Film

Dinner in America

Name: Dinner in America
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Released: 2020
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Pat Healy, Griffin Gluck, Lea Thompson

Romantic comedy

A punk rocker on the run collides with an obsessive fan in a Midwestern suburb, sparking an unlikely, tender romance wrapped in humor and genuine weirdness. It's deadpan and sweet—less rom-com formula, more a portrait of misfits finding each other. For anyone who's ever felt too strange for the world they inherited.

TMDb rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love offbeat romances where two misfits collide through sheer awkward sincerity, and a punk-rock gleam in the eye matters more to you than tidy plotting.

Skip it if you want your comedy polished and predictable; this one is scrappy, loud and happy to be rough around the edges, and its abrasive energy won't suit every mood.

What it asks of you: It runs about108 minutes and moves in restless bursts, swinging between sharp laughs and sudden tenderness, so it wants you alert rather than half-watching while you scroll.

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

If you liked this

Willy's Wonderland2021

Nicolas Cage in an arcade-bound fever dream: absurd, committed, wildly entertaining. It has the same affection for the strange and discarded—and the same willingness to let its protagonist be genuinely odd.

But The humor is deadpan to the point of monotone. Some scenes exist purely to be weird, which can feel like filler if you need constant momentum.

The Worst Person in the World2021

Norwegian portrait of a young woman adrift, unsure who to be or how to love. Sharp, funny, achingly honest about how little we know ourselves. Same emotional texture as Dinner in America—quirky but never cynical.

But Deliberately paced. It's a slow unfurling of a person's confusion, not a plot that propels you forward. Subtitled.

Nomadland2021

American landscapes of decline and resilience. Fern moves through empty places and finds connection anyway. Same Midwestern, working-class texture and the sense of people who don't quite fit anywhere.

But It's meditative and slow. If you want narrative propulsion and stakes, this will feel like watching someone drift through parking lots.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both are obsessed with the gap between the fantasy we have about someone and who they actually are. Both believe that gap is tragic and beautiful.

Charlie Kaufman's dizzy, crushing masterpiece about a theater director who can't separate art from life, performance from truth. It has the same texture of beautiful strangeness and the same conviction that broken people are the most interesting.

But Deliberately disorienting and emotionally exhausting. It's not a comfort; it's a head-first dive into someone's collapse. Some find that exhausting rather than cathartic.

Everything Sucks!2018

A short-lived teen comedy-drama about misfits in a dying small town, genuinely funny and unexpectedly moving. That same affection for the strange and overlooked, the same sense that weird kids matter.

But Cancelled after one season. Some find it tries too hard to be quirky; it can read as manufactured oddness rather than lived-in strangeness.

Saint Maud2020

A psychological fever dream about obsession and connection in a decaying seaside town. Visually stunning, genuinely unnerving, and ultimately about what we need from other people.

But It's a slow-burn horror film. If you're expecting romance or comedy, the dread and ambiguity might feel punitive rather than rewarding.

The Florida Project2017

Life in a motel on the edge of Orlando, seen through a child's wonder and a caretaker's struggling love. Captures that same Midwest-adjacent American sadness—and finds genuine joy in it anyway.

But No traditional plot to grip you. It's immersion in a place and people rather than a story with resolve. Some find that frustrating.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople2016

A gruff old man and a foster kid on the run through New Zealand wilderness. Funny, warm, and absolutely earned—it understands how broken people find each other and heal.

But The tone is deliberately uneven; tonal whiplash between comedy and genuine peril can feel like the film doesn't know what it is.

Bumblebee2018

A shy teen befriends an alien robot and together they're misfits against the world. It's sincere about loneliness and connection, funny without being arch, and genuinely charming in its earnestness.

But It's a Transformers spinoff. If you're skeptical about the franchise, the premise alone might feel too compromised to try.

Chungking Express1994

Both believe that damaged, misfit people are capable of genuine tenderness. Both use visual style and music to convey what dialogue can't. Both have a kind of romantic fatalism.

Wong Kar-wai's neon-soaked Hong Kong romance: two lonely people almost finding each other. Visually dazzling, emotionally tender, and absolutely committed to the idea that connection matters even when it's fleeting or incomplete.

But From 1994 Hong Kong. Subtitled, visually dense, narratively fractured. If you need straightforward storytelling, this will feel like music video. The pacing is deliberately dreamlike.