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Diner (1982)
By the time baby boomers came of age, there were arguably more movies puncturing the innocence myth of the 1950s than upholding it. (Quiz Show, Peggy Sue Got Married, Pleasantville, Far From Heaven, the list goes on.) But never did the decade of peak “men were men” get a clearer retroactive treatment of men being overgrown boys than Barry Levinson’s Diner. It plays Sept. 20 at Cinema 21, clustered among a pack of classics to celebrate the iconic Portland theater’s 100th birthday.
Centered on a group of Baltimore 20-somethings struggling to sort out their lives from across their favorite vinyl booths, Diner makes plain via constant comedic ribbing, sports obsessions, and some worrying gambling that wearing suit jackets does not an adult make.
Diner is a petri dish of ’80s movie stars-to-be—Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke—but it’s a Daniel Stern meltdown to his young wife (played by Ellen Barkin) that best exemplifies the film’s core theme. He bemoans her never asking him obscure music trivia questions, and that’s why she shouldn’t alphabetize his record collection. Hard to act like Sinatra when you’re flipping out over your Sinatra albums. Cinema 21, Sept. 20.
Also Playing:
Academy: Spirited Away (2001), Cape Fear (1962) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Sept. 17 and 18. Son of the White Mare (1981), Basic Instinct (1992) and Spaceballs (1987), Sept. 19–25. Cinema 21: Yi Yi (2000), Sept. 19–23. Fantasia (1940), Sept. 20 and 21. Duck Soup (1933), Notorious (1946) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Sept. 20. 8 ½ (1963) and Harold and Maude (1971), Sept. 21. Days of Heaven (1978), Sept. 22. Do the Right Thing (1989), Sept. 23. Cinemagic: Deep Blue Sea (1999) and The Hunt for Red October (1990), Sept. 17. Crimson Tide (1995) and Master and Commander (2003), Sept. 17 and 18. The Evil Dead (1984), Sept. 19 and 20. Evil Dead 2 (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), Sept. 20–22. Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise (2023), Sept. 23 and 24. Clinton: Labyrinth of Dreams (1997), Sept. 17. Idiocracy (2006), Sept. 19. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Sept. 20. La Ciénaga (2001), Sept. 23. Cult Classics: The Return of the Swamp Thing (1989), Sept. 21. Hollywood: School in the Crosshairs (1981), Sept. 18. Firestarter (1984) and Doctor Sleep (2019) double feature, Sept. 22. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Sept. 22 and 23. Over the Edge (1979), Sept. 23. Tomorrow: Emma (2020), Sept. 18. Amélie (2001), Sept. 20. WALL-E (2008), Sept. 21.
