DVD Review: Criterion Collection Invites You to ‘My Dinner With Andre’

CHICAGO – I have to admit to having more respect for “My Dinner With Andre” than getting actual enjoyment from the talkative film itself. I understand the praise and awards that the film won and can see how it would have sent a ripple through the art movie world in 1981 when it was released, but I’ve never been a fan of Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, and Louis Malle’s film that brings new meaning to the phrase “dialogue-based”.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

The great Malle’s deeply philosophical film is pretty succinctly described in its title. Actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (known to many modern audiences for his role in “The Princess Bride”) sits down for dinner with friend and theater director Andre Gregory. The movie consists almost entirely of their conversation and even though they have claimed that they were not playing themselves (and told Roger Ebert that they’d love to remake it and switch roles), they clearly played off their real lives and known personalities.

My Dinner With Andre was released on DVD on June 23rd, 2009.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

The conversation that makes up “My Dinner With Andre” goes all over the map and covers death, love, money, and life in New York City in the ’70s. “Andre” is a deeply intellectual film and I find it ironic that The Criterion Collection is releasing it on DVD the day before its cinematic opposite - “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” - hits theaters. Whatever you want to say about Bay’s CGI extravaganza, you would be hard pressed to find a more disparate film experience than comparing it to “My Dinner With Andre”.

Watching “My Dinner with Andre” many years down the road since I first saw it, it’s interesting to view it now as a snapshot of NYC life and culture in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Criterion has long been in love with Louis Malle, releasing “3 Films By Louis Malle,” “Au Revoir Les Enfants,” “Lacombe, Lucien,” “Murmur of the Heart,” “The Fire Within,” “The Lovers,” “Elevator to the Gallows,” and “The Documentaries of Louis Malle” before they got to “My Dinner With Andre”.

I wouldn’t start appreciating Malle with “Andre” (and Criterion clearly wouldn’t either) but if you’re already a fan, this is an excellent edition to add to your collection. The transfer is flawless and the special features are typically fantastic.

“My Dinner With Andre” features a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, new video interviews with actors Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn by filmmaker and friend Noah Baumbach, “My Dinner With Louis,” an episode from the BBC program Arena, in which Shawn interviews director Louis Malle, plus a booklet featuring an essay by critic Amy Taubin and the prefaces written by Gregory and Shawn for the published screenplay.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com