Abendessen mit Freunden (TV Movie 2001)

Abendessen mit Freunden: Directed by Norman Jewison. With Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette. Two married couples have their twelve-year bond of friendship put to the test when one couple reveals that they are splitting up.

“I havenu0026#39;t seen a movie this talky since u0026quot;My Dinner with Andre.u0026quot; There the similarity between the two movies ends, though, because the dialogue in this movie is stilted, banal, predictable, and most of all, deadly dull. I donu0026#39;t think that either McDowell or Quaid were up to these roles; though I donu0026#39;t think the best actors imaginable could have breathed a lot of life into them. But these two come off almost as automatons, shifting emotional gears right on cue, just the way you expect them to. Like itu0026#39;s…itu0026#39;s…you know what it reminded me of? Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson in one of their u0026quot;seriousu0026quot; moments in u0026quot;Home Improvement.u0026quot; u0026quot;OK, first 13 seconds of anger, then 22 seconds of self-defense, then a quick joke, 18 seconds of resolution, another joke, a hug, a kiss, and…CUT! And thatu0026#39;s a wrap.u0026quot; I can only be glad that Quaid and McDowell donu0026#39;t talk to an avuncular next-door neighbor over a fence.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClearly weu0026#39;re supposed to see the friends who are split up as the outwardly u0026quot;perfectu0026quot; people, charming, good-looking, bragging about the great sex with their new partners, rich, insisting that theyu0026#39;re happy, but clearly weu0026#39;re supposed to identify with McDowell and Quaid, the introspective, homey couple who wonder if the fires have gone cold, but see, itu0026#39;s the very wondering that proves the fires *havenu0026#39;t* gone cold. I think.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd after all of the wrangling and the wrenching revelations and the anguished talk and the furrowed brows and the bitten lower lips, the whole thing is resolved by Quaid climbing on top of McDowell and the lights go out. All they needed was a little old-fashioned, introspective, homey sex. Not the wild, exotic, enjoyable kind, just the dull routine kind. In the picture-perfect bed in the picture-perfect bedroom of their picture-perfect cottage in picture-perfect Marthau0026#39;s Vineyard, with their picture-perfect sons asleep and allu0026#39;s well with the world. What seemed like acute marital appendicitis proved to be just a bit of gas.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBurp.”