Diner (1982) * * *

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, Ellen Barkin, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, Paul Reiser, Tim Daly, Michael Tucker

The Fells Point Diner in Baltimore is the center of the universe for a group of 20ish men in 1959 Baltimore.    The 60's were upon them, but their immediate futures were in a state of flux.    We have Fenwick (Bacon)- a college dropout with no direction, Billy (Daly)- a graduate student who finds out his recent tryst with a female friend has resulted in pregnancy, Boog (Rourke)- a hairdresser by day and law student/degenerate gambler by night who now owes the local thugs $2,000, Eddie (Guttenberg), who is about to be married, but this depends on whether his fiancee can past an oral test Eddie devises about the Baltimore Colts, and Shrevy (Stern), who is married to Beth (Barkin), but finds he can't talk to her about much of anything. 

Hanging around on the outskirts of this group of friends is Modell (Reiser), the clown of the group who loves to talk about the topics of the day and give his unique opinions.    Modell doesn't appear to have any back story himself, but lives vicariously through his friends and seems to turn up whenever the gang assembles.    Barry Levinson's Diner lovingly details his hometown of the late 1950s, and did so again in the hilarious Tin Men (1987), which also used Baltimore as a backdrop.    The guys are unsure about, well, everything.    How will Boog be able to pay the $2,000 he owes before getting his legs broken?    Does Eddie even want to get married?    (Hint:  When you call your upcoming wedding "the thing" and your wedding depends on the outcome of a test you give your fiancee, then perhaps you don't want to get married).    Will Beth and Shrevy learn to communicate or find anything in common?    Will Fenwick do anything useful with his life? 

The plots are all reasonably resolved by the time Eddie's wedding rolls around on New Year's Eve. 
Some of the resolutions are convincing, some a bit too tidy to be real, but we care enough to be taken along for the ride.    Levinson, in his feature film directorial debut, peppers his dialogue with nice verbal touches and has a clear eye for the period, including the fact that everyone smokes cigarettes.   I grew up in a time in which smoking was permitted in restaurants, and the ashtray full of butts was part of the deal when you ate at a diner at 2 am.    The guys in Diner stay out until dawn hanging out at the Fells Point and then make plans to meet up there again later, as if hanging around there is something that can continue for years to come.

Diner doesn't make any larger points about the troubled times to come.    There is no mention of civil rights, the Cold War, or any outside world events at all.    These guys aren't focused on such matters and Diner takes on a charming innocence.    Levinson is concerned with showing us a time in his life which he holds dear to his heart and allowing us to witness it.    There will be enough time to deal with real life for these men.    For a few more days, they want nothing more than to pretend the end of their innocence isn't imminent.