Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Adam Rehmeier
Starring: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Lea Thompson, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Best known for his controversial "torture porn" 2011 directorial debut
The Bunny Game, Adam Rehmeier reinvents himself with a charming coming-of-age
comedy in Dinner in America. While his latest movie might be adorable, it's also confrontational,
thanks to a protagonist who embodies exactly the sort of edgelord who
might make a movie as shocking as The Bunny Game.
Also reinventing himself is Kyle Gallner, an actor I recall always
being cast as Goth teens in horror movies a decade ago but whom I haven't
seen onscreen in quite a while. He plays Simon, an angry young man who
wanders the suburbs of Detroit getting into scrapes and avoiding the
police. When we meet him first he's just been kicked out of a medical
research study. Invited for dinner at the home of a fellow patient (Hannah Marks), he ends up seducing her mother (Lea Thompson) before setting
the family's garden on fire and fleeing.
When the nerdy Patty (Emily Skeggs) lies to the police about having
seen Simon in the alley behind her place of employment, Simon takes
advantage of her charity. Spinning a yarn to her parents (Mary Lynn Rajskub
and Pat Healy) about having returned from missionary work in
Tanzania, Simon temporarily moves into Patty's home, immediately
introduces her kid brother (Griffin Gluck) to the joys of pot and
sets about seducing Patty.
Like last year's
Babyteeth, Dinner in America has its roots in Jean Renoir's 1932
comedy Boudu Saved from Drowning. It's another tale of a white bread suburban family finding themselves
playing host to a young man who lives a precarious existence on the
fringes of society. There's also a lot of Vincent Gallo's
Buffalo '66 here, with both Gallner's Simon and Skeggs'
Patty broken from the same moulds as the angry anti-hero played by Gallo
and the awkward young woman he falls for in that cult classic.
There's not a lot of innovation on display here, with Simon getting up to
exactly the sort of hijinks you might expect of such a character - we
know, for instance, that the two young jocks who constantly harass Patty
are going to get their comeuppance at Simon's hands at some point, and
that Patty is going to come out of her shell in Simon's company. But what
makes Dinner in America so striking is how it doubles down
on Simon's worst elements while still making it completely believable that
a sheltered young woman like Patty would find him irresistible.
Simon is a tornado tearing his way through the suburbs, a sociopath with
no filter who speaks his mind and doesn't care who he offends. In this era
where everybody seems to be constantly walking on eggshells, he's
something of the perfect anti-hero. Sure, he's a narcissistic asshole, but
it's hard not to envy the freedom he enjoys through his complete lack of
self-awareness. In what feels like his first role of substance, Gallner is
thoroughly captivating. With his tank top and shaved sides he's a parody
of fuckboy nonchalance, and there's a genuine air of scuzzy danger that
few of today's young American actors seem capable of conveying.
Rehmeier directs with the same punk energy harnessed by his leading man.
His film moves at breakneck pace as the speed freak Simon takes Patty on a
whirlwind tour of nihilistic possibilities, but it always finds time to
focus on its characters. His script is a lot less literary than you might
expect from an American indie dramedy of its type – we learn as much about
Simon and Patty through their actions as their words. I suspect some
viewers may miss the point here and find
Dinner in America as abrasive as its male protagonist, but
anyone willing to embrace its skanky charms is in for a treat.
Dinner in America is streaming on
Arrow and available to buy or rent on all digital platforms in the UK
from 1st June.
