Rehmeier, Adam

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    For ‘Dinner in America,’ a Surprise Theatrical Run Is Dessert

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    The film became popular on TikTok two years after its quiet initial release. Now, it’s getting a second chance in movie theaters.On a recent weeknight at the IFC Center in Manhattan’s West Village, staff members corralled a 400-person crowd in and out of the doors while swarms circled the lead actors of the sold-out feature playing that night: “Dinner in America.” The film — an angsty rom-com that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 but struggled to find distribution before being self-released in 2022 — has catapulted from crickets to cult status since going viral on TikTok in the past couple of months. Seizing on a rare encore, the filmmakers have rallied fans to support a shot at the theatrical run they never had.“You don’t get second chances in this business,” the film’s writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier told the audience during a post-screening Q&A. The surprise comeback began around September when an inexplicable bump in TikTok’s algorithm turbo-blasted the movie and its earworm original song, “Watermelon.” Soon after, the film was trending across Hulu (where it is currently streaming), Letterboxd and Google. The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, Calif., was one of the first theaters to announce a screening, selling out in less than 24 hours. The nonprofit cinema said the requests for “Dinner in America” were the most they’d received for any film.The plot follows the unlikely musical and sexual chemistry between Simon (Kyle Gallner) and Patty (Emily Skeggs). He’s an on-the-lam, slick crust punk; she’s a mousy 20-year-old whose parents keep her away from strobe lights and on five different medications. She finds refuge from bullies and suburban stupor by mailing Polaroid nudes and love poems to her favorite hardcore band’s ski-masked lead singer, who, coincidentally, is Simon.Emily Skeggs with Gallner in “Dinner in America.”Best and Final ReleasingWhen “Dinner in America” was released for a limited theatrical run, as well as on demand, in 2022, The New York Times gave it a mixed review. The critic Concepción de León wrote that the movie “delivers on surprise and explosiveness, but much of its offensive language, both racist and homophobic, feels gratuitous in a film that might have otherwise landed as an offbeat love story.”But content creators have been lifting up the film. The screenwriter Nic Curcio pitched the film to his TikTok followers as the “love child of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and Todd Solondz” after noticing the uptick beyond the usual MovieTok nerds. Those millions of viewers, he told The Times, are probably sitting alone in their rooms: “The screening elements bring this whole phenomenon full circle.” The film’s success on social media meant it wouldn’t have to wait decades to achieve an underground cachet.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Snack Shack’ Review: The Kids Are Alright

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      Performances from the two main characters elevate this boisterous teen comedy to the level of raunchy art.On the face of it, Adam Rehmeier’s “Snack Shack” is a fairly standard-issue teenage stoner comedy: Lifelong friends in small-town Nebraska spend a summer avoiding town bullies, hustling for cash and competing for the affections of a dreamy neighbor, while boozing, toking and amply cursing in their spare time. But with its rambling momentum and quick-witted, almost musical dialogue, it feels less like “Superbad” than a Robert Altman movie, sort of like a pint-size “California Split.” As if to drive home the comparison, “Snack Shack” starts at an off-track betting parlor.The friends are A.J. (Conor Sherry), the bashful straight man, and Moose (Gabriel LaBelle), the easygoing party animal. It’s a familiar dynamic, but it’s made fresh by the performances, which are exemplary. Sherry plays A.J. with cringing self-loathing, inherited and desperate to be cast off. LaBelle, by contrast, is a whirlwind of manic adolescent enthusiasm: Brash and boisterous, a cross between Kevin McCallister and Steve Stifler, he’s the movie’s bawdy M.V.P. As he delivers the most artful swearing since Peter Capaldi in “In the Loop,” it’s hard to believe that this is the same LaBelle who was recently so wide-eyed and tender as Sammy Fabelman.Rehmeier maintains a good handle on compelling if straightforward material, and he demonstrates commendable restraint: He avoids the easy period jokes that come with the movie’s early ’90s setting, and as the plot takes a dramatic turn in the last act, he keeps clear of sentimentality. He also has a keen sense of what to emphasize and what to downplay. He rushes through the stuff with the bullies, as if wary of clichés, but takes time to linger on moments that matter, like A.J. and his father (the great David Costabile) sharing a well-deserved beer.Snack ShackRated R for strong language, drug and alcohol use, mild violence, some sexual content and wall-to-wall raunchiness. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. In Theaters. More

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      ‘Dinner in America’ Review: A Punk-Rock Love Story

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      A rage-fueled rock singer on the run from the police meets and falls in love with a gullible young woman eager to escape her circumstances.Rage is at the center of “Dinner in America,” a film by Adam Rehmeier in which the central characters are at odds with the police, bank tellers, their parents, two-timing bosses and bullying jocks. Fleeing from the cops, Simon (Kyle Gallner) is a punk rocker who leads with anger and violence. Patty (Emily Skeggs) is a naïve 20-year-old eager to break out of her mundane existence, using rock music as an escape. They help each other find their way in a community where both are outcasts.The fault lines in their relationships with their families and those around them are most apparent at the family dinners they attend, where they clash with strait-laced siblings and parents — like Patty’s father, who can’t handle the spiciness of cumin. The film is an ode to the punk-rock scene of the 1990s Midwest, a space where Simon and Patty both find relief from the dullness of the world around them.“Dinner in America” delivers on surprise and explosiveness, but much of its offensive language, both racist and homophobic, feels gratuitous in a film that might have otherwise landed as an offbeat love story. There is, perhaps, an argument to be made for representing a time and place truthfully, but because the film does not critically engage with the uglier elements of the society it portrays, these become a distraction. And a viewer might find it difficult to get sucked into the love and music story at its center.Dinner in AmericaNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. In theaters. More