Diner (1982)

Directed by Barry Levinson. Starring Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser, Kathryn Dowling, Kelle Kip, Michael Tucker, Colette Blonigan. [R]

Sleeper hit of a group of twenty-something friends in 1959 Baltimore dealing with their various issues and hang-ups in and out of the local diner where they gravitate. Fresh, funny and affectionate, with fine-tuned characterizations filled out by a cannily-picked cast of relatively unknown actors (many of whom would be stars in the near-future). Spotlights the sort of details that are so quirky and specific they almost have to be anecdotal (if not autobiographical); the juvenile and misogynist antics don’t always mesh with the more tender and insightful moments, directed more at a time and place and an arrested-development lifestyle than any fully-rounded individual—they all merely exhibit different aspects of the same type: terrified of growing up, of changing, of responsibility, of women and marriage. Levinson’s directorial debut, the first of his four personal “Baltimore films” (followed by Tin Men, Avalon and Liberty Heights). Film debuts for Daly and Reiser, and the first credited role of Barkin’s career.

81/100