Late for Dinner

Sure, this isn't a film that rocked the movie theater, but it is a nice little picture; an enjoyable Sunday TV matinee. The premise is a little hokey, "time travelers frozen". But this is not Science Fiction here, it is only the vehicle for the story. The theme is Love: and what love it should aspire to be, something that prevails over time and the physical.

The performances, such as Peter Berg's lovable uncle, are endearing as they create this strong, believable family. In short, I cared about these people and I wanted to see them make this great love work.

To really enjoy this movie you need to suspend your disbelief a little. If you look beyond the premise and focus on the characters, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

This movie was made a year before Mel Gibson's "Forever Young". The story here is quite similar, but with the lower budget and it's own pace, "Late For Dinner" works better for me. I love Mel Gibson, but here the absence of a big box office name here puts the focus where it ought to be, on the story itself.

The first time I saw it, it struck me as a largely a no-name cast, but looking at it today I see it a bit differently......Marcia Gay Harden, Peter Gallagher, Kyle Secor and Janeane Garofalo are all there.

Like most films of this sort, it requires 'suspension of disbelief', but once you let go, it is a charming and very enjoyable film. Watch it with someone you love.

I saw this movie when it debuted at the Boston Movie Festival and enjoyed it. It has become one of my guilty pleasure movies and I think that it is a hidden treasure. It was a sweet and charming film. I liked the relationship between the two main characters Willie Husband played by Brian Wimmer and Frank Lovegren played by Peter Berg.

...and had youthful dreams of his return, this movie will be cathartic for you. It will fill your heart. The first half of the film is rough, coarse, silly and contrived. The second half is a very well-tuned, sensitive portrayal of the dreamt-for return of your loved one. I'm 60 years old. This film has the greatest ending of any movie I have EVER seen.

When Willy and his brother in law Frank (Peter Berg) who is intellectually disabled run into some trouble after a misunderstanding with a land developer (Peter Gallager), which leaves Willy injured and the land developer dead, they leave there home town of Santa Fe and travel to California, where they are helped by a Dr who asks Frank if he could have a really good nights sleep and wake up with a new kidney (Frank has health problems besides his disability), would he be willing to try it, Frank wholeheartedly agrees accept Willy and Frank are cryongenically frozen and woken up 29 years later after the tanks they are in become damaged from a cable reel falling through the roof of the warehouse they are in, They then embark on a journey home to Santa Fe to get there lives back, however what they once had may not be so easy to get back, as they discover. This movie although not a smash hit or a box office hit, was in my mind quite good, Peter Gallager as the slimey land developer delivers a steller performance and Peter Berg as Frank delivers one of his best performances to date, though I am biased in that regard as I absolutely love this actor and have been following his career religiously for a while now. I'd recomend this film to all audiences, young and old.