believer to understand. Also, this isn't a sweeping scenery film. It's a play and people sit around the table talking. If the dialogue wasn't witty, festival audiences wouldn't have gone nuts.
Melvin should have another serving of paste.......2005-02-20
Directors, actors, and all others associated with the film industry make a real effort to be cerebral. It's understandable, as it's a worthy goal. 99.5% of them fail - perhaps it's a lack of education, maybe it's poor upbringing that has reinforced self-absorption, and it could be that the superficiality which makes them such a good fit in Hollywood directly leads to this end. The only redeeming quality of the film is that it exposes human foibles (and this is not a new concept - it's typically an element of every movie). It seems that movies these days fall on either end of two extremes: telling stories of people who unrealistically do the right thing, or blathering of shallow morons who are poor subjects of empathy. This falls into the latter category. I want that hour and a half of my life back for a more worthy endeavor such as playing target practice into a trash can with a staple gun.
Average customer rating:
- This and that
- The rest of your party is already seated
- Worth a Watch - 3+Stars
- Give It a Chance
- Melvin should have another serving of paste
|
Melvin Goes to Dinner
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Scotland, PA
- Dead Women in Lingerie
- Oxygen
- Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide
- Happy Endings
ASIN: B0001Q4EVY |
Amazon.com
A brisk, funny talkfest. Accidental meetings result in four people sharing dinner in a bistro, an encounter that becomes a bluntly honest discussion of sex, religion, and sex. Cutaways to other aspects of their lives bring visual variety (and afford opportunities for cameos by Jack Black and David Cross), but the meat of the meal is in how four people talk to, at, and against each other. The quartet is sharp and comic: screenwriter Michael Blieden and Matt Price play friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and Annabelle Gurwitch and Stephanie Courtney are the women they bump into. Their patter contains a couple of neat surprises, and ranges over a long menu of relationship issues. It's directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame), and he has two distinct directorial gifts: getting actors into a strong, naturalistic flow, and knowing where the jokes are. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
This and that.......2005-11-27
I had mixed feelings about this one. I went into it knowing that it was largely based on conversation with very little vestiges of plot, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all sort of falls into place to mean something at the end. All in all, the conversational elements are richly written and very appealing. However, that's the end... it takes a while for it to be truly enriching.
Sometimes the conversation is such that you feel like you're in it, and that's probably as close to good as the cinematography and editing gets, considering in general it really isn't that well done. I can forgive the hand-held look and a lot of how the image turned out from its independent production value, but try as I might I couldn't help but feel a lot of the work was just shoddy camera operation.
Sometimes the conversation isn't very appealing and I can't help but think, "I'm obviously not in this conversation because I wouldn't go there." So there's that element too, a sort of discursive alienation one feels when the conversation feels less than involving.
Mostly, however, the dialog is great and the characters are amazing. There are some really great performances all around and it's definitely worth a viewing or two, or more, but even as I say that I can't help but think that the play version of this story must be absolutely amazing because of mostly the format of the two media.
--PolarisDiB
The rest of your party is already seated.......2005-08-26
Nearly all of Melvin Goes to Dinner's breif running time is spent observing a rambling but always interesting dinner conversation among four variously connected people in their late twenties. I was very impressed by both the writing and the acting. It's rare enough that we get even brief conversations that sound right, like real people really speak to each other; Here we have over an hour's worth.
All of the performances are very good. I especially liked Stephanie Courtney's ability to make Alex simultaneously annoying and charming. Others have noted the wonderful cameo by Jack Black as a mental patient with an impressively detailed conception of reality.
If you find yourself looking for a break from CGI and other special effects, give Melvin Goes to Dinner a try. The best thing I can say about it is that as soon as it ended, I wanted to watch it again from the beginning.
Worth a Watch - 3+Stars.......2005-06-29
I enjoyed this. It's deceptively engaging. Hard to imagine that listening to four people natter on about various different topics over dinner will amount to much. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it does amount to much. But it's still interesting. There is a real immediacy to your engagement with these people that allows you to really get pulled in at the moments the conversation gets interesting. There are a few surprises. Some of them sort of come out of nowhere, but it creates a feeling that despite the fact these people are just sitting around a table you're never really sure just what might pop up next. I wish the ending had more substance. It's a bit abrupt, and it doesn't in any larger sense answer the questions posed by the film in general. That might be a lot to ask, but this would really have been a winner if the director had managed a greater sense of closure and narrative movement. What's all that mean? Well, so it's not perfect, but it is worth a watch.
Give It a Chance.......2005-05-09
I almost didn't give it a chance. Early on Melvin, his buddy, and the two babes, all thirty something's seemed to be those yuppie people from one of the coasts that have it all and bitch too much, spoiled whiners. There were a few confusing timeline cuts, back and forth to show little bits of their lives, but again, I stayed with it. About a half hour into the film, which I understand was a Michael Blieden play, that is adapted to film, I realized that these folks have some problems and are sort of witty in describing the mature dating and marriage scene. Then the revelations get sexier and suprising. Then it gets very suprising, revelations of horny 30's at play making mistakes and being human.
As noted by everyone, Jack Black does a very funny cameo, a spacey riff that I followed to my amazement. Of course you have to be a skitso or a believer to understand. Also, this isn't a sweeping scenery film. It's a play and people sit around the table talking. If the dialogue wasn't witty, festival audiences wouldn't have gone nuts.
Melvin should have another serving of paste.......2005-02-20
Directors, actors, and all others associated with the film industry make a real effort to be cerebral. It's understandable, as it's a worthy goal. 99.5% of them fail - perhaps it's a lack of education, maybe it's poor upbringing that has reinforced self-absorption, and it could be that the superficiality which makes them such a good fit in Hollywood directly leads to this end. The only redeeming quality of the film is that it exposes human foibles (and this is not a new concept - it's typically an element of every movie). It seems that movies these days fall on either end of two extremes: telling stories of people who unrealistically do the right thing, or blathering of shallow morons who are poor subjects of empathy. This falls into the latter category. I want that hour and a half of my life back for a more worthy endeavor such as playing target practice into a trash can with a staple gun.
Average customer rating:
|
Cutting Edge Comedy Collection (Amy's O/Seeing Other People/Melvin Goes to Dinner/Scotland, PA.)
Starring: Various
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Comedy
| By Genre
| Art House & International
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
( C )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| Boxed Sets
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
All Sundance Titles
| Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| By Genre
| Foreign & International
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
General
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Comedy
| By Genre
| Indie & Art House
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B00069A6RM
Release Date: 2004-11-30 |
Description
Melvin Goes to Dinner: With three almost complete strangers. Their conversation is always heartfelt and frequently funny as the four some talk about dating, sex religion, fetishes, ghost and everything in between.
Amy's O: Startlingly candid and hilarious, this romantic comedy about love, neuroses, and the "big O" offers a wry look at sex and the single girl- with a twist of sweetness and warmth.
Scotland, PA: A black comedy that transports Shakespeare's Macbeth to a fast-food restaurant in early 70's rural Pennsylvania.
Seeing Other People: Just two months shy of their wedding, a couple allows each other last flings until they say "I do." The results, of course, are comically disastrous.
DVD:
- The Beatles - Help!
- Easy
- Haunted Honeymoon
- The Cuckoo
- Dennis Miller Live from Washington D.C.
- The Shrimp on the Barbie
- The Principal
- I'll Be There
- Better Than Sex
- Bend It Like Beckham (Full Screen Edition)
DVD List
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DVD
A Certain Kind of Death
Band: Band : DVD
Starman, Vol. 1: Attack from Space/Evil Brain From Outer Spa
DVD: Down with Love (Widescreen Edition)
Kalifornien - Weltweit