“Get your Polaroid, a trash bag, and meet me out back.”
When you hear the title Dinner in America you might think this movie (released in 2022) is about some romantic couple introducing you to fine dining across Michigan (where the film takes place) but you’d be very wrong.
This is a love story on a whole different meal ticket. The “Get your polaroid” suggestion is where the story line heads off in a direction that according to Patty (played by Emily Skeggs) is “the greatest day ever.”
Simon (played by Kyle Gallner), a human tornado and true punk rocker, is on a tear. He is living on the fringe and happy to break every social norm and law. That is until he meets Patty and begins to question his direction. Though on the spectrum and heavily medicated, she is uninhibited and true to herself. She idolizes the lead singer John Q. Public of Psyops, a Michigan punk band, writing him weekly lust letters.
If you liked Napoleon Dynamite, you’ll find Dinner in America to be a hilarious cult classic, but turned up quite a few notches. Many memorable scenes are for intended shock value and are not for the likes of a prudish movie goer.
The middle-class small-town setting is timeless, however, visually referencing the 80s with props like cassette tapes and rotary land line phones, but hints at a modern era world as well with a mention of cell phones and newer model cars in evidence.
In the beginning you may have a hard time rooting for the dark misguided lead character, but by the second act everyone in the audience at our showing was laughing, clapping, and singing along to Patty’s punk song—and finally understanding Simon’s heartfelt intentions.
“So what did you think of my family?”
Dinner in America does contain crucial dinner scenes that help define our cultural expectations and give the audience pause to think of family dynamics on all class levels. It pokes fun at how we respond and treat each other, often disgracing those who live outside the norm.
In the end, we were relieved to finally find out where the best dinner in America can actually be found. Dinner in America is highly entertaining—not a sleeper at all.
To quote Simon, this movie is “tits.”
Editor’s Note: Dinner in America is now playing at The SLO Film Center at the Palm Theatre.