I think it’s time to forgive Diner for being a product of its time and embrace it as the coming-of-age masterpiece it truly is.

| Dec 8, 2023

Levinson never allows us to think that we know everything there is to know about these characters... Levinson doesn’t violate his characters by summing them up -- he understands that we never fully understand anybody.

| Sep 18, 2023

...an easygoing, persistently episodic drama that benefits from the captivating work of its various performers...

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

The little movie that paved the way for Seinfeld (and presumably a bunch of other shows and movies about men talking about nothing) is a hilarious, sharply written romp about a group of male friends approaching different crossroads in their adulthoods.

| Dec 5, 2022

The humor (some of it steeped in nostalgia and sentimentality), even during the more notorious sequences, is never strong enough to transcend the limitations of its minimal scope and setting and lack of a traditional narrative.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 22, 2022

Diner is filled with wall-to-wall classics.

| Apr 11, 2022

All in all, Diner is a worthwhile dish, certainly the best thing Leo the Lion has had to roar about in some time.

| Apr 4, 2022

A joyous comedy, celebrating a bygone era.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 9, 2021

The movie perfectly captures that time in our lives in which a group of us could safely sit amongst one another, share boastful lies of prowess, and, more importantly, feel safe to open up about our fears... if only for a moment.

| Original Score: 9/10 | May 11, 2021

Diner manages to provide quite a bit of entertainment. It should have been so much more, but at least it's the best picture to come out of Baltimore since Polyester.

| May 15, 2020

In conventional dramatic terms, little happens in Diner, but it offers a completed vision of life, ecstatic in its recovery of forgotten pleasures, melancholy in its knowledge of how small a chance these men ever had of claiming their freedom.

| Dec 31, 2019

Diner is a funny, affectionate film... If you're over 30, you may be surprised to remember what a drab era it was and hopeful that men will never again be as dense.

| Aug 17, 2019

Diner is an absolute gem of a movie. Evocations of the American 1950 s have been filmed before, but none has provided more fidelity and warm good humor.

| Nov 12, 2018

Barry Levinson's Diner is an extremely clever, slick male fantasy that takes some time to work out its mood and tone but ultimately blossoms into a moving film.

| Apr 27, 2018

The male quintet of friends is amusingly lampooned in Levinson's clever and cutting script, a refreshingly honest depiction of an era often bathed in sepia-toned nostalgia.

| Original Score: 76/100 | Jan 10, 2016

Levinson's dialogue feels fresh and improvised, yet it hits its mark every time, and the performances he gets are complex and original.

| Jun 2, 2014

With so much going for it, then, why doesn't 'Diner' emerge as a major statement? Mostly because of the recurring weakness of its screenplay.

| Jun 2, 2014

The film is wonderfully cast and played.

| Jun 2, 2014

Though nothing much happens this is a skilfully written comedy-drama that plays close attention to character and boasts fine performances by a quality cast.

| Jun 2, 2014

This gentle, warm-hearted comedy drama about a group of young men in 1950s Baltimore was director Barry Levinson's debut feature and it remains among his finest work.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 2, 2014