Film

Dinner and a Movie

Name: Dinner and a Movie
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2001
Cast: Marianne Hagan, Mike Dooly, Paul Bartel, Anita Gillette, Barbara Gulan

Comedy
Light-hearted

A scrappy indie-comedy about a documentary filmmaker so desperate to fund her real project that she takes a gig directing a trashy dating show. It's a love letter to people who make art on fumes, shot with self-aware charm and the kind of grimy early-2000s sincerity that feels almost extinct now.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like scrappy, self-aware comedies where characters chase a silly plan with complete sincerity and the laughs come from the gap between their ambition and the result.

Skip it if you need a tight, fast plot or romance that feels earned, since this is a loose, meandering comedy that leans hard on its premise.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk 85 minutes and asks little beyond a willingness to go along with a deliberately goofy premise, and to let the characters' scrambling carry the mood.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Living in Oblivion1995

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But The meta layers can feel repetitive if you're not already emotionally invested in the struggle of making art cheaply.

Overnight2003

Documentary about a rock band's chaotic rise and catastrophic fall. Raw, sometimes uncomfortable, genuinely shocked by how disaster unfolds in real time. Like watching a car crash you cannot look away from.

But It's a vindictive film that takes pleasure in humiliation. Some viewers find that taste uncomfortable even when the subject arguably deserves it.

Lovely & Amazing2002

Female-led ensemble about artists struggling with self-worth, family, and making work that matters. Messy, true, funny in ways that catch you off-guard. Catherine Keener is magnetic.

But Deliberately scattered structure can feel formless if you need clear narrative momentum to stay engaged.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Dinner and a Movie

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pennies from Heaven1981

Both films argue that art-making (or fantasy) is how people survive impossible economic circumstances—but Pennies goes much darker, showing what happens when the fantasy wears thin.

Steve Martin as a Depression-era sheet-music salesman who fantasizes his way through poverty and despair. Mixing musical numbers, surrealism, and authentic bleakness—it's a film that refuses to choose between genres. Ravishing and broken.

But It's genuinely dark and sexually explicit in ways that will ambush viewers expecting a light dance film. Many found it unpleasant in 1981 and still do.

Kicking and Screaming1995

Noah Baumbach's debut: broke twenty-somethings in New York, trying to be writers and artists while broke. Pretentious, self-aware about being pretentious, genuinely sad underneath.

But The characters are exhausting on purpose, and the film does not let you off the hook for finding them insufferable.

The Comebacks2007

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But Satire this obvious wears out its welcome. Many jokes are laboured; laughs are inconsistent.

Barton Fink1991

Coen Brothers fever-dream about a smug New York playwright hired to write screenplays in 1940s Hollywood. Increasingly surreal, visually gorgeous, a genuinely unsettling meditation on artistic compromise.

But It refuses to settle into any single mood or genre. Some find that liberating; others find it pretentious and frustrating.

Tropic Thunder2008

War film satire that somehow juggles three different movies at once: it's funny, technically impressive, and sharp about ego and method acting without condescension.

But The humour swings wildly between subtle and juvenile. One extended bit trades heavily on a slur that will make some viewers uncomfortable.

Swimming with Sharks1994

Kevin Spacey at peak menace as a monstrous Hollywood executive, held hostage by his assistant. Nasty, darkly funny, absolutely committed to its premise as a pressure-cooker.

But Graphic violence and humiliation; feels designed to be punishing rather than cathartic.

Hollywood Shuffle1987

Robert Townsend's sketch-heavy satire of Hollywood racism and stereotyping. Wildly uneven but genuinely inventive; moments of real anger nestled in comedy.

But Sketch comedies date badly. Many bits hang on references from four decades ago that land with a thud now.

Ratatouille2007

A story about an unlikely person fighting to make their art despite everyone saying it's impossible—but told without cynicism, which makes it a fascinating inversion of the indie-struggle narrative.

Animated film about a rat who dreams of becoming a chef, told with genuine emotional stakes and architectural precision. Endlessly rewatchable; funny for adults, moving for everyone. A love letter to craft and ambition.

But It's a Pixar film, so you may have built up antibodies against its emotional rhythms. Some find the saccharine spots hard to swallow.

The Comeback2005

Both are about people making art in the margins of the entertainment industry, but The Comeback is unflinching about the pathetic side of hustle—no romantic indie-filmmaker gloss here.

Lisa Kudrow's mockumentary series about a sitcom actress trying to revive her career, shot entirely in found-footage style before that was a cliché. Painfully, fearlessly awkward. Kudrow commits to humiliation absolutely.

But It is uncomfortable by design. The cringe is relentless and earned—if you cannot sit with secondhand embarrassment for thirty minutes at a time, this will exhaust you.