Young hot actors, and the future is....

Diner (1982) Directed and written by Barry Levinson

Do you want to see Mickey Rourke when he was really really young and wearing eye shadow? Or that guy from Wings, the straight-laced one who didn’t have any fun? Or what about Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, and the baby-faced awesome-ness of Steve Gutenberg? One of the guys from LA Law is there, plus Ellin Barkin is someone’s wife, and they are all young and sexy smooth, which by itself isn’t reason enough to see Diner, but it doesn’t hurt.
Diner, written and directed by Barry Levinson takes place in 1959 Baltimore. It is a coming of age story that centers on five friends as they navigate the winter holidays. Sex, marriage, gambling, alcoholism, and growing up are talked about while they frequent a diner and other haunts in Baltimore. All five of the men give great performances that only lead to heartache because they show such promise and some of them weren’t able to live up to the talent they showed in this movie. Rourke, the “last” of the method actors actually gives the least interesting performance of the five men as he has to play it cool the entire movie while Gutenberg and Bacon give the most interesting performances playing a football fan on the verge of getting married and a smart, emotionally wounded rich kid.
This movie is good and not just because of the young cast of stars. Levinson addresses a variety of topics without getting lost in long stretches of conversation. The actors are able to emote what is needed while the script is succinct in what it wants to express and the 1959 setting adds a certain gravitas to the occasion as the topics they discuss are contrary to all the stereotypical Hollywood depictions. Diner, excuse the pun, is worth dining on.