Dinner in America: NZIFF Review

There is a moment of pure beauty among all the ugliness of Dinner in America - but it doesn't come until 10 minutes before the end.

Holed up in a basement, mismatched losers Simon (a snivelling Kyle Gallner) and Patty (Emily Skeggs) take a few moments to write a song. After Simon's delivered the chords, Patty offers lyrics to the song - and it's truly beautiful, an earworm that sings with joy and stays with you long after the film's done.

It's a shame, because most of the rest of Dinner in America is unfortunately forgettable fare.

After a full on pre-credits opening sequence that delivers energy and a middle finger to the status quo, Dinner in America settles into a format that's more familiar than anything, and less original than it wants to be.

It's the story of punk rocker Simon meeting oddball Patty and their subsequent on the lam adventures.

Natural Born Killers this is not, nor is it Sid and Nancy. Somewhere in the midst of the mid-western anarchy it purports to proffer lies the beating heart of a told too many times story, slathered in trashy and low-rent vibes throughout.

Dubbed as a punk romcom, it's obviously about two losers finding each other, their place in the world etc - these are not new themes.

But thankfully, in Gallner as Simon, the film's found its anti-hero who's all fire and brimstone early on and misplaced anger. However in one scene late in the film, Simon falls to pieces, revealing a much needed emotional edge.

Skeggs is mainly awkward as Patty, all grimaces, pauses and lip-chewing. But there's a feeling of a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis of the writing, as Dinner in America progresses. 

However, the anarchy feels questionable at best, and while scenes of Simon with his peers reek of veracity thanks to the spitting dialogue angrily delivered by some lost in life, the film's overall feeling of nihilism is misplaced.

"Take it down a notch" various family members are told throughout - and in truth, maybe the filmmakers would have been wise to listen to their own bon mot. 

A touch less need for exuberance could have greatly lifted Dinner in America; its warped comedy is nowhere near as fresh as it assumes it is, and were it not for its two leads and their obvious star power, the overly smug and self-righteous Dinner in America would rightly have been dead in the water.