by Yazmin Ghonaim

THE DINNER GAME (Le Diner de Cons) Francis Veber (1998) The Dinner Game ("Le Diner de Cons"), written and directed by Francis Veber (author of "La Cage aux Folles"), is a film about laughter. It's comicality relies on the diversity of its characters and on the situations and the motives which bring them together. One of the highest-grossing films in France, The Dinner Game was nominated for six Cesar Awards, winning Best Actor (Jacques Villeret), Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Prevost) and Best Screenplay for writer/director Veber. Based on a play and inspired by a real game played in Paris, "The Dinner Game" consists of a group of yuppies who engage regularly in a competition of scouting for "idiots" and inviting them as guests to their dinners. The one whose guest is the most idiot of all is the winner, while everyone enjoys a good laugh. This time, Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lehrmitte), a succesful book publisher, is sure to have found the father of all idiots: François Pignon (Villeret), a humble accountant at the Financial Ministry, who occupies his free time creating miniature replications of monuments with matchsticks. Unsuspicious of any hidden motive, yet in full amazement of the invitation, Pignon gratefully arrives at Brochant's apartment before the dinner, in time to find his host bent from a sore back and abandoned by his wife. Refusing to leave his new-found friend in such a vulnerable state, Pignon decides to help. What follows is the amusing work of the meticulous architect of a monumental mess. Known best for drawing comical effects from the coupling of dissimilar characters, Veber states his fondness of "buddy stories... [where] the cat and the dog are thrown together in the same bag. They fight and they fight, and... in the end, something happens between them..." Similarly, The Dinner Game makes use of this analogy. The two characters manage to transcend each others' limits and to find a common ground where each is the other's guest in a mutual celebration of laughter.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Story, Acting, Humor The Dinner Game Movie Review © 1999 Cinephiles - All rights reserved.