The Dinner Game (1998)

Must See Movie...

Beautiful, moving film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

If you want to laugh all the night go see this movie. I watched it many times, and every time making me laugh again. "Le dîner de cons" is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.The action takes place in a beautiful Parisian flat. Pierre Brochant lives there and each week, he and his friends take part in a special dinner were they've got to invite someone silly and the one who has found the best dumb is the winner of the evening; "dîner de cons".It contains so many jokes and crazy situations that nobody would like to be in. The actors are great and the "con" looks like a real one.Watch this comedy and have fun!

When I saw the face of Steve Carrel in "The Dinner of Schmucks" remake, I knew they got the meaning of the word totally wrong, 'cons' is not about being retarded or eccentric, it's a state of mind, something that doesn't strike the eyes, not at first sight anyway."Con" is a generic insult in France that takes a lot of meanings, it either refers to a dumb or extremely naive person, a socially awkward geek, a dork, someone so blinded by a passion that he can't realize how ridicule he is in the eyes of common people, stupid is not the most faithful synonym, because a 'con' can have a high I.Q, but what do they all have in common, they don't have the intelligence of the situation, and are the target of mean-spirited people who use them as foils to appear smarter, and that they can easily be fooled allows society to label them as 'idiots'. This is sad but true, and Veber's "Diner de Cons" aka "The Dinner Game" builds its plot on a cruel purpose with mean spirited snobs inviting idiots to elect a winner at the end of the evening, and Thierry Lhermitte aka Pierre Brochant, a wealthy publisher, is one of these bad guys.There is a French word to describe a man like Brochant, a 'salaud', a bastard if you prefer, a guy eager to make fun of less smart people, while the so-called Dinner Game can be seen as a tacit bullying, all these dumb-chasers would argue that they don't harm anyone because the purpose of the game is not to let the idiots know why they were invited. It's like 'a crime without victims'. And the players really take their hateful game seriously, each participant having a sort of scout to find the right idiot, either a colleague eager to express some 'new' ideas, a man with strange hobbies, finding a good idiot is not that an easy task. And one day, Brochant receives a phone call from a friend who found a 'world champion': Jacques Villeret as François Pignon, a civil servant working in the Minister of Treasury and building replicas of landmarks with matchsticks, what a promising pedigree! Many people tend to minimize the emphasis on the word 'con' by arguing that we're all the idiots of someone. While it might be true, it doesn't appear to be the message of the film where the personality traits are clearly defined. While not a plain idiot, Pignon is a sweet and lovable buffoon and despite his meanness, Pierre Brochant strikes as a brilliant and intelligent person. The film doesn't try to reverse roles to demonstrate the former idea, and the lyrics of the opening song brilliantly deliver the message that age has nothing to do with brains, when we're an idiot; we're an idiot, period. The genius little song from George Brassens foreshadows the inevitability of the mayhem caused by François Pignon, directly affecting Pierre Brochant's life. And it all starts with the nice twist (indeed) when Brochant hurts his back while golfing and is forced to cancel his participation. After discovering how brilliantly dumb François Pignon is, he decides to go anyway, much to the reluctance of his wife, who therefore leaves him.The movie takes off when Brochant is left alone, incapable to move and with Pignon trying to help him, to see where his wife have gone. And as soon as the movie starts (the set-up took a little time, but for the best) the film features a succession of never-ending misunderstandings, gaffes, and remarkable displays of clumsiness that elevate "The Dinner Game" to a masterpiece level in the comedy of errors genre. Surprisingly, the film is mostly set in Brochant's luxurious apartment, conveying a sort of trapped sensation. The film is adapted from a play written by Francis Veber and the unity of time, space and plot contributes to a coherent plot getting crescendo, each disaster provoked by Pignon leading to a bigger disaster when he tries to make up for the first. In the progress, other characters make their entrance, Brochant's ex-friend played by a brilliant Francis Huster, Just Leblanc (whose name will create one of the most hilarious cases of misunderstanding in French cinema) not to mention the scene-stealing performance of Daniel Prevost as François's friend, a hard-nosed tax inspector. Alexandra Van Der Noot and Catherine Frot also deserve accolades for the two female parts that will get mixed up by the poor Mr. Pignon.The casting, while minimalist, is enough to conduct the movie with laughs and laughs, creating one of the greatest and most unanimously praised French comedies and Veber's true masterpiece. Indeed, Veber's comedies often relied on the simple but efficient buddy duo, with the white-faced clown and the Auguste, when the laughs mostly came from the reactions of the straight guy rather than the actions of the funny one, but this time, there's also a cynical yet delightful pleasure from seeing the Lhermitte character so tormented. His nightmarish journey seems deserved, and it would take a lot of pains to feel sorry for him because his wife left him, after all, she left him because he wanted to play a humiliating game. Not a villain or an antagonist, he's still a hardly redeemable character, and all the laughs are mixed with the satisfaction to see him get through this pain. As he'd say to Pignon, he avenged in one night all the idiots who ever participated to dinner games before, and he couldn't be truer.But as usual, Veber films don't take their 'seriousness' with seriousness, when we know where the film is going to, we're immediately surprised by a twist that gets the final spice, a masterpiece of wit, sophistication, laughs and cynicism, leading to one major conclusion : never take one's personality for granted. Indeed, just because someone looks and sounds like an idiot doesn't mean that he is not one.

"Le Dîner de Cons" is one of the funniest French movies of all time. It's adapted from a play and this can be guessed when watching the movie since much of the plot is set in the same place, the main character's Parisian apartment. Apart from the actors' pay (all of them are very famous in France), the movie is low budget. While this doesn't sound appealing, let it not fool you. There are sufficient plot twists for it to stay entertaining from start to finish, and the comedy is pure gold. Obviously, the actors are stupendous, delivering believable yet hilariously funny acts. Unlike most French comedies, I believe this movie is very accessible for non-French people, as the humor in it is pretty much universal and simple. I saw the movie when I was 11 or so and I was roaring with laughter. Now I'm 24 and it's still a great movie for me to work my abdominal area. So I can confidently say that it's a comedy accessible for all ages.As is now common for successful French movies, Hollywood remade it to cash in on the great plot idea. And thus we were graced with "Dinner for Schmucks" staring Steve Carell. While I love Carell and many Hollywood comedies, "Dinner for Schmucks" was a disgrace, and can't be compared to the great original French version (the American version is also very different plot-wise although the main idea is the same). So if you have seen and disliked the American remake, let it not stop you from watching "Le Dîner de Cons" which I am absolutely sure you will like, wherever you're from and whoever you are.

Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) and his friends have a contest for every Wednesday dinner that consist in invite a fool that they know and have fun with them all the dinner. Pierre find in Francois Pignon (Jacques Villeret) his own gem for the dinner but he can't go due to a problem with his back. Now Pierre must deal with this fool all the night in his apartment.A couple of months ago i watch a film of Francis Veber for the first time in a festival and i enjoy it so when i found a DVD of another film of Veber i decide to get it. I didn't know what to expect of "Le Diner de cons" but if i were expecting a very funny comedy with an hilarious character, definitely this film was the perfect to fill my expectations. I really like this film, first because it has a very original contest as the main subject that is very cruel too,but we never see the reactions of Pierre's friends about Pignon, actually the entire film is in Pierre's apartment so the characters must have a lot of great lines and funny situations to keep going with the film in the same place. And that's the second thing i really like of this film, the character of Pignon. This man could be a really headache to anybody who meet him, making any situation a big problem. And is played in a great way by Jacques Villeret. The support characters are just fun, specially Pignon's friend who loves football (that scene, when both are talking in the phone, in probably my favourite).And the final message of the film could be the classic one, actually it is but the very last scene is really great and change everything because after all, he was just a complete fool.Conclusion: i enjoyed a lot this film,which runtime is only 80 minutes, and left me desires to continue checking Veber's filmography. And yes there is a good message for all the Pierres around but also another that says: don't trust in fools. 9.5 out of 10