More often than not, the label of “private family matter” spells doom and gloom. A good time is not going to be had. That’s the unfortunate impetus that brings two disunified brothers and their wives together for “The Dinner.” Compressing layers of familial discontent and rancor thinly-masked by the repulsive worst of white privilege, the tightly-wound urgency and shattering purpose of this titular meeting reveals itself over the film’s two hours.
Faithful and imaginative as “The BFG” may be, the proceedings lack contagious inspiration that should come from a film of this intended caliber. Other than “whizpopper” humor, the slivers of cuteness present are ineffectual and the intended themes on dreams are lost in yawns. The silliness misses any chance at meaning. The film is too ridiculous to be approachable and too bizarre to be endearing. Meet Steven Spielberg's worst film.
Read MoreMovies are the place of fantasy where the realities of normal domestic life can be bent and distorted. In the genre of thrillers, that quality can swing from peaks like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Fatal Attraction" to the gutter of cheesy TV films on the Lifetime Channel. Independent of their quality is their suspension of disbelief towards the fictional elements of each film. Some movies do too much and descend towards ridiculousness from a sharp premise that is supposed to hook us in. Every now and then, a mystery/thriller hits the right chords to haunt you just enough to both harrowing and still tangible.
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